How Kaduna's Warring Badarawa Communities Became Peace Observers

The Central African Republic is rife with political problems including the lack of a health system, proving problematic for a country where Ebola runs a constant risk. Despite the challenges, the Catholic Scouts Association has stepped up to create and implement programs that aim to "promote vaccination, check out rumors about Ebola, carry messages between rival military factions and more."

The Eris Conflict Resolution life-coaching company is using conflict mediation and resolution to help those experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace. The company works with both stakeholders and the businesses involved in one-on-one mediation, course modules, and the option of conflict mediation certification to give them the tools to end the harassment safely. Since opening, 19 of the 27 clients have seen the results they were hoping for.

For 28 years, the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations, stripped more than 100 people of U.S. citizenship and deported them for their direct participation in Nazi war crimes. The most successful Nazi-hunting operation in the world, OSI’s painstaking investigations – historical research combined with criminal sleuthing and international diplomacy – pried needed records from other nations’ files in order to prove that post-war refugees who ended up in America had immigrated under false pretenses, hiding their true role in the Holocaust’s extermination camps.

Advance Peace mentors young people at risk of committing or suffering gun violence, guiding them through a "life map" process to exit street life and set goals for a safer, healthier future. The program, which started in Richmond and has expanded to other cities in California and beyond, contributed to a 22% decrease in gun homicides and assaults in an 18-month period. The decrease was 39% in the first targeted neighborhood. Mentoring includes linking youth to cognitive behavioral therapy, jobs, and field trips to expand their experiences. When they meet certain goals, they get paid a "life map allowance."

The boom in green-energy spending and government grants fuels the work of Leaders Before Legends, a Portland startup that lines up well-paying jobs installing solar panels and the like. The jobs go to people formerly incarcerated on charges related to gun violence. Leaders was founded by a man whose own gun-charge incarceration exposed him to the way that business people think. He turned that exposure into a mission to help others learn how to make money legally and safely. In the past year, the program has found work for 10 people. It is working to expand its city funding to scale up.

Gun homicides in Durham increased an alarming 20% in 2019, but one bright spot was the county public health department's Bull City United program. Since 2016, BCU is credited with reducing shootings by 28% in two areas where it was deployed. BCU follows the Cure Violence model, a violence interruption strategy using mediators, sometimes former gang members, to intervene face to face when disputes seem headed for gunfire, offering services to help young people. This public-health model of stopping the spread of violence can fail if used in a transient neighborhood lacking community organizers.

The Wraparound Project at Zuckerman San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center turns gunshot victims' hospital stays into "a teachable moment," by providing them with services aimed at helping them avoid a repeat injury. Getting shot once is a key risk factor for a second injury, particularly for gun violence's most common victims, young Black men. Wraparound is one of the nation's oldest hospital-based violence intervention programs. It has helped about 850 clients, mostly with mental health counseling, housing, and jobs. The program is associated with a decreased reinjury rate in San Francisco.

A coalition of groups advocating for young girls of color succeeded in winning new policies and financial support to combat sexual harassment on public transportation. By surveying middle and high school students about their experiences, the groups behind the "Not One More Girl" campaign convinced Bay Area Rapid Transit system officials to install posters, make reporting of incidents easier, and pay for non-police "transit ambassadors" and crisis intervention specialists to patrol trains.

Violent clashes between farmers and cattle herders that have claimed thousands of lives have largely ceased in Otukpo, thanks to a peacekeeping process that resolves disputes and is based on a shared recognition of two groups' humanity. The process imposed rules in an otherwise unruly system in which Fulani herders' open-grazing cattle destroyed crops, leading to violence. Negotiated leases and dispute-resolution mechanisms, governed through monthly meetings, have resulted in only one death since 2018, while surrounding areas continue to suffer many casualties.

The Blueprint for Peace is a community-driven gun violence prevention plan aimed to reduce gun violence and fatal shootings. The Blueprint works by creating partnerships within the community, from police officers and first responders to individuals and those working in public city offices to become educated on the importance of trauma-informed care.