Strengthening traditional approaches to community-level land disputes: An action research project in western Uganda

Abstract

Since the discovery of oil in Bunyoro sub-region, land-related conflicts have grown rapidly. Traditional conf lict resolution capacities, which were already in a state of disrepair, have been side-lined and the court system has been overwhelmed. Given this context, the objective of this research was to enhance the capacity of local peacebuilders to help resolve land conf licts in their communities. The research was based on an action research approach which involved three phases – exploring the issue, planning and implementing an intervention and evaluating the short-term outcomes. In the exploration phase, data was collected using focus group discussions with community members and in-depth interviews with key informants. In the intervention phase, an action team was formed to help resolve landrelated conf licts in their communities, using traditional conf lict resolution approaches. The short-term outcomes show that local peacebuilding capacities were enhanced and that many land-related conf licts were resolved using traditional conf lict resolution approaches.

Keywords: peacebuilding, land conflicts, traditional conflict resolution, Uganda