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LIBERIA
Alert has been working in Liberia since 1993. Our focus is strengthening the capacity of media practitioners to improve the quality, verity and conflict sensitivity of information disseminated and enhancing their roles as vehicles for transparency, democracy and non violent change.
Since the signing of the Peace Accord in 2003, we have been deepening our engagement with traditional communicators through the Liberia Media Project and Liberia Peace Festival. CONTEXT The Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2003 officially ended Liberia’s civil war. While optimism is high, peace and stability rest on fragile foundations. The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) will provide security until 30 September 2010, but the underlying causes of violent conflict still exist. The civil war normalised violence, damaged community structures and left the country in economic ruin overrun with weapons. A failing justice system is reinforcing impunity, apathy and isolation. Unemployed and marginalised, young people remain disenfranchised by the pace of change. Thousands of ex-combatants remain unemployed following incomplete disarmament, demobilisation, rehabilitation and reintegration (DDRR) processes. Influx of returning refugees and the internally displaced has exacerbated land disputes between ethnic groups. In addition, violent conflict and political tensions in neighbouring Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire have the potential to spill over into Liberia’s neglected border areas. Mental health specialists claim lack of attention to psychosocial needs and mental wellbeing of ex-combatants has led to a climate of widespread sexual violence and aggressive violent behaviour. Although the government has extended the legal definition of and maximum sentence for rape, opened a special court to try cases of gender based violence and launched a national action plan for the implementation of UNSCR 1325, women continue to face security risks, human rights abuses and discrimination in political, economic and social spheres. Although the government is determined to tackle the misuse of public funds at the local level and re-establish trust, few Liberians trust public institutions, have a sense of citizenship or understand what government is mandated to do. Legislative, infrastructural and economic progress is largely limited to Monrovia and the outside regions, particularly the southeast, remain isolated, impoverished and vulnerable. Tension among returnees and those who stayed behind has eased, though access to and ownership over land is contentious. The nature of institutional and political systems is deeply patriarchal. Women and young people remain excluded from public leadership and decision making despite the election of a female president. These patterns together with the inability of the government to deliver what was promised risk replicating the marginalisation and disadvantages that underpinned the war.  THE LIBERIA MEDIA PROJECTGiven the real and perceived inequalities between those living in the capital city and those in rural areas, it’s vital that communication be enhanced in rural Liberia. The Liberia Media Project attempts to enable groups who feel marginalised and alienated to articulate their views, needs and rights through the media rather than resorting to violence. Based on analysis that poor communication, especially in rural areas, contributed to instigating violent conflicts in the past, we have been working with local partners to improve communication throughout the country. We do this by facilitating access to information, increasing quality of reporting, providing training and support to amateur journalists and traditional communicators at community levels, thereby contributing to promoting dialogue and political participation for all Liberians. Communication in rural Liberia must be enhanced given real and perceived inequalities experienced in comparison with those living in the capital. The Liberia Media Project attempts to enable groups who feel marginalised and alienated to articulate their views, needs and rights through debate rather than violence. We believe combining traditional and contemporary communication mechanisms enables media to represent local people who thereby feel more connected to society and more likely to resolve differences peacefully. We work to improve access to impartial and balanced information in the eight remote counties of Liberia so people there understand the changing political situation, the government’s strategy of decentralising power to the counties and feel empowered to engage. In partnership with the Justice and Peace Commission of the Liberian Catholic Church, the Centre for Justice and Peace and the Press Union of Liberia, we have established eight community radio stations, enabling information to be broadcast across the country and into Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea and Sierra Leone. We provide training to community radio journalists who facilitate the dissemination of information to residents, engage with leaders and communities to enhance communication and produce radio programmes on post conflict and gender issues to spark dialogue with and among listeners. LIBERIA PEACE AND CULTURAL FESTIVALAs a component of the Liberia Media Project, Alert has staged three Annual Peace Festivals. Liberians share a rich cultural heritage, replete with songs, poetry, music, dance, costume, masks and theatre, which offer unique opportunities for promoting unity and peace. After decades of civil war, displaced Liberians are returning to their villages. Reintegration into communities and resumption of ‘normal’ life is a challenge. Despite a history of brutality, Liberians share a rich cultural heritage replete with songs, poetry, music, dance, costume, masks and theatre, which reveal ties that cannot be severed and offer unique opportunities for promoting unity and peace. As part of our media project, Alert organised peace and cultural festivals in River Gee, Bong and Nimba Counties between 2005 and 2007 to showcase the cultural diversity of the peoples of Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. In 2008 Alert, in partnership with the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism and Flomo Theatre, organised a National Peace and Cultural festival as an important dimension of its West Africa peacebuilding strategy to celebrate peace in the region and discover shared cultural commonalities. The festivals held to date show an increasingly sub regional dimension and number of attendees, from the over 800 people who attended the first festival in Fish Town, River Gee County in 2005 to over 10,000 people in Ganta, Nimba County in 2007. Artists from Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea and Sierra Leone performed during these festivals which became a platform to communicate within the Mano River sub region across ethnic and national divides. Building on these experiences, the 2008 National Peace and Cultural Festival in Monrovia was a sub regional celebration that invited participants from Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea and Sierra Leone, as well as rural artists from the fifteen counties of Liberia with estimated attendance at 30,000. Alert was able to contribute to enhancing government reconciliation and reintegration efforts through the sharing of culture and promotion of dialogue in a celebration of storytelling, art and dance. Click here to go to the Liberia Peace and Cultural festival webpage PUBLICATIONS ON LIBERIA Socio-Economic Reintegration Of Ex-Combatants: Understanding And Addressing Key Challenges
Author(s): Charlotte Watson Download pdf | More Information  Conflict and Aid: Enhancing the Peacebuilding Impact of International Engagement. A Synthesis of Findings from Afghanistan, Liberia and Sri Lanka
Author(s): Jonathan Goodhand and Philippa Atkinson Download pdf | More Information |
