Csa Activity Update

CSA ACTIVITY UPDATE OCTOBER 2010

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Conflict Sensitivity Approach (CSA) is implemented through the Conservation Agriculture Project (CAP) in Koinadugu District. Following the completion of project launching and capacity building workshop, couple of activities was implemented in the CA project these include:

Land access and conflict mitigation meeting
Local convention on wood exploitation, grazing , burning and conflict
Women and youth support in VSLA

The conservation agriculture project is based on increasing productivity through sustainable land use i.e. moving from shifting cultivation to permanent stay on a piece of land year in –year out.This system therefore requires individuals or groups to access/own land for a long period of time. Also the project is implemented in an environment of alarming conflict between cattle farmers and crop farmers.

Based on the above therefore the project is faced with two major challenges: firstly, whilst the project is trying to mitigate conflict between cattle farmers and crop farmers, the local leaders who are directly benefiting from the conflict are not providing the necessary support needed; this is making the situation more difficult.

Secondly, as the project push for long term access or permanent ownership of land for youths marginalized groups especially women and youths are not favored by the customary laws of SierraLeone to have full access and control over productive asset like land.

With respect to conflict sensitivity, the project is therefore challenged to ensurepeaceful prevention and mitigation of these conflicts and advocating for long term access to land for women and youth without creating more conflict in the operating environment.

To ensure this, the project uses the following strategies

Interface local leaders with crop farmers and cattle farmers, MAFFS and local council for long term access to land and conflict mitigation and the development of land use agreement
Ensuring tree crop for women and youths to establish tree crop plantation
Local convention on land use, uncontrolled grazing and uncontrolled burning
Women and youth support in VSLA

These activities are on-going the conflict are reducing to some extent and some women have started establishing tree crops farm though there is no concrete agreement for the land to ensure tenure of security

What is working?

1. Interface local leaders with crop farmers and cattle farmers, MAFFS and local council for long term access to land and conflict mitigation through thedevelopment of land use agreement

So far these meeting have been on- going, men are insisting that women can only gain access to land through marriage and not from patrilineal lines and that they cannot go into any permanent agreement with women on long term use of land ‘as women are not permanent’ How ever some have started reconsidering their decisions as a result of several dialogue.‘PA Alhaji Jalloh at Mannah Affia said I will only make land available for my male children the are female will get land from his husband’

With respect to cattle farmer and crop farmer conflict bye laws/local regulations have been developed at chiefdom and community level developed at chiefdom level by local authorities and their subjects. Though some have started observing these lawseffort to prevent and mitigate these conflict have been very challenging because local authorities and these local court see these conflict as a source of income and revenue they are therefore not providing the type of support needed from them“howcan the court gain revenue if there is no conflict and we the local authorities are not paid” one local court clerk said!

2. Ensuring tree crop for women and youths to establish tree crop plantation

For men to ensure women have long term or permanent access to land, the project is providing tree seedlings to women and youth so that men can allow them to have access to land to plant the tree crops, the strategy is that once they are interested in the tree crops and they need it they will provide land for them for planting. And since the trees take up to 20 years and more the land can be under the control of the user within the period. This seems to be working in some communities but the challenge lie in the areas of developing written agreement between the land owner and the user.

3. Local convention on land use, uncontrolled grazing and uncontrolled burning

Land use pattern in these operational chiefdom does not favor strangers especially Fula tribe who are predominantly cattle farmers. There is overwhelming conflict between crop farmers who are referred to as land owners. The said land owners resolve to send the Fulas away like in the Wara Wara Yagala chiefdom from their chiefdoms. Though in some communities’ cattle farmers and crop farmers have started observing regulations developed from the conventions like in Dembelia Sinkunia chiefdom, other chiefdoms are yet to observe due to the benefit the chief and the local court are getting from the conflict.

4. Women and youth support in VSLA

The VSLA has contributed to improve the economic status of some women in theoperationalchiefdoms how ever the improvement in the economic status is also creating some conflict between some husbands and their wives. A case in point is in one of the operational communities; an increase in income for Patty Kargbo’s (a farmer and petty trader) led his Husband to threaten to marry another wife if she fail to hand over the money to him this led to a serious palaver between them.

What is not working?

Development of land use agreement is not supported by land owners in fear of loosing their land
Local authorities are not supporting the full implementation of bye laws and local regulations and are seeing project staff as putting them apart for instance ‘in one local convention held in one of the operational communities there was a role play on how local authorities settle herder- farmer conflict. In the role play it came out clearly that the local authorities are always bias toward the cattle farmer because of the benefit they get from the cattle farmers, at the end of the role play the chiefdom speaker who was representing the paramount chief of one of the chiefdoms was annoyed and mentioned that the project is trying to put the local authorities and their subjects apart
Men support for the economic growth for women

Lesson learnt:

When local authorities practice justice in implementing the bye law theconflicts seem to minimize like in Dembelia Sinkunia chiefdom.

Local authorities are continuing to fuel the conflict so that they can gain form it

Field staff should know the type of role plays they develop to avoid negative impact

Challenges:

Developing appropriate strategy to ensure issues of local authorities and land ownership are handled with a conflict sensitive lens

Influencing the customary practice of men to make land available to women and strangers
Change of attitude of local authorities in implementing local bye laws/ regulation