|
The project will endeavour
to achieve this aim by;
• Improving the effectiveness of using the media and
traditional mechanisms for peace building;
• Supporting capacity building for community radio and
ensuring access by the country’s youth;
• Equipping the youth, including ex-combatants, with
leadership skills in peace building;
• Improving the existing communication channels within
the community;
• Maintaining and giving social prominence to peace
award.
Over the years of its
activities in Liberia, the Project has provided a direct opportunity
for the Liberian people to have a direct role in helping to
restore peace in Liberia. The participation in town meetings,
symposia and workshops have indeed told them of a role in
the peace process. Additional activities like the peace festival
and the encounter of communicators and communities have lent
them additional opportunities to increase their role in the
process. This made them aware that the situation impacts upon
them, whether negatively or positively, and offers a challenge
for them to work towards peace.
During the first year,
the project was implemented in Grand Gedeh, Maryland, River
Gee and Grand Kru Counties. For the current year, the activities
are being implemented in Lofa, Nimba, Bong and Gbarpolu Counties.
The project also intents to plant communities radios in a
needy community in each of the concerned conties. It is noteworthy
to mention that the community radio stations are meant to
spread messages of peace and good will and providing civic
education that would assist the populace in determining how
to work along wit their new government in preserving the hard
earned peace.
Peace & Cultural Festival
Gbarnga, Bong County
March 2-4, 2006
The Liberia Media Project
hosted a Peace and Cultural Festival in Gbarnga, Bong County
from March 2-4, 2006. The festival brought together traditional
communicators, community residents, local government officials
and other stakeholders, in sharing their understanding of
the conflict and their approaches to finding and sustaining
amicable resolution measures. Participants came from Gbarpolu,
Bong, Nimba and Lofa Counties. A troupe also came in from
neighboring Guinea.
Participants presented
their culture and tradition through music, drama, dance and
food. They also shared their traditional history, especially
as it has to do with conflict resolution measures. There were
as well closed interactions between elected officials and
participants from their respective counties. This was meant
to signal means through which citizens can be involved in
the process of good governance.
There was also the opportunity
for leaders from various local government units to get to
collaborate with their counterparts, and to seek a clearer
understanding of why one community succeeds in a given situation,
when others are failing.
A similar event was held
in Fish Town, River Gee County in February 2005. Then, the
Liberia Media Project hosted Dan Smith, Secretary General
of International Alert and a delegation from the West African
Civil Society Forum.
More than three thousand
persons attended any stage of the festival. An inspiring keynote
address was delivered by the acknowledged Liberian academic,
diplomat and historian, Professor Joseph Saye Guannu, Director
of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution at the Cuttington
University.
Professor Guannu called
upon the audience to think about the cause of the conflict
as the means of sustaining the peace. He glossed over various
scenes of conflict in contemporary Liberia, and noted that
only knowledge of the cause of the conflict can provide a
good approach to its resolution.
Professor Guannu
also recalled how people from various parts of Liberia had
lived together in peace for many years, and noted that the
goodness of Liberian tradition, which kept such peace can
also be utilized in making and preserving peace in present
day Liberia.
Other remarks at the event were heard from Bong County Superintendent
Daniel Weetol, International Alert’s West Africa Manager
Lulsegged Abebe, Gen. Zia, Commander of UNMIL Sector 3, Assistant
Information Minister for Culture Jailee Quiee and Bong County
Senator Franklin Siakor.
Local government representatives
and legislators came in from Bong, Lofa and Nimba Counties.
Traditional Media Workshop Convenes
in Gbarpolu
The Liberia Media Project on Wednesday, February 1, 2006 began
a three-day Traditional Media Workshop in Bopolu, Gbarpolu
County.
The workshop involved
traditional communicators – town criers, traditional
story tellers, language announcers, dramatists and community
radio announcers from the northern and central counties of
Lofa, Nimba, Bong and Gbarpolu.
Participants were lectured
on how to make peace concepts an integral part of their daily
works, and discussed the peace process, and how their work
can contribute to making it better. There were also discussions
on post-electoral reconciliation and governance, including
issues of concern like the repatriation and resettlement of
displaced persons and refugees.
The workshop also served
as a forum to empower the communicators in their work.
Facilitators at the workshop
included media and peace building experts from International
Alert (UK), the Press Union of Liberia, the Justice &
Peace Commission, and the Center for Justice and Peace Studies,
the Flomo Theater and other institutions. |
