April 2008 | Français

Regional Context
A number of pervasive issues are affecting the countries that SFCG is working in throughout West Africa.  Global issues such as the rising price of energy and a changing climate are beginning to effect people’s livelihoods in the region and threaten to have a destabilising influence.  In Guinea, there has been the continued threat of renewed strikes by those frustrated at the slow pace of reforms.  Cote d’Ivoire’s progress toward disarmament and elections faces the threat of backsliding, as witnessed by the recent increase in insecurity in Moyen Cavally. In Sierra Leone, the country is preparing itself for another round of contentious elections, this time at the local level in July 2008.  In Liberia the challenge of increasing citizen’s participation as the country progresses fully into a rebuilding and development context continues to linger.  SFCG‘s work addresses each of these trends through its commitment to stability in the region.

Honouring Women
Recognising the need to celebrate and promote women’s political participation to ensure the continued inclusion of women in the political process, SFCG, in cooperation with national and international partners, organised the Honouring Women’s Initiatives event held on January 3-4, 2008 in Freetown. Designed to mobilise women towards upcoming elections in 2008, the event brought together more than 200 women representing every district.

In between the 2007 national elections and the upcoming 2008 local council elections, Sierra Leone is in a crucial period for the promotion of civic participation in democracy and governance.  This transition period is particularly important for Sierra Leonean women, who despite their increasingly active role in politics, have historically been excluded from the decision-making process.  SFCG viewed the 2007 elections as a crucial moment in promoting political processes that allow the full participation of women.  Its work during the run up to the elections increased the number of women’s voices, particularly that of women candidates, through media training and production.  Women responded: during the elections in August and September of 2007, women stood for elections and voted in unprecedented numbers.  It was this increased energy that SFCG sought to honour and support during the January event.

The event consisted of a symposium and an awards ceremony to honour those women who made great contributions to Sierra Leone. The symposium featured working sessions on a range of pertinent issues, including women and leadership; strategic decision making at policy level; and women, peace, and security. Featured speakers and guests included both current and past Ministers and Deputy Ministers, women’s rights champions, and subject experts. Convened by Sierra Leone’s First Lady Mrs. Sia Koroma, the evening ceremony saw the President of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma, presenting 46 honourees with awards in recognition of their contributions to their communities, including Dr. Christiana Thorpe for her leadership as the Chair of the National Election Commission.

The response from participants about the event was extraordinarily positive. Over 80% of the participants said that after the symposium they felt that they were more prepared to take on leadership roles. A third of the female participants said they are definitely planning on standing as candidates in the 2008 local council elections.

SFCG is committed to continuing support of these women’s participation and success in that election and in Sierra Leone’s political future.  On the eve of International Women’s Day, with its 2008 theme of “Investing in Women”, four groups, namely SFCG, Campaign for Good Governance, Gender Empowerment Movement and the 50/50 Group, launched The Women’s Solidarity Fund, designed to raise money through donations and pledges to support women’s political campaigns in the local government election.

Staff Spotlight: Marie Sebonikai

Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma presents SFCG field officer Marie Sebonikai with an award for her promotion of women’s voices in the media

As SFCG’s District Field Officer, Marie Sebonikai works extremely hard to get women’s voices heard in the small town of Port Loko in the northern part of Sierra Leone.  When Marie first started asking women to talk about their opinions and experiences on the radio, they were very afraid to do so.  Many told her that they must seek permission from their husbands first, while others simply avoided her by telling her they were busy and could not speak now.  While these initial responses were frustrating, Marie’s persistence paid off, and they began to speak out in a way that was completely unprecedented in the small town.  Discussing their issues on the radio, these women slowly began to reverse their ideas of female inferiority and to understand the important role that women play in society.

The importance and the success of Marie’s year and a half of determination became clear when she was nominated by the women of Port Loko for the award for Women in Media at the Honouring Women’s Initiatives Symposium.  Now, because of this recognition, Marie is inspired and determined to work even harder to promote women’s voices in Sierra Leone.  With the two other award recipients from Port Loko, Marie is in the process of initiating a women’s network which will address women’s issues by acknowledging that there is value in what women can share and by inspiring all women to take an active role in their communities.

Cote d’Ivoire: Supporting Community Facilitators

Community Facilitators in Cote d’Ivoire receive certificates from SFCG in recognition of their community peacebuilding efforts.

Over the past 24 months, SFCG has been gradually developing a network of community facilitators with skills and confidence to resolve conflicts and foster reconciliation in their areas. In total, SFCG-trained community facilitators reported 327 local conflicts resolved in 2007, and many more were avoided altogether. In December 2007, SFCG brought together 27 of the most active community facilitators from the trained cadre to share their experiences, successes, and lessons learned in managing community conflicts.  Over the course of two days, the participants discussed some of the interventions they had led, and how they had succeeded in bridging divides and solving problems in their communities.  The participants were also encouraged to share changes that they have remarked on in their communities, and how they know that the situation is improving as a result of their work. This session helped ensure that they contributed to SFCG’s monitoring efforts, providing clear indicators of success.

As SFCG is in the process of developing a revised strategy for its work in Côte d’Ivoire, updated for the current context and relevant issues, the participants were encouraged to contribute their ideas and input to the strategy’s development.  The facilitators noted that while the general security situation has improved, crime and corruption have become rampant, bringing new challenges to be addressed. The participants also agreed that despite the return of economic activity, inflation remains a large problem for the population. In conclusion, they recommended that SFCG’s strategic plan focus on the following three key issues: land tenure, youth engagement, and identity conflicts.

