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West Africa

Regional Strategy

SFCG’s West Africa strategy engages the five countries where we work, namely Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. The overarching goal of SFCG’s West Africa programs is to contribute to building stability in the region and reducing the potential for violent conflicts. 

Informed by each of the country programmes, SFCG West Africa regional strategy provides a sound framework for growth and development to ensure national programmes are contributing to the success of the region as a whole.  It leverages the opportunities and tools that SFCG uses and focuses on thematic priorities that are adjudged to underpin stability and gains in development. These themes are: 

1. Youth engagement: - Over the past two decades, youth have been at the core of the West Africa armed conflicts, both as victims and as perpetrators.  Although the civil wars are over, lofty expectations due to election promises marked by the absence of economic opportunities create a context in which the potential for violence increases as the availability of resources decreases. At the root of this crisis of youth, is the fact that there are very few employment options available and the end result in extreme cases is a breakdown of the economic, political and social structures of a society which leaves youth marginalized.
2. Leadership –Leadership, which values respect and tolerance and seeks to build processes that use pluralism as a guiding principle of nation building, has the capacity to transform key reform processes from merely technical exercises of reconstruction and infrastructural development to ones that are citizen centred. Strengthening leadership skills to support consensus building around shared values is important to promote pluralism and enhance overall stability.
3. Identity and Social Exclusion - In concrete terms, both the process and the outcomes of democratic reform need to engage a country’s citizens. It is the process of participation that builds trust between the elected leaders and the people. Without this interaction, people often feel marginalized and left out of the democratic process and are more likely to revert to violence to feel heard. It is the overall buy-in from the people that leads to sustainable change and lasting peace. 

SFCG’s strategy is to:

• Strengthen the information and communication networks,
• Open more spaces for engagement, and
• Build knowledge and applicability of rights and regulatory frameworks so that citizens are informed of rights and responsibilities and means as they move about the sub region. 

Download "West Africa Regional Strategy.pdf"

Download the West Africa Update (April 2008): html pdf

• West Africa Update Archive
• Read project evaluations

Regional Sub-strategies

West Africa Youth Sub-strategy
Building and expanding on four years of experience encouraging and facilitating youth inclusion in Sierra Leone, Search for Common Ground in West Africa’s youth strategy seeks to identify opportunities where youth can have a positive influence on political and social events as they unfold within the sub-region. With offices in Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the seat of its operational base, SFCG targets three main groups: young people who are out of school and seeking livelihoods; youth leaders who are already part of organised efforts to address issues affecting young people; and elders and decision makers who have a big influence on young people, including district council members, educators and paramount chiefs.
[click here to download pdf]

West Africa Refugee Sub-Strategy: Mass Information on
Refugee Repatriation
Search for Common Ground is ideally positioned to roll out a regional strategy for mass information on refugee repatriation. The recent desire and sudden return of refugees into Nimba, Grand Gedeh and Maryland counties from Côte d’Ivoire has generated a demand for information and reporting on the part of SFCG. This write-up seeks to display how SFCG will support the return of refugees into Liberia from the sub-region.
[click here to download pdf]

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