Interfaith Peacebuilding in Nigeria

Background information

Since 2009, the Islamist terrorist organization Boko Haram has been terrorizing northeastern Nigeria with violent attacks, kidnappings and bombings. In addition, violent clashes between Fulani militants and sedentary farmers in central Nigeria, which have been going on since the 1990s, continue to flare up. These two sources of conflict have had a massive impact on the relationship between Christians and Muslims throughout the country. In the course of the conflicts, many people have lost friends and family members or even experienced violence themselves and are traumatized. The anger over what has happened, the insecurity and the mistrust among the population toward other ethnic and religious groups are correspondingly great. The situation is further exacerbated by the poor economic situation and political power struggles in the country. Under these challenging circumstances, Mission 21 and its partners promote dialogue between people of different religious and ethnic backgrounds in order to facilitate peaceful coexistence. It also trains the population in conflict prevention and non-violent conflict management. It supports conflict-affected and traumatized people, especially young people and widowed women, by providing vocational training in religiously and ethnically mixed groups and psychosocial support.

Project goals

• Interreligious, interethnic and intercultural dialogue is promoted and improves mutual understanding, social cohesion and the peaceful coexistence of society.
• Society is sensitized to interethnic and interreligious conflicts and outbreaks of violence through advocacy campaigns.
• Key people in society, e.g. religious or traditional leaders and organizational staff, are trained in peacebuilding and non-violent conflict transformation.
• Trained peace workers and leaders act as bridge builders in society.
• People affected by conflict and sexual/gender-based violence are empowered in the long term through psychosocial support.

Target group

• Persons of Christian and Muslim faiths.
• Religious dignitaries, faith communities and community leaders as well as traditional leaders
• People who work for social interaction and peaceful coexistence of society.
• People directly affected by the violent conflicts in north-eastern and central Nigeria, especially widows and young people from affected regions and victims of gender-based violence.

Activities

• Establish Christian-Muslim dialogue forums with peacebuilding and bridge-building activities between social groups.
• Awareness campaigns on peaceful coexistence.
• Advocacy for reconciliation and restoration of justice through the "Restorative Justice" initiative
• Training in the areas of forgiveness, interreligious and intercultural dialog, non-violent conflict resolution, social cohesion, recognizing early signs of conflict outbreaks and following up on them
• Interreligious and interethnic self-help groups and opportunities for vocational training
• Psychosocial support for those affected by the conflicts by trained volunteers.

Project progress

In 2025, seven community and interfaith dialogues took place as planned with LCGI, reaching 600 people. Against the backdrop of growing insecurity and conflicts along religious and ethnic lines, it is all the more important to maintain communication, dispel rumors, and promote peaceful coexistence—including at the level of religious leaders and specific interfaith groups. Women at the grassroots level are considered crucial. Advocacy visits for peace and social justice, community mediation for peaceful coexistence as part of disaster risk reduction (DRR), and awareness-raising measures against gender-based violence (OSGBV) remain part of the program. In addition, tree-planting efforts in the community will continue, both for reforestation and as a community-building measure.

In 2025, the Mission 21 Coordination Office also continued the «Restorative Justice» cooperation project. As part of this project, a workshop on trauma treatment and psychosocial support (MHPSS) was held for 56 facilitators. Advocacy visits to two communities raised awareness of trauma in conflict situations. The issue of individual and collective trauma will remain very important in the foreseeable future.