INTEGRATED PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT UNIT (IPDU)

OVERVIEW:

The Integrated Peace and Development Unit (IPDU) is PIND’s response to rapidly changing dynamics on the ground. The IPDU promotes collaboration and synergy amongst existing local, regional, and national efforts of actors in both public and private sectors to address conflict early warning and response, with a focus on gender and youth, and emphasis on practical solutions for peace-building and conflict mitigation.

By design, the Unit responds to emerging threats in a timely, adaptive, and actionable manner. It also identifies and mobilizes appropriate actors and resources via three interdependent components – Research, Capacity Building, and Applied Learning – aimed at early targeting and mitigation of potential drivers of instability.

This Unit is PIND’s response to the rapidly changing conflict dynamics in the Niger Delta. The Unit will operate over all nine states in the Niger Delta (prioritizing Rivers, Delta, Ondo and Bayelsa States) by providing trainings (and other forms of support) to the Partners for Peace Network (P4P), Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) and other actors in the Niger Delta Peace and Security ecosystem.

RECENT UPDATES
WHY IPDU?

Research

Provide research and consulting services to donors, implementing agencies, and private sector actors who need this knowledge and capacity to fulfill their own peace-building and conflict mitigation objectives.

Initiatives

Capture best practices and lessons learned and bring promising initiatives to scale, such as peace messaging, early warning/analysis, and mediation and consensus building efforts undertaken by local stakeholders and partners.

Support

Support PIND, as well as other donors and organizations through its three component functions: Research, Capacity Building, and Applied Learning.

Key Achievements So Far

  • Successful non-violent election project: During the 2015 and 2019 elections, which featured the use of ballot and electronic card readers to decide federal and state-level leadership positions across the region and beyond, the stakes were high, and the need for community-level engagement on peace was more necessary than ever. Through the IPDU, we successfully ran a non-violent election project in Rivers, Bayelsa, and Delta States, to help sensitize the electorate on peaceful election.

  • SMS early warning platform: In partnership with Academic Associates Peace Works (AAPW), IPDU set up the Community Stakeholder Network (CSN) and created an SMS-based early warning and Early Response (EWER) System which further empowered local actors to help keep the peace required for the economic development of their communities. Our SMS platform was effectively used by trained field observers to send incident reports on Election Day especially relating to election malpractices and violence. These reports were then collated and analyzed for a detailed understanding of incidents that took place during elections. With elections over, the SMS platform is now being used to receive conflict incident reports by the newly-formed PREVENT Team, an integral part of the Partners for Peace (P4P) Network dedicated to early response to and mitigation of these arising conflicts.

Download the IPDU EWER System

RESULTS

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emerging conflicts mitigated by peace actors in their communities to sustain economic activities

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Community Stakeholders Meetings to analyze and resolve conflicts.

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Niger Delta conflict data points for early warning & early response (EWER) recorded on the Peace Maps

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Townhall Meetings to sensitize on importance of peace during elections.

Report Incidents: IPDU Early Warning System Please report any verified incident of conflict to the IPDU SMS early warning system: Text report to 0912 233 4455.

Incident Details: Kindly include the State, LGA, Town, Date, and a brief incident description