| dc.description.abstract | Laikipia North district is one of four the Districts in Laikipia County in the Rift Valley region of
Kenya. It is a multi-ethnic tribal county which pastoralist communities share with ranchers,
farmers, horticulturalists and wildlife conservation areas. This study attempted to examine the
factors that influence sustainability of peace among the communities living in Laikipia North
district. The objectives included to investigating how land use practices including nomadic
pastoralism, ranching, horticulture, crop farming influence tribal conflict, to investigate how
traditional structures influence sustainability of peace, to establish the influence of ethnicized
politics on sustainability of peace, and to establish the influence of civil society interventions on
sustainability of peace in Laikipia North district. In the course of this study, primary and
secondary literature of related nature was reviewed including academic researches, journal
papers, reports and books including online materials related to the area of study. Descriptive
research design was adopted with purposive sampling method applied when analyzing the target
population. Structured and unstructured design questionnaires were developed and used for data
collection. The sample was purposively drawn from the 210 peace workers who are members of
LPCs and DPC of Laikipia North District which each of 14 LPCs producing 3 respondents one
of whom had to be a member of the DPC thus making a sample of 42 participants.
Questionnaires and reviewed by experts and pretested before implementation to ensure validity.
The data gathered was analyzed using the Microsoft Windows Excel 2010. After data analysis
the descriptive statistics results were presented using percentage tables. This study has revealed
that pastoralism is a factor that contributes to tribal conflicts in Laikipia North as was asserted by
71% the respondents. The findings of this indicate that in overall, ethnicized politics in a multiethnic
area like Laikipia North District is viewed as challenge to sustainable peace. The study
also established as was affirmed by 74% of the respondents that traditional structures were very
effective in peace building and conflict prevention. Supported by 97.5% of the respondents, civil
society interventions were found to be highly effective in fostering sustainable peace in Laikipia
North District. This study recommends to the county government of Laikipia County to
proactively take lead in peace building and explore alternative means of livelihoods to reduce
depends on livestock which put pressure on resources. It further recommends that the DPCs and
LPCs should be linked up with the traditional structures to create to enhance their effectiveness.
The study also recommends strengthening of collaboration between the government and civil
society. | en |
