Ekpokpa is the name of the peace education and research project in the conflict-affected Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon and their neighbouring Nigerian communities hosting refugees of the crisis. It based on the work of the Institute for the Prevention of Transnational Crisis across Southeastern Nigeria and Southern Cameroons (IPTC-SENSC). The project is a pursuit of positive peace (PPP) involving conflict resolution, peacebuilding, conflict transformation, the development infrastructures of peace, and human rights defence. We study the ongoing conflict in the area, mediate and advocate for a resolution, and help to create practical solutions to the problems.

Peace education for the individual, human rights defence, and helping communities build effective and lasting social institutions are fundamental to our work as the absence of these often lead to undervelopment. Our work translates to an agile society and ultimately brings about development which we view as a presence of peace infrastructures. Our model is to create those peace infrastructures with the involvement of the affected people themselves as the best guarantee for community ownership, effectiveness, and their durability.

As an education and research area, our work provides the necessary resources for peace education and other educational services which have become hard to access due to the crisis. We believe education is the bedrock on which prosporous societies are built. Therefore, we have designated the region as Education and Research Area to help us find a clear understanding of the situation in its multiple dimensions. Our work is grassroot-based and staff are the local people themselves. They constitute a major part of our knowledge pool.

The knowledge we gain from our work enables us to make informed decisions, to build infrastructures of peace which include social institutions and basic community amenities. It also enables us to provide formal guidance, policy papers, breifings, and other support to actors including the international community which has an important role to play in the development and restoration of peace in the area.

The emphasis on community engagement is underlined by the importance placed on our agency called Research Roundtable - a platform for rigorous debates and idea exchange to move the community forward on the path of peace. All sittings and communiqués are recorded in the journals Proceedings and Acts of the Roundtable Leadership (P.A.R.L) and the Royal Repository of Innovation and Studies (rRIS).

A separatist war broke out in 2017 following violent crackdown by Cameroonian athorities on teachers and lawyers protesting marginalisation of the Anglophone region of cameroon. In October 2020, one of the separatist groups AGovC signed what it calls a foundation Memorandum of Understanding with the Indignious People of Biafra (IPOB), a proscribed separatist group in Nigeria. In February 2022, the two groups formally established bilateral relations and in October 2023 they signed the ‘Defence Alliance’ and established the ‘Joint International Council’ in Helsinki, Finland. This development created a dangerous security situation across the Southeast region and Southern Cameroon with ripercussions felt almost immediately in the clash with Nigerian securty forces in Bakassi. Our mission and mandate is to prevent the emergence of a transnational crisis in the region.

How do you pronounce Ekpokpa?

Just say the word without the letter 'K'. It is that easy!

What does the word Ekpokpa mean?

The word Ekpokpa is derived from the founder's native tongue. Basically, it means 'unity', 'a united people', and the promotion of this 'unity' or 'togetherness' as a philosophy. This meaning reflects the aspiration of the project, and we adopted the word for its all-encompassing nature and its neutrality which helps us avoid the political sensitivities in the research area.