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May 2010

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow visits with SFCG Staff in Conakry

June 27th is set to be a historic day in Guinea. If all goes as planned it will mark the first fully democratic elections in Guinea since its independence in 1958. Led by two authoritarian regimes, Guinea has escaped the violence that has plagued many of its neighbors, but it has been marred by political repression, growing ethnic divisions, economic deterioration and political corruption. President Lansana Conté’s death in 2008 prompted a military coup, by a group calling itself the National Council for Development and Democracy (CNDD). President Conté had also seized power through a coup 24 years earlier.

Guinea’s context has drastically changed over the past six months. In late 2009, serious concerns were growing about the democratic future of the country and junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara’s potential for a renewed dictatorship. An assassination attempt on Dadis Camara in December changed the entire situation, however, with Camara flown out of the country to recover and Brigadier General Sékouba Konaté has taken over as acting president. Since assuming power, Konaté has made significant steps to restoring confidence in the government. He appointed a Prime Minister who represented the opposition, and he has fully supported the immediate organization of elections. While the rapid pace of the preparations has introduced a number of challenges, overall it marks a highly positive development for the country. With only a month until elections, all eyes are on the country to see how the first open process in more than 52 years plays out.

On paper, Guinea is a rich nation. Its soil contains gold, diamonds, vast reserves of iron ore, and at least a third of the world’s bauxite reserves. The land itself has great potential for agricultural and fishery growth. Yet much of this potential has gone untapped due to poor infrastructure and decades of corruption. The transition may be a chance at a new beginning. For Search for Common Ground, the transition period is also a chance to engage and educate youth about politics and governance, and the opportunities for their constructive participation within them. Much of SFCG’s recent work in-country has focused on these issues. While there will be many challenges for the new government, SFCG believes it will be easier to work with its members to promote principles like non-violence, tolerance, mutual respect, and peaceful coexistence, which will help engage the country in development and rebuilding.

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Launches Joint UNICEF-SFCG Project

On May 9, 2010, SFCG and UNICEF launched their new partnership around a youth and non-violence project. Building on a foundation established by SFCG over the past two years of working with youth on non-violent participation, this partnership will expand non-violence and advocacy trainings to the Forest Region and Conakry. UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow traveled to Guinea for the launch of the project, which encourages young people to be peaceful actors of change, especially during the upcoming elections. Guinea is a young country, with people aged 15-34 making up 30% of the population. Young men especially are prone to participate in rioting and political violence and are also its primary victims. Youth workshops are the first step of the project. The workshops seek to instill and reinforce the value and importance of civic responsibility. They also aim to improve knowledge of their rights as citizens, conflict resolution techniques and behavior change communication. During her visit, Mia Farrow spoke with some of the at-risk youth targeted by the project. Over the course of the two years, SFCG expects to reach approximately 23,000 young people in the two areas. The Forest Region and Conakry are two areas that are highly vulnerable to and at risk for violence in the transition period. Dadis Camara is originally from the Forest Region and many there believe he should return and run for president. For them, his ascent to power was synonymous with their own. There have already been some violent community conflicts in Nzérékoré, the largest city in the region. As the capital, Conakry is where all political parties are concentrated and most of them are drawn along ethnic lines. If the elections bring bloodshed to the capital, it can easily spread to the rest of the country. SFCG’s work aims to prevent that.

"Through our program, young people learn about their rights, non violent ways of dealing with adversarial situations, and about democratic change. Better informed, they are able to resist political manipulation and will become non violent drivers of positive change during and beyond the transition in Guinea." – Country Director, Quentin Kanyatsi

SFCG Youth and Non-Violence Project Engages Communities

SFCG just wrapped up an 18-month Youth and Non-Violence in Guinea project funded by USAID’s Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation that worked with 36 youth organization in Kindia, Mamou, and Kankan. These cities saw high levels of youth violence during the 2007 strikes, and the project was created in response in order to provide youth alternative channels to express their grievances. The project trained 72 young people in the three locations, but affected even more through its outreach. It combined a series of activities including training of youth leaders, youth training replication sessions within communities, youth peace festivals in each city, community youth sensitization programs, a youth radio program called Barada (‘teapot’), and a popular youth interactive radio program on non violence produced by Radio Rurale.

