NEWS FLASH: planning a US Transpartisan exchange and Liberia project

Learn about unfolding plans for the US Transpartisan exchange and peace making in Liberia

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What is the Liberia Peacebuilder Initiative?

Global Citizen Journey (GCJ) is partnering with Population Caring Organization (PCO) and other local organizations in Liberia to launch the Liberia Peacebuilder Initiative (LPI). We will convene a series of Summits where we bring teams of Peacebuilders together to engage in learning, network, sharing of stories and envisioning a future that works for all Liberians. Each team will consist of three leaders – an elder, at least one woman, and a youth leader. With the help of a number of NGOs we will select key participants who have had previous training and experience in facilitation, conflict resolution and mediation so they can more readily integrate what we offer. We seek participants who are involved with existing networks to leverage the learning and spread the experience more widely. Plus the participants need to have deep roots in their local community, to build this network from the grassroots. This approach develops what leading Peacebuilder John Paul Lederach refers to as a “middle-range approach to peacebuilding” — working with a set of leaders who can provide the key to creating an infrastructure for sustaining peace.

We will carefully constitute these teams to insure they reflect the diversity of Liberia: 16 ethnic groups, men and women, range of ages, religious affiliations, location, rural and urban, former combatants, and former refugees. We will incorporate traditional practices to promote healing and reconciliation. There will be Post Summit follow-up and support so trained Peacebuilder Teams can bring what they have learned to their communities. Our ultimate vision is to hold an ongoing series of Summits: The initial team of three Peacebuilders will come from an individual community so they can support each other upon their return; at the second and each subsequent Summit, one of the three will return along with a pair from a different, near-by community. In this way, we reinforce, integrate and extend the skills of the original participants, while expanding the network with new members. The first Summit will be regional, gathering Peacebuilder teams from Nimba, Bong, Lofa and Grand Gedeh. Ultimately we hope to work in the three major regions of the country and then bring representatives from each to a National Summit, thus weaving a vibrant, national network of Peacebuilder teams representing all of the diversity of Liberia.

In January, 2010, Executive Director Susan Partnow, Liberia Project Director Harriett Nettles, and Volunteer Alexandra Valin traveled to Liberia to develop partnerships and assess whether this design is appropriate, needed and feasible. They met with numerous organizations, including The Carter Center, Liberia Democracy Watch, Angie Brooks Center for Women’s’ Leadership, The National Traditional Council of Elders (Ministry of Internal Affairs), Catholic Justice & and Peace Commission, WANEP, WIPNET, Cuttington University Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Inter-Peace, Liberia Council of Churches, Inter-Religious Council, MARWOPNET (Mano River Women’s Peace Network), OSIWA (Open Society Initiative for West Africa), and the Peacebuilding Office at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Each of these organizations were enthusiastic in welcoming this Initiative and validated its design and need. Their feedback has been incorporated. They will serve as partners, especially in the recruitment of the Peacebuilder Teams.

What will happen at the Summits (details on each *starred item below)?

Day 1 and 2: Workshops and training in Compassionate Listening* and conflict resolution*, sharing and building on traditional practices, hearing each other’s stories*

Day 3: Training in Restorative Circles* that are intended to repair the relationships damaged by conflict and allow for reconciliation

Day 4: Town Meeting sessions using large group dialogue processes (World Café* and Open Space Technology*) for sharing perspectives around such questions as: “How do we honor our traditions while reaching beyond them for a Liberia that works for all?”; “What do we need to reach true reconciliation and healing?” “What are the challenges and opportunities to create the future we want for our children?” “What are simple actions for economic development and self-sufficiency (e.g. growing gardens and selling produce, or a simple business like selling baked goods)?”

Day 5: Action plans and commitments for working in home communities. Closing ceremonies and rituals*

Cultural and Evening Activities*: Traditional cultural sharing at the opening, closing ceremony and nightly with music, storytelling, dancing, and other activities that have traditionally brought people together.

Post-Summit Activities: Each Peacebuilder Team (traditional, youth and woman leader from the various ethnic groups) will implement an action plan for creating small community meetings* and Town Meetings in their home community. Local staff will support the Peacebuilders in convening and facilitating these meetings. They will gather and record comments, inputs and suggestions from all participants to share in planning future Summit and to measure outcomes (see Evaluation Section).

Small Community Meetings:

1. Report on the Summit

2. Offer training, practices and exercises in Compassionate Listening and conflict resolution.

3. Show the videotaped stories from the Restorative Justice Circle in those communities having access to electricity.

4. Facilitate discussions, and gather and record comments, inputs and suggestions from all participants. (Note: these comments will be in reports and shared at the next Summit, once it is funded.)

