OUR PROJECTS

Conflict Mitigation and Community Policing (CMCP) Projects in Niger State, Central Nigeria (2023 – 2025).

The Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution Network (PS&CRN) partners with the West African Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) to lead the implementation of the Conflict Mitigation and Community Policing (CMCP) project in Niger State, Central Nigeria.The Conflict Mitigation and Community Policing (CMCP) project was initiated in late 2022 by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), funded by the United States Department Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs to reduce intercommunal violence and improve law enforcement’s skills and response in Nigeria’s Middle Belt regions. The goal of the project is to improve the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) response to conflict, engagement, communication, and presence in communities affected by violent conflict in central Nigeria. (Current project)

Final Evaluation – Building Bridges Between Herders and Farmers in Plateau, Nasarawa, and Kaduna States (June - August 2018).

PS&CRN led the final evaluation of Building Bridges Between Farmers and Herders in Plateau, Nasarawa, and Kaduna States. Search for Common Ground (SFCG)-Nigeria in partnership with Justice, Development and Peace/Caritas (JDPC), the Center for Women, Youth and Community Action (NACWYCA), and Mambissa & Amistados Ensemble implemented

the USAID Bureau of Conflict Management and Mitigation (CMM) funded project “Building Bridges between Farmers and Herders in Plateau, Nasarawa, and Kaduna states.”

The project, originally planned for 24 months (July 2015 to June 2017), received two-6months no-cost extension, from July 2017 to June 2018. The overall goal of the project “is to strengthen engagement and understanding to reduce conflict between nomadic pastoralist and sedentary farming communities in six flashpoint local governments in three high-risk states: Barkin Ladi and Riyom (Plateau State), Doma and Keana (Nasarawa State), and Zangon Kataf and Kachia (Kaduna State). The project aims to improve intercultural understanding and build capable coalitions to reduce conflict between nomadic pastoralist and sedentary farming communities. The final evaluation by PS&CRN was to assess the project impact and possible extension (Click here for the full report).

Strengthening Graduate Education in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution in Northern Nigeria (2015-2017).

The Center for Peace Studies (CPS), Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto, Nigeria wins the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) grant for African universities. The grant was announced in May 2014 “Strengthening Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution in Sub-Saharan African Universities.” In a highly contested competition of several African Universities, the CPS collaborative project with the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University titled “Strengthening Graduate Education in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution in Northern Nigeria” was approved for funding in September 2014. The primary objective of the CPS project is to strengthen UDUS graduate peace and conflict resolution program; through recruitment and training of peace and conflict instructors, curriculum updates, and the establishment of peace studies and conflict resolution networks in Nigeria to facilitate information sharing. The beneficiaries of the project are graduate students, instructors, researchers, government, and institutions. The added value of the project includes an update of the teaching curriculum, improved skills and capacity to drive experiential and reflective practice activities using northern Nigeria case studies, and the establishment of a platform for information sharing. The outcomes of the project are qualified instructors and researchers to drive graduate peace and conflict programs, updated curriculum and a functional Peace Studies & Conflict Resolution Network (PS&CRN) in Nigeria.

Understanding the Informal Security Sector in Nigeria (2014-2015)

In 2014, Ernest Ogbozor, a doctoral candidate at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University Fairfax, Virginia won a research grant from the United States Institute of Peace to investigate the informal security sector in Nigeria. The study notes that informal security actors such as vigilantes play a variety of roles in African communities. Research has tended to focus on the negative impact of informal security providers, but these groups have an essential role in a community’s safety and security. This report provides an analysis of the informal security actors in the Nigerian states of Plateau, Kaduna, and Kano and in the capital city of Abuja. (Click here for the USIP Special Report 391) .