Exploration of Indigenous knowledge for Conflict Managementand Application System Development for Communities in Southwest Ethiopia

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to explore indigenous knowledge for conflict managementof some communities in southwest Ethiopia and to develop a web-based system forits preservation and dissemination. The study adopted a qualitative research approach for exploring IK using focusgroup discussion, interview and observation.Questionnaireswere used for quantitative data collection. Drupal version 7.6installingon xampp local host server wasused for application system development. In this study the target populations were from Mana woreda and Mareqo woreda. The total inhabits were around 257,995. Thereason to select those study sites was that they possess experience of successful conflict managementthrough traditional manner.The findings in this study showed that there exists long timetrend among Mana and Mareqo woreda people to manage their conflicts mostly through traditional mechanisms such as“Jaarsummaa” and “Raga-Mara”. The communities have a belief that traditional mechanisms are much better than the modern court procedure,it is possible to produce win-win result which is influential for dispute parties’ future friendly and family relationship, easily accessible, time saving, less costly, no perjury tolerated and vital for social stability.Data collected during the study from local organizations’ employeeindicated that out of the total respondents 94 (96.9%) of them were familiar with the practices of such indigenous knowledge, but 91 (93.8%) of them indicated that they had never used traditional manner of conflict management web-application system.A webbased system that preservesthe actual conflict management mechanisms was developed in a local host server, the system has a features that facilitates the access of files and documents for users according to their role; a means to share practices of conflict management in different areas; alert sending form that enable users to share possible occurrences of conflict and a way to redirectusers to related topics in order to download files.The study revealed that traditional manner of conflict management plays vital role for settling peaceful environment within the communities of southwest Ethiopia.So system development that uses new technology for its preservation and dissemination especially to youthis recommended, in addition the future studies should work in exploring uncovered study areas and developing android application system in preserving the IK.