5. Establish agreements for continuing to meet within the local community.

Town Hall Meetings: The Peacebuilder Team will be encouraged to convene a Town Hall in their community to discuss local concerns

Details of the activities

Peacebuilder Summit: A basis for bringing these grassroots leaders together across their ethnic group differences arises from the Contact hypothesis which states that ‘inter-group contact can move towards reducing prejudices and promoting reconciliation and healing when:

All groups have equal status in the contact situation
There is sustained and personal interaction
Groups engage in cooperative activities requiring interdependence to achieve collective goals
Equality is demonstrated as a social norm

Participants will experience what it means to live in a culture of peace, mutual respect and democracy during the Peacebuilder Summit, learning dialogue skills and circle practice. The entire five days of living, eating, learning, dialoging and celebration together in a safe, positive environment, sitting in circles together (the ultimate embodiment of equality) will be a form of transformative dialogue/learning (a process of getting beyond gaining factual knowledge alone to also become changed or ‘transformed’ by what one learns and experiences). Learners will be engaged in critical reflection on their experiences, leading to a transformation of perspective. They will also have many experiences of different identity groups interacting with each other to discover that pre-existing negative stereotypes are in fact groundless and ‘the others’ have positive qualities. The safety in the circle will empower all voices to be heard. Each day will begin and end with reflective practices of silence, focused conversation with a partner, and facilitated debriefing with the whole circle.

Participants will be taught how to convene Restorative Circles, using the four basic questions: “What happened?”; “How were you affected“; “What needs to be done to make right the wrong?”; “How can we make sure it never happens again?” Training at the summit will involve actual circles where participants can tell their stories with others role playing their offenders. During these circles, participants will be given an opportunity to recount their experience of the civil war and how they were affected, with great care given to create safety and a sense of the sacredness of the sharing. Unfortunately, this deep and healing listening has not necessarily been part of the Truth and Reconciliation Hearings. Victims have revisited their terrible memories without the support that allows the release of grief. After sharing, participants then explore what could be done to repair the damage, restore trust, and move towards forgiveness. (Note: Permission will be sought to allow for the videotaping of the stories so they can be shared with others as a teaching tool.)

Large group dialogue: As a way to build connection and trust, and develop skills in dialogue which become the basis for civil society, we will engage the whole group in this powerful process (known as World Café.) The conversation will be about the source and challenges around their identity, the challenges around forgiveness and reconciliation, the future they envision for Liberia, how they can overcome any barriers to bringing this to fruition, and what actions they might take as responsible citizens. In the words of a GCJ Nigerian delegate when he participated in such a conversation, “It’s dynamic, democratic and problem-solving all packed in one process and suitable for complicated and delicate problems. … I was forced to dig deep into my intellect for a solution about what was emerging. By juggling participants continuously and focusing them on clearly stated issues, it helps to keep everyone positive and constructive. In that way, it attacks the problem while giving the people a joyful, fulfilling experience… I remember observing that the faces of all the invitees were relaxed, no one was suspecting his or her neighbour from the other community, and at the end of the circle there was joy and reunion.”

Large Group Dialogue and Action Planning / Open Space Technology: This internationally used model, based on the African marketplace and circle, will create the opportunity for all participants to raise the issues that they consider to be important, to take responsibility for their concerns and needs, and to engage in action oriented dialogue with the group. It has been successfully used even among people who see each other as ‘the enemy.’ Participants set the agenda for small breakout groups and self organize into the conversations of their choice. In doing so they discover new ways of working cooperatively, while expressing their own perspectives, and taking responsibility for what they care about. Open Space provides people with experiences of genuine empowerment and the ability to achieve a high degree of collaboration around complex issues. Participants will learn how to facilitate these large group processes through their participation, supplemented by an instruction guide we will give them. They will be able to bring these processes back to their home community to empower their communities to find solutions to their challenges and to resolve their conflicts nonviolently.

Cultural and Evening Activities: Participants will engage in cultural activities that increase connectedness and lead to an appreciation of ethnic tradition. Activities include singing, cooking and dancing together, sharing, and making meaning explicit (exchanging world views, traditional myths, storytelling, etc.).

Closing Ceremonies and Rituals: The Peacebuilder Teams will be supported and encouraged to make clear plans for their next steps and to publicly declare their intentions. To further recognition and interconnectedness, closing rituals will include offering each other appreciation. And each group’s traditions will be honored in the closing ceremonies, which will be co-designed with the participants.

Small Community Meetings (post summit): When the Peacebuilders return to their home communities, they will gather groups where everyone’s voice can be heard and where they share their learnings from the National Summit. The greater safety offered by smaller groups will allow concerns, about challenging issues to surface, such as power and authority, repatriation of refugees, gender, age, and erosion of respect for elders. The group will be invited to explore perceptions about each other’s cultural, gender, religious, traditional and other differences. They will discuss what it would take to move towards reconciliation and forgiveness of ‘The Other’ and begin to identify what is needed within the community to build peace, respect and hope. They will support each other in integrating practices of Compassionate Listening, conflict resolution, and healing in their families and communities.

Town Hall Meetings (post summit): The Peacebuilder Teams will convene a Town Hall meeting to share what they have learned and discussed in the meetings, as well as to encourage the community to explore the concerns they have raised. They will explore how they can work together within the community and with other ethnic groups in Liberia, to create the future they want for themselves and their children. They may use the World Café and Open Space formats or other traditional processes. Peacebuilders who organize a Town Hall will contact our local staff for support at the event and for a small stipend to help cover costs.

