Effectiveness of Peace Building from Below: Activities of local NGOs During Armed Conflict in Cameroon

Abstract

The grassroots level or bottom-top peace building is getting more and more attention and is acknowledged as a crucial part in the peace building process, despite the official peace process commonly targets the top level. Peace agreements signed by the elite (top-bottom) will not be implemented thoroughly in society unless the population living the conflict has their own agency. These community-led agencies in the form of local NGOs play pivotal role in the effective implementation of peace building from below. This article seeks to examine the effectiveness of peace building activities from below carried out by local NGOs during armed conflict. Adopting the theory of subsidiarity in enhancing community-led peace building activities, this article employed the quantitative research approach with the use of questionnaire for data collection. The article targeted 107 respondents from Buea sub-division using purposive sampling technique in selecting the respondents who are well knowledgeable with regards to the peace building activities carried out by local NGOs. The findings reveal that NGOs have effectively implemented the following as peace building from below during armed conflict in communities; advocacy for peace, sensitization on no to drug abuse, sports and cultural activities, capacity building for youths, identifying the causes of the conflict, and protection of human rights as peace building from below activities. Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are doing even more peace building activities than any official governmental agencies. In many of the areas of the world at large and in Cameroon in particular, they have a long term presence that is afflicted with intractable conflicts. NGOs are in an excellent position to engage in a wide variety of peace building activities from below.