An evaluation conducted in April 2010 found that youth in the three cities are now engaged in promoting peaceful elections in their own communities. One group of participants in Mamou wanted to further engage with the topic of political manipulation. They wrote and filmed a short video concerning the June 27 elections and potential risk for manipulation. Other participants in Mamou organized a sensitization event at a local university where students were planning a strike against university authorities. Violence is often the norm during such strikes and demonstrations but as a result of the event, the students organized a march that resulted in a peaceful resolution of the conflict. The organizer of the event even received a thank you letter from the school, acknowledging their influence in the demonstration’s outcome. A principal in Kindia wrote to say that following a sensitization conference organized by participants; his students had unanimously decided to set up a committee for peaceful conflict resolution.

Additionally, the project has contributed to an increase in listenership for the rural radio stations, especially among youth. All those interviewed—youth participants, local authorities and civil society leaders—reported that violence has shown a marked decrease and that no major incidences of violence have occurred in any of the targeted cities since the 2007 strikes. Furthermore, all acknowledged that young people have begun to play more positive and active roles in their communities.

Radio Transmits Messages of Non-Violence

Radio is an effective way to reach many communities and spread messages of peace and tolerance during the upcoming elections. SFCG is heavily involved with the creation and broadcast of radio programs in the country, providing information, facilitating dialogue, and introducing new models and ideas of collaboration and conflict transformation. In addition to producing programs, SFCG has also been supporting the expansion of the media landscape, working with communities to establish local radio stations that respond to their information needs. In April 2009, The Minister of Communication formally recognized these contributions, traveling to three communities to officially launch three rural radio stations that SFCG installed in the Fouta Djallon region. These stations will provide information access for village dwellers and improve lines of communication to the rest of the country.

SFCG and Elections

With the elections rapidly approaching, SFCG is devoting its radio programming efforts to supporting civic and voter education that prepares Guinean citizens to fully participate in this important process. SFCG has been gradually growing its regular production, and now produces 28 radio programs monthly as well as regular spot messages that reinforce the same themes. These are in French and five local languages (including Peuhl, Guerze, Malinké, Thoma and Soussou), promoting the importance of voting and civic engagement, political tolerance and respect, and other democratic principles.

SFCG has built partnerships with 26 rural and independent radio stations for the broadcast of its radio programs. As the elections get underway, SFCG will work with these stations to conduct an election monitoring and reporting effort that ensures that there is a credible flow of information at the regional and national level to prevent fraud and reinforce the legitimacy of the elections and their results. SFCG has undertaken similar efforts in Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and will build on these successful examples.

With support from UNDP, SFCG has helped produce a code of conduct for the promotion of peace for all public and private media in Guinea. The initiative was created through a workshop attended by both the Minister of Communication and the Minister of the Interior. The code of conduct was recently signed by 33 media representatives in the presence of the Ministry of Communication and the Ministry of the Interior. By signing, media practitioners agreed to adopt mutual standards of journalistic professionalism and impartiality. Such standards discourage inflammatory messages and partisan reporting in the time leading to, during, and after elections.

Final Thoughts

“For a decade, governance, in Guinea, has been an issue in all political, public, and private sectors in the country. There hasn't been respect for good governance principles. With the change coming soon in the country, many Guineans hope that the new democratic system, once in place, will improve governance and hence people's conditions of life” says Country Director Quentin Kanyatsi. “All our programs and of those of other organizations are calling for a new culture of governance to be instituted with new leaders who be steering the country after the elections. This is the first time, after several years, that Guineans will really have democratic elections if they are held in a credible and transparent way. That why all national and international institutions and organizations are engaged to support the current election process.”