Juster Nkoroi is the Executive Director of the Kenya International Boundaries Office (KIBO). In this position, she has played a significant role in spearheading border management at the national and regional levels. Through joint collaboration, she has led peace, border delimitation, and boundary reaffirmation missions. KIBO has been a benchmark institution in the region for border management and governance.
“We are defining boundaries not as barriers between nations, but as bridges to enhance trade and the movement of goods and services between the countries and communities. A lack of peace between border communities would disrupt the movement of goods and persons. Therefore, we are working with the EAC to ensure that boundaries are properly marked, border communities live in peace, and the movement of goods and persons is secured.” Juster Nkoroi.
GIZ supports KIBO through the EAC Secretariat, on behalf of the German Federal Foreign Office, founded on the belief that stabilisation can be enhanced through maintaining clear and legitimate boundaries. Institutions such as KIBO are critical in promoting transboundary peace through maintaining boundary integrity and promoting peaceful movement of people and goods. KIBO has demonstrated this through border community events and learning-exchange visits such as the Ateker Peace Caravan, which brought Turkanas from Kenya, Toposa from South Sudan, and Karamajong from Uganda to Kajiado to learn from the Maa communities of Kenya and Tanzania about the benefits of peaceful co-existence and how this can create economic opportunities and transforms socio-economic outcomes.
Through the EAC, the African Union, the Government of Kenya and GIZ, KIBO was able to host border communities made up of the youth, women, and religious leaders of Kenya, South Sudan, and Uganda for a benchmarking tour to the Maa Community. The visitors were surprised to learn that while the Maa are pastoralists like them and have neighbours who are also pastoralists in Tanzania, they do not raid each other, bear guns, or engage in fighting. This is an example of how transboundary peace can be enhanced through international development cooperation, regional integration, and local community collaboration.
Find more information on GIZ-AUBP here.