Capacity Building and Creation of Livelihoods for Sustainable Development

Abstract

In a society where conflict defines community relationships, measures must be taken to bring about peaceful coexistence within communities. While a thorough understanding of the causes and dynamics of the conflicts is a necessary step, both the nature of the solutions sought and the way they are implemented are critical. In Northern Kenya, chronic poverty and underdevelopment are key causes of conflict, requiring a search for solutions to address the broad array of development needs of the affected communities (Schlee, 1994; Tablino, 2004). Past responses to resolve conflicts in these communities have failed because of an apparent overemphasis on traditional policing approaches to conflict resolution and sustainable security (Kenya, 1993). For example, the security system advocated by the government has actually intensified conflict because it has only dealt with the symptoms of conflict, namely, livestock raids, instead of confronting the fundamental issues of poverty and underdevelopment.