Village committees promote peace and social cohesion for a better social and economic development

Home to almost half a million people, Hodh Ech Chargui is the second most populated region in Mauritania. Situated in the desert, in the east of the country, it faces a multitude of issues concerning access to water. Low rainfall over the past six years and the instability in the bordering north of Mali have stopped herders coming from across the border to sell their cattle in the country.

Hodh Ech Chargui has been hosting around 67,000 refugees, displaced by the armed rebellion in northern Mali and the ensuing military coup in January 2012. This influx of refugees with their livestock is putting additional pressure on the pastures and water points. The pressure on the volatile natural resources is causing a multiplication of conflicts between communities for access to natural resources.

IOM and partners have set up 134 village committees to mitigate conflicts arising between the communities. Under the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) project, which has been providing support focused on dialogue and reconciliation in Mali, village committees have benefited from capacity building for conflict resolution and socioeconomical development of the villages.

In the village of Hassy Lebyadh, Ebbe Saleck Mohamed Moctar has been the president of the committee since 2018, and played a crucial role on conflict resolution and social integration. He attended a training on conflict management, border management, prevention of violent extremism and community leadership, organized by IOM. He describes an incident, which his village managed to resolve through its committee:

“Unfortunately, a theft of a goat was reported in our village Hassy Lebyadh. The person responsible for the theft was identified and was convoked by the committee. He agreed to pay the price of the goat to the owner who is a refugee living in the village, and apologized to him. The owner agreed to withdraw the complaint. To solve this problem, we put into practice the lessons we had learned during the training workshops on conflict management. With this concrete example, all committee members understood the importance of these trainings.”

The village committee in Hassy Lebyadh includes members of the community as well as refugees from the nearby M’bera refugee camp. Such is Tiya Welt Ahmed, a widow from Kala in Mali who sought refuge in Hassy Lebyadh with her little brother.

“In 2012, following the death of my husband who was killed by an armed group, I fled to M’bera refugee camp, then to Hassy Lebyadh with my little brother. We were welcomed by Ebbe. He offered us space in the village garden to allow us to have income through agriculture. Everything is going well since I moved her, the people of the community help me a lot to cultivate this field, they consider me like their sister.”

The PBF project aims to empower women and children who are not systematically included in strategic decision-making processes of their community.

In study conducted in 2021, IOM identified the need to develop income-generating activities in the field of livelihoods to reduce vulnerabilities of young people in the border zones of Hodh Ech Chargui.

In partnership with local NGO SOS Desert, IOM provided income-generating activities (IGA) and training for 250 persons aged between 15 and 35 years in two villages.

32-year-old Mohamed Zanka represents the youth association of his village Koussana, one of the two IGA sites, where he manages an animal feed storage. “Most of the villagers have ruminants, they had to go to Bassiknou to get animal feed, and sometimes it could take all day for the trip. With this store, we can directly provide the animal feed. Now my fellows and I have an activity where we could help the member of the community.”

The project has also provided training to a women cooperative on beauty treatments, including Melahafa dyeing, hairdressing and skincare.

“SOS Desert trained us on things that we are not used to work on, each member of the cooperative has now a skill that they would use in the future. Instead of going all the way to Bassiknou for beauty treatments, the women from the surrounding villages are coming to our shop,” describes El Ajmiye Himalay, the representative the women cooperative and a mother of a two-year-old.