| Overview : Malawi has a reputation for being a peaceful and stable country but the events of 20/21 July 2011 that led to 20 deaths were a wake-up that Malawi cannot take its peace for granted. Over the years, the country has benefitted from the use of traditional conflict management mechanisms and practices in resolving local and national conflicts. Government, Civil Society Organizations and other stakeholders have 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 Forum for Peaceful Resolution of Conflicts, 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 Committee (DPC) have been established in Karonga, Mangochi, and Kasungu. The lessons that will be learnt from this exercise have been the basis of 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, Nkhatabay, Mulanje, Machinga, Nsanje, and Salima. The formal establishment of these DPCs will be based on the provisions of the NPA Strategic plan that have been validated at a National Stakeholders workshop in March 2015 and the National Peace Policy which is awaiting Cabinet approval. |
