From Conflict to Cooperation: A Community-led Approach to Farmer-Herder Peacebuilding in Riyom, Plateau State, Nigeria

Abstract

Community Participatory Action Research (CPAR) in peacebuilding is often framed as an approach to ensure that conflict analyses are locally-informed and as means to empower local stakeholders. However, CPAR can also in itself be an approach to building peace. This documentary shows how the Youth Initiative Against Violence and Human Rights Abuse (YIAVHA) used CPAR to analyze conflict dynamics in Riyom, Plateau State, Nigeria, and in the process, lessened the outbreaks of violence between farmers and herders and promoted continued cooperation between groups. This provides further evidence that CPAR itself can act as a form of problem-solving workshop that promotes positive intergroup contact—a finding that has significant implications for peacebuilding efforts around the world.