Traditional Mediation — Social Cohesion and Child Protection
« In our societies, a village chief who speaks can support and reinforce the application of the law where institutions struggle to reach communities. Traditional mediation is not an alternative to law — it is its natural extension and its best vehicle for application within communities. » Dr Drahmane Fondo, Founder of AMAPISE – (Malian Association for the Support and Promotion of Endogenous Know-How Initiatives)
A Changing Context
West African societies are undergoing a profound and rapid transformation. Modernization, urbanization, growing individualism, and the monetization of social relationships: within just a few decades, these changes are upending customary balances that had structured community life for generations. This contemporary upheaval does not merely redefine one isolated practice — it profoundly redefines the entire normative framework of communities: how land is shared, how a dispute between families is settled, how a displaced population is welcomed, how authority is passed on, and how a child is protected.
The traditional practice of child circulation and fostering, which historically contributed to a child's education and socialization through a customary system of solidarity, illustrates this transformation with particular clarity: children continue to circulate among kinship members according to ancestral logics, even as the social frameworks that once gave this circulation meaning and protection have largely eroded. This is only one of many manifestations of a broader phenomenon, equally found in land tensions, intercommunity conflicts, or the challenges of reintegration following a crisis.
It is precisely in the face of this shifting normative framework that traditional mediation becomes an indispensable lever — not to replace formal law, nor to freeze customs that time has outgrown, but to offer communities a space for dialogue capable of bridging customary heritage with contemporary demands, whatever the nature of the dispute.
Why Is Traditional Mediation Indispensable?
As demonstrated by Dr Drahmane Fondo's research on "The Persistence of Tradition in the Face of Modern Law in Mali: The Roles of Customary and Religious Actors in Social Regulation Mechanisms," formal law and customary law are not opposing systems — they are complementary and mutually reinforcing. In the vast majority of West African societies, the decisions most decisive for family and community life — whether concerning fostering, child custody, marriage, land sharing, or a dispute between neighbors — are made first at the family and community level, well before any recourse to the State's formal institutions.
To ignore this reality is to condemn to failure any child protection policy, any social cohesion program, and any conflict prevention strategy that claims to rely solely on positive law. State institutions, however legitimate, rarely have the human and material resources needed to reach every village, every neighborhood, and every family within timeframes compatible with the urgency of the situations experienced. Traditional Authorities and Legitimacies, on the other hand, are already there — recognized, heeded, and able to act immediately where the State still struggles to establish a presence.
Since its creation, the Réseau EnfanceAfrique.org has chosen to mobilize these actors as partners in change, rather than obstacles to work around. This conviction, long tested in the field of child protection, now naturally extends to the full range of situations where social cohesion is put to the test — for the same legitimacy that allows a village chief to reconcile two families around a fostered child also enables him to defuse a land conflict or facilitate the reintegration of a displaced community.
AMAPISE — National and Sub-Regional Mediation Coordinator
Our Role and Mandate
Founded in 2014 in Mali, AMAPISE (Malian Association for the Support and Promotion of Endogenous Know-How Initiatives) is the institutional structure that carries and coordinates traditional mediation mechanisms for child protection and, more broadly today, for social cohesion in Mali and across the West African sub-region. It intervenes exclusively upon the request of families, local authorities, NGOs, or the communities concerned — never on its own initiative, and always with scrupulous respect for the local dynamics and hierarchies already in place.
This legitimacy to intervene rests on a simple principle, rarely applied with this level of rigor: never to substitute for local actors, but always to work through them. AMAPISE does not send in external mediators to impose a solution — it identifies, trains, and supports the Traditional Authorities and Legitimacies already recognized by their communities, across several West African countries, so that they themselves can carry out this regulatory role using rigorous methodological tools.
This approach rests on a solid scientific foundation: eight years of fieldwork conducted directly by its founder, precisely documenting the trajectories of more than one hundred and thirty-five children in situations of vulnerability across Mali. This in-depth research gives AMAPISE a rare credibility — that of an organization intimately familiar with on-the-ground realities and equipped with the tools needed to document them, analyze them, and translate them into concrete recommendations for public policy and our partners' programs.
This scientific foundation is matched by an equally decisive cultural grounding. Our founder, an anthropologist by training, has dedicated his research to the fine-grained mapping of the social and customary dynamics specific to each major Malian cultural group — Bambara, Fulani, Songhai, Dogon, Senufo, Tuareg — knowledge that allows AMAPISE to adapt each mediation to the specific codes, sensitivities, and legitimacies of the community concerned, rather than applying a uniform method disconnected from local realities. This dual foundation, scientific and cultural, is upheld by values AMAPISE never compromises on: rigor in analysis, absolute respect for cultures and traditions, independence from any donor or authority, and complete transparency in reporting on every intervention carried out on behalf of our partners.
AMAPISE — Bridge for Mediation and Conflict Resolution
Beyond child protection, AMAPISE offers to serve as a mediation bridge in any situation of conflict between families, communities, or ethnic and social groups. The Network has rapid and effective intervention mechanisms to mobilize experienced mediators and quickly bring belligerent parties to the negotiating table. This intervention capacity also extends to intercommunity, ethnic, and confessional conflicts — areas where traditional mediation, led by Traditional Authorities and Legitimacies recognized by all parties, often constitutes the only acceptable and lasting way out of crisis. AMAPISE never intervenes unilaterally or in an imposed manner — it responds to requests and always works in coordination with administrative authorities and local institutions, in compliance with the legal framework in force.
