SFCG Sierra Leone

Active Projects

Talking Drum Studio - Sierra Leone Radio Programmes
Talking Drum Studio - Sierra Leone (TDS-SL) programmes air on all eleven stations in Sierra Leone. The formats for these programmes vary and target different audiences, but their messages all have the same goal: to promote peace and reconciliation. [more]

Quality Education Pilot Project Initiated
Corruption and the lack of educational opportunities were two factors contributing to the discontent from which the civil war emerged. [more]

Strengthening of Democratic Governance in Targeted Areas of Kono, Kailahun, Koinadugu Districts and Tongo Fields
Search for Common Ground (SFCG) is implementing a program that seeks to strengthen democratic governance in the districts of Kono, Kailahun, and Koinadugu, and the Tongo Fields area of Kenema district, supporting Special Objective #2 (SpO#2) of USAID's Sierra Leone's Transition Strategy Phase 2, (FY 2004-2006). [more]

Enhancing the Interaction and Interface Between Civil Society and the State to Improve People's Lives
The goal of ENCISS is to establish a governance framework that delivers sustainable peace, security, and democracy to enable environmental and social development. The purpose of the program is to increase capacity of representative civil society to participate in, influence, contribute to and monitor the Poverty Reduction Strategy and local government policy, planning and implementation. [more]

Na Wi Pot
The Mano River Basin, encompassing the forest region where Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia meet, is a particularly vulnerable region as an epicenter of conflict and atrocities in recent wars. Since 2003, this area has been the focus of Na Wi Pot, a project that promotes peace, prevents and responds to violence in vulnerable border communities with its base in the Kailahun District of Sierra Leone. [more]

Highlights

Kailahun-community Radio: A model for regional cooperation
In an effort to encourage peace and unity in Sierra Leone's Manu River region, SFCG has initiated the Kailahun community radio project, which will serve as a forum for sharing information and generating discussion among the region's diverse population. [more]

Promoting Youth and Business: Bike Riders Association
Many of Sierra Leone's youth have struggled to find viable sources of income in a country with only limited economic infrastructure. Recently, however, the operation of motorcycle taxis has emerged as one possible solution to this challenge. [more]

Media Mapping Survey Key Findings
SFCG, at the request of the British Department for International Development (DFID), carried out a mapping of the media sector about information flow in Sierra Leone, specifically around the issues of the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) and Decentralization. The survey endeavored to answer three key questions: How is information made available? What information is the public receiving and how is it being understood? What quality and quantity of information is required to ensure full participation and engagement of the public? The study was carried out over a six-month period in 2005 using several survey tools. [more]

Bike Riders Association Case Study Key Findings
Since the end of the war in 2002, many ex-combatants have sustained a livelihood by transporting people on motorbikes. Riders have since banded together to form the Bike Riders Association (BRA). The organization helps to coordinate the activities of riders and aid them in times of trouble (accidents) and in activities such as weddings, naming ceremonies, political meetings, and funerals. However, these riders do not have the requisite papers to be on the road (Licenses, registration etc). They claim that since the government is not able to provide jobs the government should not block them from taking their own initiative. [more]

National Child Protection Survey Key Findings
Children were at the core of Sierra Leone's 10-year war with 10,000 child soldiers and thousands more victimized by its brutality. Efforts are been made to sustain the fragile peace. However, there is great concern about the well being and future of Sierra Leone's children as they find themselves impoverished and frequent targets of drug use, prostitution, and trafficking. [more]

Completed Projects

SFCG and Celtel Cooperate to Launch Mobile Phone Network in Disconnected North and East
In its first partnership with a corporate entity, on July 28, 2003, SFCG and one of Sierra Leone's prominent mobile phone companies, Celtel, launched the first mobile phone network in the northern towns of Makeni and Mile 91 as well as the diamond-mining town of Kono. [more]

Quality Education Pilot Project Initiated
Corruption and the lack of educational opportunities were two factors contributing to the discontent from which the civil war emerged. [more]

Elections 2002: Mobilization of the Independent Radio Network and Youth Network
On May 14, Presidential and Parliamentary elections in Sierra Leone concluded a peace process that took over six years to solidify. [more]

Supporting Transitional Justice in Sierra Leone
Search for Common Ground-Sierra Leone (SFCG) has played an integral role in Sierra Leone's transition to peace by facilitating dialogue about the country's two primary initiatives aimed at achieving justice and reconciliation. [more]

2003 Bo and Kenema Peace Festivals
As part of the continuing efforts on community peace-building SFCG partnered with youth in Bo and Kenema, the southern and eastern capitals respectively, to organise two Peace Festivals. [more]

Bo Peace Carnival 2002 - Using Culture as a Vehicle for Social Reintegration
In March 2002, Talking Drum Studio-Sierra Leone (TDS-SL) partnered with local groups to explore possibilities for peaceful reintegration in Sierra Leone through a Peace Carnival. [more]

Child soldier asks who will care for Africa's battle-scarred youth
The following article was published by the Agence France-Presse (AFP) and features Talking Drum Studio - Sierra Leone's cub reporter, Stephen Swankay. [more]

Elections 2004: SFCG Generates Constructive Collaboration throughout Electoral Process
Governance has been a priority of SFCG's work in Sierra Leone since early 2002, with its support of the May 2002 presidential election. That election was the first since the end of Sierra Leone's brutal civil war. [more]

Sierra Leone Holds First Local Elections in 32 Years, SFCG Plays Key Role
Search for Common Ground has been engaged in Sierra Leone since 2000 working to strengthen the capacity of communities to participate in building a tolerant, inclusive society for sustainable peace. [more]

Encouraging Transparency: Diamond Area Community Development Fund
The Diamond Area Community Development Fund (DACDF) provides incentive for diamond miners and resource-rich chiefdoms to engage in legal diamond mining and revenue reporting by distributing a percentage of mining revenue back to the producing chiefdoms. SFCG chairs the DACDF sensitisation committee. [more]