Al Houseïnou’s Story
Al Houseïnou Khalidou Sow is the community mediator of the village PK 3 in Mauritania. His community was forcibly deported from their village in 1989 by the military. He was taken to Sénégal where he lived for 18 years, before coming back to PK 3.
“We had to leave our lands, our animals and all our belongings, we lost everything. When we came back, we realised that our villages were occupied by other communities.”
In Mauritania, we support two communities locked in a land dispute, helping them resolve it to mutual benefit. Concordis has trained and financed the work of 110 community mediators, like Al Houseïnou – local people who are well placed to help their communities find sustainable solutions to their differences.
“Before, we didn’t talk to the other community that occupied our village. But thanks to the mediation of Concordis, which favours dialogue and sharing, we are now living together. We cooperate and we have even organised inter-community weddings. In this way, Concordis has helped establish social cohesion".
Concordis has been working in Mauritania since 2013. We work to build sustainable and resilient peace by empowering local community members to find workable and durable solutions for peace. We train local people to be mediators; the voices of peace in their communities. They organise community dialogues in which the root causes of conflict can be identified and solved by the community, for the community. You can find out more about our work in Mauritania by clicking here. Read more about the value of local peacebuilding by reading our Annual Review 2021.