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September 2009

Youth training participants in Kankan

Country Update

The recent events in Guinea that resulted in 157 people dead have reiterated the need for non-violent approaches to conflict in a country that is facing serious challenges. During turbulent times like these, SFCG stresses the importance of focussed dialogue among the parties involved. This key component of SFCG’s approach involves opening channels of communication, strengthening ties and building understanding. SFCG in Guinea continues its commitment to collaborate with partners and stakeholders to help them work through their differences as new challenges emerge. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims.

Increasing Understanding of Guinea’s Poverty Reduction Strategy

When asked what is wrong with Guinea today, many people attribute the nation’s problems to ‘bad governance’ but are unable to elaborate. This lack of understanding paired with the deficit of information about what the government is doing to fix state infrastructure can lead to outbreaks of political violence.

SFCG in Guinea has been holding trainings with media, civil society and local government actors to improve understanding about the government’s main strategic plan – the poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP)– to improve conditions for people in Guinea, bring about economic growth, and increase access to public services. Led by two former high-ranking civil servants in the Ministry of Information and Communication, SFCG conducted trainings in five cities around the country from May to August. Over four days, these trainings fused learning about the PRSP with sessions on the theory and practice of good communication techniques. Exercises included local authorities role-playing a town hall meeting where they explained government initiatives and journalists conducting mock round table discussions with civil society and government officials about the national education system. Participants were excited to find out that the plan existed and that specific, concrete steps had already been outlined to improve their country. They expressed hope that the government would soon begin responding to their needs.

Funded by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this project is part of a three-year continental wide programme to use radio as a tool for peace-building and poverty reduction. It follows the publication of media mapping surveys in each of the targeted countries that demonstrate significant gaps between the demand for and the supply of accessible and credible information.

Elections-themed Soap Opera Gets People Talking

The actors and actresses of Wontanara

In the two years since SFCG launched Wontanara, more than 130 episodes have been produced in 3 languages: French, Guerze, and Soussou. Aired in Conakry and three cities in the Forest Region – N’zerekore, Gueckedou, and Macenta, Wontanara uses everyday stories and problems to discuss social and political issues, including corruption, governance, women’s rights, and non-violence. The characters are familiar to the audience: a youth worker, the woman who works in an environment dominated by men, the high school teacher who worries about the honesty and transparency with which exams are conducted. Through the soap opera people learn about their rights, ways of dealing with adversarial situations, and about democratic change.

To assess the impact of the radio programme, SFCG conducted a listener review in three towns where the radio programmes are aired. The review found that our message is clear, it stimulates discussions, it allows women and youth to express themselves, and it has the potential to motivate behaviour changes at the community level. 87% of respondents answered that they had learned something about the way elections are run. Most respondents also said they had learned about enrolment, including the age at which one can vote and the documents needed to vote. “Before,” admitted a woman in her fifties, “I was afraid to enrol myself, but thanks to Wontanara, I got used to the idea.”

Another man in Conakry said that through the programmes he had learned “how to support a party on the basis of a platform rather than ethnicity.” Many respondents learned that women could participate in politics as well, like the man in Conakry who exclaimed: “Women can be leaders too!” Further, 86% of respondents declared that they talked more about the problems of Guinean society and politics because they listened to the programme, and often mentioned that discussions started right after the broadcast. Responses to the show were overwhelmingly positive. Listeners reported that the show accurately portrayed what they experience in their lives and taught them about the electoral system and good governance.

Voices From the Field: Excerpts from our Common Ground Blogs

Power to the People: Struggles for Democracy and Electricity in Guinea
by Paul-Andre Wilton

SEPTEMBER 3 -- On his latest album, Radio Libre, the Ivorian musician Tiken Jah Fakoly sings about the nightly power cuts in the Guinean capital, and the stoical response of the local people. In “Conakry: Electricity;” he muses, “Everyone has their turn – like going to the hairdressers.” His song, both humorous and sad also captures another key sentiment among the Guinean people: awareness. “I’m sick of hearing about how things are going well in Burkina Faso, or Mali,” said a participant at a SFCG governance training in June. “In Guinea it’s always about good plans, but we never get the results, and we all know why.” Facing an outcry from the international community and resistance from the new political parties, a revised timetable for elections before the end of this year was proposed by civil society and accepted by the government in March, but since then very little has happened to make these elections a reality. Read more at: http://sfcg.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/voices-from-the-field-paul-andre-wilton-in-guinea/

The Blind Leading the Way in Guinea
by Joschka Philipps

JULY 13, 2009 -- Amédé Pierre Koromou sings with his shades on as his band plays a beautiful tune. Spectacular West African rhythms and melodies, surrounded by the beautiful colors of a Guinean village. These colours are lost on the musicians, however: they are all blind. So, too, are many of the people in the crowd, dancing happily on the uneven ground with movements as easy and secure as if there were no obstacles. “This is a community for and by blind people,” says Amédé. The singer and president of APAGF, (Association pour la promotion des aveugles de la Guinée Forestière), the association behind this community, Amédé speaks proudly and clearly. Launched in 1998, APAGF helps blind people in the southeastern forest region of Guinea to understand for themselves that they might have “lost their eyesight, but not their lives.” Living within a small community, they cook their own food, sell their self-made artisan work, learn and teach braille, and work to reintegrate blind people in other villages. “We have created our own autonomy. Now we can take charge of the problem elsewhere!” claims Amédé. Read more at: http://sfcg.wordpress.com/2009/07/13/voices-from-the-field-joschka-philipps-in-guinea/