[dropcap]F[/dropcap]rom time immemorial, war and conflict resolution have always been associated with males. But Alice Wairimu Nderitu is turning tables, after she won the coveted Global Pluralism Award from the Global Centre for Pluralism, beating hundreds of candidates from 43 countries who had been nominated for the prize.
This was in recognition of her commitment to conflict resolution across African countries and her innovative approach to mediation and peace making.
Her mediation debut was during and after the 2007-08 post-election violence (PEV) in Kenya a commissioner in the Mzalendo Kibunja-led National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC), where she took a seat at the peace table with 100 elders from 10 ethnic communities who had never negotiated peace before. This was one and half years after the PEV in which at least 1,300 people lost their lives and more than 600,000 displaced.
In 2010, Kenya was having a constitutional referendum and political temperatures soared highest, with another ethnic war glaring. Ms Nderitu could not stand by to see bloodshed in a country once considered an island of peace in the region. This was the genesis of a 16-month negotiation that led to a peaceful referendum in 2010.
Conflict prevention
She never stopped there as she teamed up with other peace-loving Kenyans to form the Uwiano Platform for Peace where she was a co-chair. It is a conflict prevention agency that was the first to link early warning to early response in Kenya and is largely credited with leading efforts in ensuring peaceful processes during the 2010 Constitutional referendum and the 2013 General Election.
Her peace-seeking efforts were not only felt in Kenya, but also in other African states such as Nigeria and South Sudan. In Jos, Nigeria, Ms Nderitu led peace talks that brought on board nine ethnic communities majorly led by native women.
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Seeing her success in peace making, Nigeria trusted her to lead peace talks to resolve an armed conflict in Southern Kaduna, which involved 29 ethnic communities. Amazingly, she succeeded in making peace between the communities, leading to the Kafanchan Peace Declaration signed by two state governors Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna and Simon Bako Lalong of Plateau in 2015. This was the first time in Nigerian history a woman played such a role.
The latest and the largest of her work was still in Nigeria, where she successfully led peace talks involving 56 communities in the Southern Plateau State. This led to a peace declaration signed by Governor Bako Lalong of Plateau and all the traditional rulers.
Before she went to Nigeria, Ms Nderitu was one of the lead mediators in South Sudan, but left to the call of duty in Nigeria and left other peace mediators to work on finding peace in Africa’s youngest country.
She traces her peace-making skills back to her childhood. She would climb up branches of a large tree to eavesdrop elders gathered to deliver justice on communal matters. As she watched them come to a consensus from her perch, she decided that one day, she would be one of the elders making peace in her community.
She never knew she would go beyond borders, especially in a male-dominated field. She was brought up under a strict training that making peace was not women’s business, an odd she has overcome and she is training other women such as Caroline Sidiga, who is working to bring peace in Nigeria.
Speaking during a function that announced Ms Nderitu as one of the winners in a Nairobi Hotel, former Canadian Prime Minister and the chair of the jury Mr Joe Clark congratulated her for the effort.
“Her values-based approach helps parties to envision a viable alternative conflict. She has led them to appreciate their diversity, allowing interests, values and participation of different groups to be respected. Her path offers a much-needed path forward for the many ongoing conflicts around the world,” said Mr Clark.
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Global Pluralism Award is a bi-annual award that celebrates extraordinary examples of pluralism in action around the world with three winners getting Ksh 4.1 million (50,000 CAD). It was initiated by His Highness The Aga Khan in partnership with the Canadian government. Other two winners who will receive the award alongside Ms Nderitu on November 15 in Ottawa, Canada are Daniel Webb of Australia and Leyner Palacios Asprilla of Colombia.
Ms Nderitu committed the amount she will receive in training more women to take part in peace talks.
“I am optimistic that in a few years’ time, references to women such as myself as ‘the only woman mediating at the peace table’ particularly as regards armed conflict, will be obsolete. To begin the dream in achieving this, the 50,000 CAD dollars that shall be given to me as part of the award will go towards setting up a team of women mediators of armed conflict across Africa,” she promised.
Opportunities for all
NCIC commissioner Fatuma Aden shed tears as she narrated how Ms Nderitu who thwarted a bloodshed in Marsabit during the recently concluded General Election. Mr Nderitu has promised to broker peace talks before, during and after the fresh presidential election on October 26.
“The award comes at a difficult time when we Kenyans had an extremely divisive election and are heading into another much more difficult one. I am part of the team of volunteers doing our utmost to help avert violence through confidential meetings with and between the leadership of the main political parties as well as our independent Constitutional bodies,” she said.
“This Global Pluralism Award has given me a mountain top from which to shout out my optimism and create opportunities for both men and women. I will shout it out and do so to the best of my ability. So help me God,” she vowed.
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