Christina Okuma is a young female business development manager in a private company in Imo State. During weekends and on the days she is off-duty, she spends her time organizing and facilitating peacebuilding activities in her state. Shaaban Abdullahi is from Kano State of Nigeria but has lived most of his life in Bogobiri, Cross River State where he runs a fashion designing shop with his younger brother. He invests the little money he earns from the shop in helping to mediate between local communities to resolve conflict.
Abidoye Irene Odijie is a nurse and mid-wife in Ondo State. Irene spends her spare time coordinating peace clubs in schools in the State so children can learn the value of peace from an early age.
Tamunomie Wariboko is a community leader in Igbaisikikala-Ama community – Borokiri part of Port Harcourt town in Rivers state – which is known for its volatility and youth restiveness. To promote peace in his community, he spends his money to organize sporting competitions with token gifts between warring youth to bring them together.
Christina, Shaaban, Irene, Tamunomie are just few out of the thousands of men and women from different spheres of life who work as peace volunteers in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. They do this under the Partners for Peace (P4P) Network, a platform for collective action on peace established by the Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND), a non-profit organization set up with initial grants from Chevron Corporation.
This case study documents the stories of the many peace actors that make up the Partners for Peace Network (P4P). It also documents the processes put in place by the Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) in establishing the Partners for Peace Network as a grassroots architecture mobilized for conflict prevention, mitigation and peacebuilding in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region.
The Partners for Peace (P4P) Network has grown exponentially since its establishment in 2013 as a response to widespread conflicts in the region. From its beginnings with 120 members to over 9,000 members in 2019, P4P continues to meet its objective as a community led initiative contributing to the reduction of violent conflict in the Niger Delta. PIND’s peacebuilding program has trained over 10,000 peace actors since inception as captured in the case study.
The impact of p4p is widespread, and it has resolved alot of violence cases among women in the society.