Week 6: Impact
Last weekend, there was an attack in Jos, Nigeria, that left at least 86 people dead. The violent attack was said to have occurred between armed herdsmen and farmers in the Middle Belt region, potentially causing ethnic tensions that have been bubbling beneath the surface for years to boil over. This attack had direct implications for our team in Nigeria, which managed to respond to the attack quickly and effectively.
In our weekly phone conference with our overseas partners on Monday, we discussed the immediate response, as well as the impact these attacks could have on JSD's programming. Our Nigeria partners felt that the local response to the situation was strong because of the relationships that they had been able to build, but at the national and state level, there was room for improvement. We also discussed the difficulty of responding as international actors to situations such as these; while we are not an NGO that can call out a government for its response, or lack thereof, without risking danger and hardship for our local partners, not responding comes with its own consequences--mainly, a perception of implicit endorsement. At the same time, were we to dive in head-first with a dialogue to address contentious issues between conflicting groups, such as the herdsmen and farmers in Nigeria, we could inadvertently cause existing conflict to worsen.
Hearing this discussion and reading the news reports of the attack in Jos reminded me that, while I work from the comfort of my desk in a beautifully designed building in D.C., my work has broader implications. This reminder urged me to review my work and think hard about the policy implications of advocating engagement with non-state security forces. While there is a real need for countries, including Nigeria, to shore up its security service gaps--as evidenced by continued violent conflict and growing feelings of insecurity between ethnic identity groups--doing so without carefully considering potential negative consequences risks plunging the country deeper into conflict.
Working as an intern, away from the "action," can often feel like my work is also removed from practical applicability. But this incident has shown me that this is not merely an intellectual exercise. While I am keenly aware that desk research alone cannot solve a country's problems, no matter how thorough, perhaps my research can spark dialogues at the national, state, and local level that can solve these big picture questions.