Technical Assistance to the Civic Engagement: Identity and Citizenship Project
Since 2012, Mali has faced a succession of violent conflicts. This violence has fractured Mali’s political landscape, with several warring factions holding power in different parts of the country. In Mali’s Sahel region, local and international NGOs are promoting dialogue among influential groups to revitalize the stalling peace process, reduce violence, and deliver long-term stability.
This program supports a coalition of Malian NGOs in running community-based peacebuilding activities in Sikasso and the surrounding areas. Chemonics improves conflict-focused NGOs’ organizational management and ability to deliver evidence-based peace and stabilization work.
Chemonics builds local NGOs’ capacity by conducting training workshops for them, teaching them how to construct effective conflict programs that consider warring groups’ needs and motivations to find common ground and resolution. The workshops equip participants to apply the “Elite Bargains and Political Deals” theory to understanding local conflicts. Using the approach, participants research the informal power structures that underpin conflict and translate this evidence into “conflict narratives” that clarify warring groups’ motivations. The program organizes regular peer-to-peer learning sessions for peacebuilders to monitor activities’ effectiveness and share their experiences using Elite Bargains and Political Deals approaches.