Six Concrete Mediation Situations
Fostering arrangements that have become problematic
Mediation between families of origin and host families, involving traditional authorities who safeguard the original meaning of the practice.
Land and resource access conflicts
Facilitating dialogue around land, water, and grazing areas — frequent sources of lasting tension.
Intercommunity and interethnic tensions
Mediation between groups, drawing on the legitimacy of traditional chieftaincies and religious leaders.
Post-conflict reintegration (displaced persons, ex-combatants)
Supporting reconciliation between displaced populations and host communities in central and northern Mali.
Family disputes over child custody
Mediation in situations of separation, inheritance, or family disputes directly affecting children.
Tensions related to post-crisis social reconstruction
Support for restoring social bonds in areas affected by insecurity in the Sahel.
Traditional Authorities and Legitimacies — Pillars of Mediation
Mediation Actors
Mediation mechanisms are carried by Traditional Authorities and Legitimacies (TALs), frontline actors in the social regulation of Malian and West African communities. Village chiefs and councils of elders serve as deliberative bodies for family conflicts related to fostering, child custody, and marriages — their word carries the force of law in millions of households that never turn to the courts. Religious leaders and guides (imams, priests, marabouts) play a role in counseling, legitimizing children's rights within religious texts, and guiding families toward more protective practices. Customary notables and aristocracies exercise decisive moral authority in decisions concerning children within extended families.
Communicators and Women Leaders
RECOTRADE (Network of Traditional Communicators for Development) mobilizes griots, storytellers, and cultural facilitators who use the arts of oral tradition — the most effective vehicles in societies with a strong oral heritage — to raise awareness of children's rights. Finally, women's leadership associations are essential mediators in situations of early marriage and violence against girls — often the only ones able to intervene in spaces closed to men and outside institutions. These various actors form a complementary and coherent network whose strength lies in its cultural legitimacy, recognized by all communities.
Why Call on Our Mediation
Conflict resolution approaches imported from outside, without any grounding in local legitimacy, often produce fragile agreements that do not survive the departure of external actors. Conversely, mediation led by authorities recognized by the communities themselves produces lasting agreements, locally owned, whose respect does not depend on the continuous presence of an outside third party.
It is this difference — between an imposed agreement and a recognized agreement — that explains why our partners choose mediation grounded in Traditional Authorities and Legitimacies rather than a purely technical or legal mechanism.
A Local Anchoring Documented Over More Than Ten Years, Not a One-Off Intervention
A team of researchers and experts capable of scientifically documenting each intervention
A mediation cost incomparably lower than that of prolonged judicial litigation or a security escalation
An approach that strengthens, rather than weakens, the legitimacy of local institutions and traditional authorities
Full compatibility with donors' priorities regarding social cohesion, conflict prevention, and stabilization
How It Works — Mediation on Demand
Traditional mediation carried out by AMAPISE and its partners operates according to a fundamental principle: it is always requested, never imposed. It now intervenes upon request across a much broader range of situations: a family facing a fostering arrangement that has become problematic, violence, or an early marriage; two communities in dispute over access to land or a water point; a local administrative authority wishing to favor a community-based resolution before any legal recourse; an NGO supporting the return of displaced populations to an area affected by insecurity; or a village chief facing an intercommunity tension threatening the cohesion of his territory.
Whatever the nature of the request, the process follows the same methodical rigor: identifying the legitimate representatives of each party, conducting separate listening sessions before any joint meeting, organizing a space for dialogue overseen by recognized Traditional Authorities and Legitimacies, and then formalizing an agreement carried by the community itself. This rigor in the process, as much as the respect for local dynamics, explains why decisions arising from this mediation are durably followed through, well beyond the period our teams spend in the field.
Sub-Regional Partners
This mediation capacity, now expanded to cover the full range of community conflict situations, relies on a solidly established network of traditional actors in each of our countries of intervention. In Mali, the network mobilizes AMAPISE, village chiefs, the National Council of Elders, associations of imams, and RECOTRADE Mali. In Senegal, it draws on RECOTRADE Senegal, the Council of Traditional Chiefs, and associations of Quranic teachers committed to child protection.
In Guinea, the Council of Elders, Fulani and Malinké notables, and RECOTRADE Guinea form the foundation of the system. In Burkina Faso, the Zindpanga Network, associations of Mossi chiefs, and RECOTRADE Burkina serve as relays. In Côte d'Ivoire, the Council of Kings and Traditional Chiefs and RECOTRADE Côte d'Ivoire carry the mediation mechanisms, while in Niger, Togo, and Benin, other partner Traditional Authorities and Legitimacies complete this network — unique in its scope and coherence within French-speaking West Africa, and directly mobilizable for any situation requiring community mediation, whatever its nature.
Tradition is not the enemy of children's rights. When properly mobilized, it is their most powerful ally. Join the traditional mediation network — contact AMAPISE for an intervention in your community or to explore partnership opportunities.