Acting Out of Conflict: Using Participatory Theater as a Tool of Peacebuilding in Rwanda

This 15-page article, published in the Africa Peace and Conflict Journal, shares Search for Common Ground's work using participatory theatre for peacebuilding in Rwanda, designed to help citizens and government leaders take ownership over the process of collaboratively negotiating land disputes. According to the article, theatre has long been used as a tool for dialogue. Participatory theater can successfully be used to address conflict issues, including land disputes, by enacting dramatised stories gathered from the audience and by asking audience members to inhabit a character in the performance and play a role that may be counter to their own position.

According to the article, Rwandans' lack of knowledge concerning land rights and inheritance and their expectations of local authorities leave many of them feeling as if they have no recourse for grievances. Such discontent can lead to conflict or escalate existing tensions. The thematic focus of the participatory theatre project was two-pronged. For the first phase of the project, the team focused on resolving issues of land conflict across the country. Within the second phase, the theatre focused on elections and good governance issues, corresponding to the country's political context. The shows centred around encouraging dialogue between citizens and local officials to find solutions for community-specific land conflicts and for general issues affecting good governance in the area.

As stated in the article, the participatory theatre programmes were able to inform people and also inspire changes in behaviour and attitudes. Those interviewed as part of the follow-up process shared an increased understanding of the skills that could be gained from attending such performances. They recognised the conflicts portrayed as relevant to their own lives, realising that they themselves played a role in the conflict, seeing their particular rights and gaining an understanding of the appropriate role of local authorities in mitigating and mediating conflict. Beyond gaining knowledge and skills, the interviewees could cite specific examples of how they applied this new knowledge to their own lives. They reported changes in behaviour among leaders toward citizens, reciprocal changes in citizens’ attitudes toward local leaders, and resolution of personal conflicts. In addition, the trained actors were empowered as social communicators and expanded their skills to successfully manage conflict.

The article further notes that in the two months after the performance of the good governance–themed production, attitudes toward collaboration with local government leaders subtly changed. After understanding their roles and rights in working with local leaders, the citizens interviewed no longer felt like helpless supplicants. Many thought the performance held up a mirror in front of officials in a way regular citizens could not. Respondents' increased knowledge and recognition of corruption had an empowering effect on many of them.

While the research showed participatory theatre to be an effective tool for managing conflict and building skills, it was also found to work best in conjunction with other tools that SFCG uses to build peace. It complements the radio programmes SFCG broadcasts and the training it conducts and is useful for demonstrating and reinforcing the concepts introduced on-air or in workshops. It is recommended that special effort be made to coordinate the training, performance, and radio broadcasting teams to make sure SFCG’s programming reaches its highest potential.

The article concludes that the impact of the participatory theatre programme can be interpreted as social change through art. Those who solved their conflict took the initiative to do so because they were first inspired by the performance. It also reinforced the power of modelling. Some of the people who saw the performance found tools that applied directly to their personal conflict, such as understanding a key aspect of the law or seeing how they could change their role in the conflict to engender peace. Others who saw the performance were inspired to work collaboratively with their local officials because they now perceived themselves as having equal power in the citizen–elected leader relationship. Audience members are given ownership of the process through their participation.