Why launch the Liberian Peacebuider Initiative?

Years of brutal civil conflict have left Liberia with a traumatized population and a devastated infrastructure. Although peace has been secured at a governmental level, conflicts and tensions at the community level and the trauma and wounds from the years of violence still threaten to disrupt the fragile post-conflict situation. There is a tremendous need for community based leaders to build inter-ethnic trust, to learn the skills of non-violent conflict resolution, reconciliation and collaborative networking – the foundations for democracy, development and a sustainable peace. Experts acknowledge that peace must be built at the grassroots level as well as at the higher, official levels of treaties and agreements; the tendency to leap ahead with economic development without a concomitant focus on individuals and local conditions often results in a reversion to violence. It is fair to say that there are few Liberians whose lives were unaffected by the civil conflict: therefore any conflict resolution training must include processes that allow for the clearing of pain and emotionality created by the trauma.

In December 1989, Liberia plunged into a brutal civil war, which resulted in the deaths of over 250,000 people. The war divided families, tribes, friends; devastated infrastructure; and threatened to destroy Liberian culture, traditions, beliefs and norms. Fortunately, a peace agreement was signed and elections were held, bringing Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to the Presidency. Although much of the Liberian population accepts the need for and welcomes the prospect of reconciliation between the tribes and the divided people of Liberia, there is little actual understanding of the mechanisms and complexities of reconciliation and peace. Many Liberians speak of reconciliation in vague terms such as the need to love, respect and forgive each other, without being able to actualize these concepts in relation to members of other tribes or opposing groups.

Enhancing the capacity of local, grassroots leaders to promote dispute resolution and reconciliation is critical for the Liberian people in order to heal the past, facilitate forgiveness, and bring the diverse constituents together. Although valuable support from the global community has been extended, much greater effort is needed to consolidate the effort at the community and ethnic level, build a sustainable peace, and empower Liberians themselves to preserve this peace into the future. Strategies for reconciliation and the healing of relationships that are culturally appropriate to the Liberian context must be developed, taught and widely promoted throughout the rural counties. Developing the skills of local leaders will increase the likelihood that community conflicts will be resolved nonviolently in the future. It is important to work toward the cultivation of grassroots skills in conflict prevention, containment, and transformation. There are no greater threats to democracy than war and the tensions and conflicts that permeate a fragile post-conflict situation. The goal of this initiative is to promote the basic skills required for democracy – the ability to express and listen to different perspectives, the respect for cultural differences, and the willingness to work for the common good, and to work at the grassroots level in the communities – as well as the capacity for individual healing.

GCJ brings the expertise of US specialists together with the guidance of our local partners, as the experts on their own traditions and culture. This effort, we believe, will sow the seeds for a successful, long-term grassroots peace movement and the realization of a sustainable, uniquely Liberian democracy.

Opportunities for participation: We need your support!

donate funds or equipment (such as laptops)
help with grant writing and fundraising
volunteer with GCJ (communications, research, outreach, project development etc.)
join as a delegate: we will seek delegates who have skills to bring. This includes a wide range of professions and experiences, from mediators, facilitators, healers and conflict resolution specialties to teachers, community artists, and videographers. We envision that each delegate will join one or two of the Peacebuilder teams and return to support them in their home communities after the Summit in planning and sharing the skills learned. We hope to hold the first Summit in October or November of 2010. Contingent on funding, we plan to hold a series of Summits (ideally three in each region plus one or two national gatherings), with a two or three month interval between. It will be encouraged but not required that delegates participate in more than one of the Summits. Once we obtain the needed funding to host the first Summit, we will post an application including details around costs and dates. Delegates will need to fund their own travel and expenses. Past GCJ Journeys have run around $2900 plus airfare for a 2.5 week experience.

Host: Population Caring Organization

The Liberian Peacebuilder Initiative is being launched by GCJ in partnership with Population Caring Organization, founded by Emmanuel Dolo, at the Budumbura Refugee Camp for Liberians. From 2003 to 2008, PCO established community Peace Cells (dialogue circle gatherings) in the refugee camp reaching hundreds of community members and helping to resolve the many cases of conflict that arise in an overcrowded and traumatized population. These discussion groups focused on domestic violence; community conflict; national and tribal violence; misunderstandings and hatred; and building capacity for reconciliation – including strategies for ex-combatants and child soldiers. In December 2005, PCO brought together elders and traditional leaders from the 16 ethnic groups in a reconciliation ceremony that marked 15 months of intense peace-building dialogue in the Liberian Tribal Leaders’ Reconciliation Forum (LTLRF). They are eager to integrate these practices and many of their re-patriated colleagues and elders back in Liberia. Emmanuel believes it is essential for outsiders to come and work with him and others to build true peace – grassroots – from the bottom up (vs. governmental declarations). The peace is fragile because Liberia does not have its own security force – and thus depends upon the UN. It is difficult to develop its own security force when there is so little trust among the various ethnic groups.