Lead Mediation Center
MLC Voyager | Urban Peace Infrastructure(UPI)
UPI is an innovation that provides accessible mediation, legal empowerment, and alternative dispute resolution services to residents of informal settlements in Kenya. Through trained mediators, community dialogue, and digital referral pathways, the initiative helps prevent the escalation of family, land, tenancy, youth, and neighborhood disputes while strengthening social cohesion and improving access to justice for underserved urban communities.
100,000 Lives Impacted
UPI is improving livelihoods by providing affordable, timely, and community-centered dispute resolution services that reduce the financial, emotional, and social costs of unresolved conflict. By helping families, neighbors, tenants, landlords, youth, and small businesses resolve disputes amicably, the initiative minimizes litigation costs, prevents violence, and strengthens relationships within communities. This enables individuals to focus on productive economic activities rather than prolonged conflicts.
The innovation also builds local capacity by training community mediators and promoting legal awareness, empowering residents to address disputes constructively and access justice without unnecessary barriers. Through referrals to legal aid and other support services where appropriate, LEAD Mediation Center ensures that vulnerable individuals receive holistic assistance.
To date, the initiative has successfully facilitated mediation sessions, conducted community legal awareness forums, and established partnerships with justice sector actors and community organizations to strengthen local peace infrastructure. It has also developed a digital platform and virtual service model to expand access to mediation and legal information beyond physical locations.
The Innovation
The Urban Peace Infrastructure (UPI) is a community-led model that strengthens peaceful coexistence by creating sustainable systems for preventing, managing, and resolving conflicts at the local level. It brings together community members, local leaders, youth, women, civil society organizations, justice actors, and government institutions to collaboratively identify conflict drivers, facilitate dialogue, and coordinate timely responses to emerging tensions. The initiative is implemented in urban and peri-urban communities where rapid urbanization, inequality, unemployment, and limited access to justice contribute to recurring disputes and social instability.
The UPI operates through structured peace committees, mediation mechanisms, community dialogues, early warning and response systems, and capacity-building for local peace actors. By promoting inclusive participation and local ownership, it strengthens trust between communities and institutions while improving access to peaceful dispute resolution.
What makes the innovation unique is its emphasis on locally owned, multi-stakeholder peace infrastructure that is embedded within communities rather than relying solely on external interventions. The model is designed to be adaptable and scalable, with plans to expand to additional urban areas through partnerships with county governments, civil society organizations, and justice sector institutions, creating resilient communities capable of preventing and managing conflict sustainably.
Implemented in
Kenya
Get in touch
Esther N. Obande, Founder & Executive Director
About LEAD Mediation Center
LEAD Mediation Center is a social enterprise dedicated to advancing peaceful, inclusive, and accessible justice through mediation, legal empowerment, and alternative dispute resolution. Our mission is to strengthen community resilience by preventing conflict, promoting dialogue, and expanding access to justice for underserved populations, while our vision is a society where disputes are resolved peacefully and everyone has equal access to fair and timely justice.
