Conclusion: Supporting Justice on the Ground in Southern Africa

Abstract

Justice on the ground is being practiced in the absence of, or together with, state-led justice systems across the African continent. The driving question is: How do we support justice on the ground without distorting, damaging or substantially changing it? How do we support the complex and multi-varied roles that women play in resolving conflicts and restoring social harmony? Many international and local non-governmental organisations (NGOs), government departments and other international, national and local actors attempt to intervene in rural and peri-urban communities in a variety of ways. A lot of attention is being paid to how we can avoid top-down, imposed interventions, yet there is still little effort made to understanding how community-based practices actually work. We recommend that the way to support justice on the ground is to understand it well, and this requires traditional leaders, healers, and community leaders to train those coming from ‘outside’, including national NGOs and government departments, in how they function. This is a critical starting point if we are to take local agency and local ownership seriously.