Partnership and Peacebuilding: Examining an INGO’s Peacebuilding Intervention in the Farmer-Herder Conflict in North Central Nigeria

Abstract

The nature of the partnership relationship between Northern International Nongovernmental Organizations (and Southern Local Nongovernmental Organizations (jointly implementing intervention projects in the Global South is a subject of significant debate in international development. Are these relationships partnerships, principal agent relationships, or contractee contractor subcontractor relationships (2024)? Scholars contend that there is a gap between rhetoric and the practice of partnership, as it is characterized by unequal power dynamics and effects (2020; Wright, 2012; Fowler, 2003; Altahir, 2016). While the literature acknowledges this power imbalance in partnerships, it has insufficiently explored how it empirically manifests and impacts joint peacebuilding projects (Contu and Girei, 2016; Brass et al., 2018; Onudugo, Onu, and Onudugo, 2021; Banks, Schulpen, and Brockington, 2020). Therefore, using the case study of a peacebuilding intervention run by an INGO in partnership with two LNGOs within the farmer herder conflict in North Central Nigeria from 2012 to 2016, this dissertation examines the intersection between partnerships and peacebuilding effectiveness. The study investigates the nature of the relationship between the INGO and the LNGOs, how this relationship shaped the effectiveness of the peacebuilding intervention, and how the intervention was supported or hindered by the Nigerian state. The study adopts a qualitative approach, relying on semi structured interviews, a critical review of documents and a database, and leveraging Alan Fowler’s (Authentic Partnership Principles (as an analytical framework. The data suggests that the partnership relationship between the INGO and the LNGOs was inauthentic in nature and in operation, and this had a consequential effect on the intervention. This dissertation found there was insufficient community engagement, inadequate needs assessment, a flawed theory of change, and projects were imposed on beneficiaries, while sustainability plans were poorly designed. Consequently, the intervention failed to achieve sustainable peace or reduce violent conflict in the affected communities. Despite its contributions to community development in terms of food processing, the provision of boreholes and joint farming activities, the peacebuilding intervention lacked direct support from the state. The dissertation contends that the effectiveness of the initiative was hindered by the problematic nature of the partnership and weak peacebuilding governance in Nigeria, emphasizing the necessity for more authentic partnerships and stronger local governance structures to improve the success of such interventions.