At the end of the meeting the facilitators were acknowledged for their efforts by the other members of the group and SFCG in a recognition ceremony hosted by SFCG and a representative of the Mayor of Daloa.

Liberia: Transport Union Elections
SFCG’s unique ability to bring parties together in pursuit of collective solutions and to lend credibility to practices led the Federation of Road Transport Union of Liberia, Inc. (FRTUL) to seek out SFCG’s help with its national executive election. FRTUL is the country’s largest public transport union, representing countless taxis and minibuses operating in the country. Though FRTUL had never worked with SFCG before it knew of SFCG’s exemplary work during the 2005 Liberian national elections and desired this independent assistance in its own election, which was fraught with conflict.

One candidate for President General addresses the assembled delegates while the other three contenders look on.

In December, a debate moderated between the four candidates for FRTUL President General. The debate included opening statements from each candidate, questions from the attending delegates and questions from the candidates to each other. It was the first ever debate held in the 25-year history of FRTUL and Acting President General Jerry K. Luogua stated that such a debate with audience questions allows for later accountability to statements made, a step that brings improvement.

Following the debate, voting for President General and the six other national executive positions was held. With SFCG as an outside observer, the Election Committee of FRTUL ran the voting and vote counting in an organised and stringent way, resulting in credible and accepted results. The Chair of the FRTUL Election Committee, John S.C. Williams, said that the election was free, fair, and transparent because it was the first time they had had observers present and because it was the first time to have candidates tell delegates about their plans. “Talking Drum Studio (SFCG) played a very important role in the process,” he said. SFCG “stabilised the process.”

New Radio Opens in Sinje
A new radio station in Sinje, Cape Mount County, Liberia (located in the strategically important Liberia-Sierra Leone boarder region), will be officially opened by the President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, in a ceremony to be held on April 10th.  SFCG has worked with the community of Sinje to establish the radio station over the past year, in partnership with support from the Canadian Embassy, the Foundation for West Africa, DFID, and Action Aid. 
SFCG is proud to have the President attend the opening of this important station, which will provide information to a region that was previously underserved byradio.   It is the first community radio station of its kind to open in Liberia and is modeled after ones that have been built and sustained for the past five years in Sierra Leone.

Guinea Media Mapping
As part of its Africa-wide project supporting communication on key policy issues, SFCG conducted a media sector mapping in Guinea to better understand the relationships between media, policy-making, and the population’s interests, priorities, and knowledge. The research, including focus groups and key stakeholder interviews, took place in Conakry, Kindia, N'zerekore, Kankan and Mamou

Elections Strategic Evaluation
In 2007, SFCG brought a new and innovative strategy for elections supporting a free, fair, and peaceful elections to bear in Sierra Leone. Catchy jingles, witty poems and even a new TV drama series were all part of SFCG’s comprehensive strategy. But how effective were the tunes and rhymes heard over the airwaves in contributing to the peace and transparency of the historic elections, and what lessons can be applied to other countries who will be conducting elections over the next year, including Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea? In December 2007, SFCG conducted an internal evaluation to assess the effectiveness of its election strategy, as well as its capacity building partnership with the Independent Radio Network (IRN) and National Election Watch (NEW). The findings warrant the claim that SFCG and its partners’ efforts played a large role in ensuring that the elections were peaceful and transparent and exceeded expectations.

In August 2007, Sierra Leoneans were glued to their radios, listening for the latest electoral results from IRN.

The evaluation found that an overwhelming majority of respondents listened to IRN as a provider of credible programming. While it provided useful information in the run-up to the election, IRN’s real impact came in providing up-to-date and accurate election results from all areas of the country, seen as a contribution to election transparency. Voter respondents also recognised NEW observers at the polling stations, clearly understood their role, and praised them as unbiased and trusted community members, “not wearing party colours.”

TV was a new tool for the Sierra Leone programme, and SFCG deemed it important to review its value within the context. Viewers of Insai di saloon showed a clear understanding of the messages presented. Focus group participants provided in-depth analyses of the TV show and gave examples of how the show impacted their behavior. The show remains relevant for future elections, and SFCG will work toward bringing the show to a larger audience to increase its effectiveness.

The strategy also achieved unintended goals such as strengthening the capacity of radio stations and civil society organizations. Overall, this election strategy has presented Sierra Leonean society with a new model for the media, civil society and the public to participate in the governance of their nation. This election strategy not only helped voters to make informed choices, but also made them a witness of transparent elections by providing them with continuous information as the election unfolded.  The full key findings from this survey are available on SFCG’s website:
http://www.sfcg.org/sfcg/evaluations/sierra.html.

SFCG opens new office in Nigeria

After three years working in Nigeria through its multi-media division, Common Ground Productions, notably with the production and broadcast of the innovative television program ‘The Station’- SFCG has established a new office in Abuja with the goal of expanding its engagement on the ground in Nigeria. From this new base, SFCG will support its ongoing commitments for the TV series, entering its third season, as well as launch new activities focused on the Middle Belt (a group of six provinces located in the center of the country) This area’s ethnic diversity makes it an ideal pilot area that SFCG can learn and expand from to address issues occurring in both the north and south of the country.  SFCG will initially target youth in this area, planning capacity building workshops and radio programming addressing themes of youth leadership and conflict mediation.