By Munya Charles Babila
Group photo of participants
The Community Initiative for Sustainable Development (COMINSUD) held a one-day workshop on Community Peace Building for community leaders and action group leaders on Wednesday May 6, 2026 in Bamenda.
Community Peace Building refers to strategies and actions taken at the local level to address conflicts, divisions, and violence while promoting long-term stability and development. It is a bottom-up approach that empowers residents within their neighborhoods. By focusing on everyday peace in relationships, local situations, and shared community life, it prioritizes local participation to create sustainable, culturally appropriate solutions.
Working groups at workshop
The workshop brought together representatives from randomly selected communities within Mezam Division. Participants shared conflicts affecting their communities and learned practical approaches for peaceful resolution.
Sessions covered conflict resolution, addressing community disputes, and promoting internal peace among individuals. Key topics included social cohesion, youth drug abuse and parent-child conflicts, land and boundary disputes, the role of state elites, administrators, and traditional rulers in conflict management, farmer-grazier tensions, and community safety and stability.
Fon Nsoh-Coordinator COMINSUD
COMINSUD Coordinator Fon Nsoh, who facilitated the workshop, said he expects participants to leave equipped with skills to address local conflicts.
"At the close of this workshop, we expect that each participant will be equipped with knowledge of conflict mapping and conflict resolution. They will be able to identify the key conflicts affecting their communities and resolve them," Fon Nsoh told the press.
Ntse Nganyu - Participant
Ntse Nganyu Mundatenu, a member of the Mankon Traditional Council and workshop participant, said the knowledge gained will benefit his community.
"I will be going to enrich my community with the skills from this workshop in identifying conflicts and applying peace strategies to solve them, especially as peace has broken down in our community due to the crisis in the North West Region," he said.
At the end of the session, over 35 participants received manuals to guide future community peace building efforts.
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