Magwi County Conflict and Leadership Mapping Together We Can: Supporting Local Peace Efforts in Magwi County October 2015 Adalei Broers Design, Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator Amzah Juma Design, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer Contact: Xav C. Flowers Rebecca Besant Country Director Regional Director Country East and Southern Africa Address: Address: Kimironko Road Phone Number: Remera | Kigali | Rwanda Email Address: Phone Number: +250 78 574 8558 Email Address: [email protected] Together We Can | Magwi County Mapping 2 Table of Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................. 4 Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 4 Limitations .......................................................................................................................... 5 Key Findings ...................................................................................................................... 6 Recommendations ............................................................................................................. 8 1. Background Information .................................................................................................10 2. Methodology ....................................................................................................................12 3. Findings ...........................................................................................................................16 4. Unifiers .............................................................................................................................28 5. Recommendations ..........................................................................................................29 6. Appendices ......................................................................................................................31 Annex I: Focus Group Discussion Tools ..............................................................................31 Annex II: Key Informant Interview Guide ...............................................................................39 Annex III: Household Survey ..................................................................................................40 Annex IV: Report of Youth-led Research ..............................................................................43 Photos and Figures Photo 1: Mapping with Women FGD, Magwi .............................................................................13 Photo 2: Mapping with Women FGD, Pageri .............................................................................14 Photos 3-8: Youth-led Research Topic of Discussion ................................................................15 Photo 4: Participatory Leadership Mapping (Pageri, left; Magwi, right) ......................................25 Table 1: Mapping Target Areas .................................................................................................10 Table 2: Overview of Data Collected .........................................................................................12 Table 3: Types of Conflicts Experienced (N=72) .......................................................................16 Table 4: Intermarriage between tribes is okay (N=28) ...............................................................20 Table 5: How confident are you that local authorities can provide assistance in case of insufficient access to food or water? (N=28)..............................................................................22 Table 6: Last time you lacked access to sufficient amounts of food and/or water, .....................23 Table 7: Is violence accepted in your community? (N=28) ........................................................24 Table 8: Government and Tribal Leadership in Magwi County ..................................................24 Search for Common Ground | South Sudan Together We Can | Magwi County Mapping 3 Abbreviations CD Community Dialogues EES Eastern Equatoria State FGD Focus Group Discussion GBV Gender-based Violence KII Key Informant Interview SAF Sudanese Armed Forces SFCG Search for Common Ground SPLA Sudanese People’s Liberation Army UNDP United Nations Development Program Search for Common Ground | South Sudan Together We Can | Magwi County Mapping 4 Executive Summary Search for Common Ground is embarking on a pilot peacebuilding project supported by UNDP in Magwi County, Eastern Equatoria State in South Sudan. This project seeks to support locally-led peace and reconciliation efforts among the County’s two primary tribal groups; the Madi and the Acholi, through targeted capacity building trainings and inter-communal dialogue, solutions-oriented media programming, participatory theater performances, and community outreach activities. The culmination of SFCGs support in this pilot phase envisages community leaders across the two community working together to identify livelihood/social interdependency strategies that can promote peaceful coexistence and mutual understanding. An initial critical activity under this project is a conflict and leadership mapping that will serve as a project baseline to guide the project team in designing project activities as well as identifying and selecting principal project participants. Methodology The methodological approach was primarily qualitative given the nature of the project, which requires a deep understanding of the conflict context and the key actors and institutions in both communities, as well as how they interact with each other. The qualitative methods used included key informant interviews (KIIs) with nine critical government and community actors, five in Pageri and four in Magwi, and six focus group discussions (FGDs) including one group of youth, one group of women, and one group of men in each location. Additionally, the mapping included a short household survey in two Bomas of each target Payam (Magwi and Pageri). Given that the size and spread of the populations in these areas is unknown, the enumerators used a convenience sample with a randomization element to ensure a diversity of views within each community was captured. Lastly, an experimental participatory research element was devised to add locally- derived data and analysis to the mapping. Three youths from each Payam volunteered to participate in a one-day planning workshop with the SFCG mapping team where they designed their own data collection plan, followed by two days of data collection and culminating in a one-day group analysis and presentation with the SFCG Program Officer based in Magwi. The household survey and youth-led research provide validation to the Search for Common Ground | South Sudan Together We Can | Magwi County Mapping 5 findings from the KIIs and FGDs of the mapping team, in addition to a community validation meeting, to take place subsequent to the finalization of the initial mapping report. The planning and design of the mapping took place from August - September 2015 with data collection carried out in October 2015. Limitations The mapping was designed as a rapid assessment to accommodate the 6-month timeline of the pilot project and required expedited delivery. This may have impacted some of data collected by the enumerators, who received very brief training on the household survey questions. As a result, there were differences in the way in which the Pageri enumerator and the Magwi enumerator asked respondents questions. In Pageri, respondents tended to give multiple responses to the question pertaining to conflicts in the community. In Magwi, responses were fewer. This resulted in more types of conflicts named by the community in Pageri and in greater numbers, which could skew by giving an impression that Pageri seems more conflict prone than it is. It would also seem that some respondents didn’t clearly understand the questions asked of them, based on responses to the final question where respondents were asked to rate the conflicts they experience by severity. With more thorough training of enumerators, these inconsistencies would have been less likely. In addition, the short timeline available for the mapping limited the geographic coverage. In order to collect the widest possible range of data, the mapping team was able to use vehicles in order include FGD participants from Bomas outside of the two target areas (Magwi and Pageri). However, not every Boma was represented in each FGD. Meanwhile, KIIs were focused on central government and community figures, with limited representation outside the primary Bomas. The youth research element of the mapping may have provided some geographic balance as they were given stipends to organize themselves and they took a more organic approach to engaging their communities in dialogue. In Magwi, in particular, youths organized dialogues around existing social gatherings, for example, after church services or the end of the school day. In addition, the enumerators in each location were asked to conduct surveys in two separate Bomas in their Payams, to gather diverse opinions on conflict and leadership. Search for Common Ground | South Sudan Together We Can | Magwi County Mapping 6 Language barriers may also have had an impact on the data collected. The SFCG DME Officer speaks Madi, the local language of the Madi people in Pageri however the mapping team had to rely on locally hired translators