National Council of Churches of Kenya

Tana River Basin Communities Validating Research Report

Members of communities living in the Tana River Basin have today kicked off a one-week exercise of validating the findings of the Participatory Action Research (PAR) that was undertaken last year. The validation is being done at Garsen.

The PAR, undertaken by the NCCK in partnership with the Life and Peace Institute (LPI), aimed at establishing the causes, actors and dynamics as well as historical initiatives into and feasible solutions to the conflict in the Tana River Basin.

The NCCK and LPI thus developed an initiative that would facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the conflict and the communities’ vision for conflict transformation.

Tana River Basin has over the decades experienced cyclical conflict that periodically explodes in outright conflict leading to death and destruction of property. The research findings indicate that the primary cause of the conflicts is competition for water and pasture, which is worsened by the gross under-development and marginalization of the area.

“The time to engage the communities in discussing the causes and dynamics of conflict are when there is peace”, says Susie Ibutu, the NCCK Programmes Director. “During the time of violence, or immediately after, community members can get very agitated and therefore not consider the issues comprehensively.”

Tana River Basin is a wide swath of land covering approximately 39,573 square kilometers, bordering Kitui and Mwingi to the west; Garissa to the North; Ijara to the east; and Lamu to the south. The Basin has at least 14 different ethnic communities as well as a host of settler communities.