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. SFCG seized on the chance to work with Celtel as an ideal opportunity for peacebuilding: building bridges between the former RUF strongholds in the north and the diamond district and the rest of the country and widening the information network in the country. This was an innovation for rural radio stations as it was the first time they could use the mobile phone network to generate information from their communities. SFCG strategically planned the launch of two new cultural radio programmes specific to the two towns to coincide with the event, linking and multiplying the effects of the separate activities.

Makeni and Mile 91 are northern towns populated predominantly by Sierra Leone's minority ethnic group, the Temne. The Temne are very sensitive to what they perceive as favouritism of the majority Mende ethnic group: the government is Mende-dominated, and services, including mobile phones, have been slower to reach the Temne in the north than the Mende in the south.

Further exacerbating the situation, during Sierra Leone's ten-year civil war, the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) captured Makeni and made it their headquarters. As a result, Makeni is now home to a large ex-combatant population that has chosen not to return to their home districts. This situation has resulted in substantial tension between the ex-combatant and original communities. There is also tension between this ex-combatant population and the government as the two sides struggle to reconcile after years of fighting. Makeni is the home of the opposition party, All People's Congress (APC), which governed Sierra Leone for 26 years.

As Celtel introduced mobile phone service to Makeni and Mile 91, SFCG focused its efforts on highlighting the impact it would have on both the northern region and Sierra Leone as a whole. To achieve this, SFCG partnered with Radio Gbafth in Mile 91 and the SLBS (Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service) station in Makeni and Kono to broadcast live coverage of the event and generate dialogue about the importance of access to information.

SFCG's publicity of the network launch took two forms. In the first stage, SFCG arranged with a number of key figures to be available for phone calls that would be broadcast through the radio stations. In these calls, people like the Vice President, the opposition leader in Parliament, SLPP and APC Parliamentarians, ministers, and other prominent people originally from the region talked about the importance of connecting Makeni, Mile 91, and Kono to the rest of the country and the benefits that it would have on the communities. SFCG also appealed for calls from the two towns' residents, asking them to discuss the impact of the arrival of cell phones and what it meant to them. To facilitate these calls, radio station staff members were equipped with cell phones and deployed along the roads leading to the towns. As they met people they encouraged the residents to call the stations with their comments, expectations, and fears on the arrival of the cell phones. Callers were encouraged to speak in their local languages during the calls. One caller commented, "Today our village has now been recognised on the map," and another caller said, "This is a miracle, I never thought I would ever speak on a phone from my village with three houses."

The second phase of coverage of the launch was specific to Makeni and Mile 91, and revolved around the first broadcast of SFCG's new local language cultural programmes. A Mende cultural programme, entitled Mu Gundi Hindaesia ("Our Traditional Practices"), began airing in the south in August 2002. On this day, we introduced similar programmes in Temne and Limba that will be regularly broadcast in Mile 91 and Makeni since they reflect languages spoken in that area. After the airing of the programmes, we opened the phone lines at the partnering radio stations and encouraged the audience to call in with comments. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with listeners excited about listening to radio programming in their own languages.

Celtel, SFCG, and the communities of Makeni, Kono, and Mile 91 were all resoundingly pleased with the events, and the partnership itself. As Celtel continues to expand the mobile phone network to other districts, both entities have committed to continuing the arrangement.

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