Coventry Researchers in Kenya Trip

A small team of researchers from Coventry University travelled to Kenya to conduct research on community tensions, dialogue and peacebuilding practices in Kenya and the Eastern Africa region.

During a workshop for around 30 policymakers, practitioners and community activists, Hazel Barrett (Associate Dean Applied Research), Carol Rank (Centre for Peace and Reconciliation) and Aurelie Broeckerhoff (Centre for Social Relations) had the opportunity to explore issues of conflict transformation and peacebuilding practices, particularly pertinent in light of the recently held Kenyan general elections and the on-going ethnic tensions in certain parts of the country.

The visit was co-organised by Coventry University, the University of Nairobi and the Kenyan National Commission on Integration and Cohesion and represented the continuation of an on-going partnership between these three bodies with the University of Makerere, the British Council Kenya and local peacebuilding organisations.

The organisations have been working together since 2009 to address conflict and community tensions in Kenya and the East African region in an initiative now united as the “Partnership for Peace and Cohesion”, Some of the achievements so far have included: setting up peace education and human security undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, a high-profile conference bringing together politicians (the then Deputy Prime Minister, the then Minister of Justice), academics from all three institutions and peacebuilding practitioners from a range of conflict ‘hotspots’ in the region.

The purpose of the visit was to support work towards a publication on community tensions, dialogue and peacebuilding in Kenya and the Eastern African region. It will be published by Coventry University and the University of Nairobi. The team also met with Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Henry Mutoro at the University of Nairobi, who has expressed continued support for the Partnership for Peace and Cohesion. The visit also involved two research field trips, meeting with conflict-affected communities in the Rift Valley and in two of Nairobi’s slums.

The publication will be made available as an e-book in Spring 2014.

For more information, please contact: Aurelie Broeckerhoff