| Overview : Over the years, Malawi has benefitted from the use of traditional conflict management mechanisms and practices in resolving community and national conflicts. Government, Civil Society Organizations and other stakeholders such as traditional leaders have also provided various forms of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. These institutions include the Judiciary, District Labour Offices, the Office of the Ombudsman, Malawi Human Rights Commission, Public Affairs Committee, National Institution for Civic Education, Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, Multiparty Liaison Committees (MPLCs), etc. While some of these institutions have played a critical role in managing national conflicts, their efforts have been impeded by two main challenges, namely; lack of enabling legislation and absence of a national peace architecture that promotes pro-active rather than reactive conflict management in the country. As a result, their efforts were mostly being ad-hoc and unsustainable. In an effort to achieve more sustainable peace, the Government of Malawi is in the process of establishing a National Peace Architecture (NPA) to serve as the national pillar for peacebuilding, conflict prevention and transformation. The NPA will functionally be represented at national and district levels where these structures will engage in a collaborative manner with other key stakeholders in peacebuilding and transformative dialogues that foster national cohesion. In view of the above, as a first step and a test to roll out the NPA structures nationwide, three pilot District Peace Committees (DPCs) have been established in Karonga, Mangochi, and Kasungu. The lessons learnt from this exercise are the basis on which similar structures will be implemented in other districts across the country. Currently the process is underway to establish DPCs in six other districts including Rumphi, Nkatabay, Mulanje, Machinga, Nsanje, and Salima. The National Peace Policy which was approved by the government in 2017 provides a legal foundation and framework to the establishment of the NPA including DPCs. Enabling legislation for the implementation of the National Peace Policy will be developed and enacted in due course. Apart from DPCs, Women in Peacebuilding Forums and Youth Peace Forums have been established at national and regional levels as informal, civil society-based substructures under the NPA. These forums, in addition to other existing initiatives and structures on conflict prevention and resolution that are run by various other civil society organizations, also support the initiatives of conflict prevention, resolution and transformation on the ground. One of the expected objectives under the National Peace Policy is to conduct research on peace and conflict. For this purpose, the NPA is in the process of establishing a conflict data collection and management mechanism, and DPCs are given the responsibility to collect and compile conflict-related information at district level. The NPA will receive data from each DPC for further data compilation, management and analysis at national level. |
