At Border Area between Sierra Leone and Liberia
The workshop was facilitated by three Rotary Peace fellows, Edwina Ricks Karnley, Klonnious Blamo and Richelieu Marcel Allison, who drilled the participants on a number of topics, including the eight pillars of positive peace, nonviolent conflict resolution, human rights, peace, security, leadership, communication, and regional integration.
A two-day cross-border capacity-building training workshop on peace and security was held at the Liberian- Sierra Leonean border from 22-25 October 2024. The training, which took place in Gendemah, a Sierra Leonean border town, brought together about 50 participants from both sides of the border, including traditional leaders, women leaders, youth groups, commercial motorcyclists, border security, and local leaders. It was held under the theme ’’Creating Cross-Border Connections to Engender Positive Peace, Regional Integration, and Security in the Mano River Union Region” across the Mano River Union.
The workshop was climaxed by a cross-border dialogue, which provided the platform for participants to discuss the main challenges encountered at the border, including harassment and extortion of women, poor infrastructure, and the absence of public service delivery, youth marginalization, drugs, and organized crime. At the end of the dialogue, the participants made a number of recommendations including the following
Undertake a civic education campaign to reduce the incidence of travellers crossing the borders without the necessary paperwork.,
Assess the quality of border personnel management with emphasis on gender balance.
Take measures to improve the terms and conditions of employment for officers based at the borders.
Collect information and intelligence relating to cross-border trafficking of drugs, arms and contraband goods, involving in the process state and non-state actors, relevant line Ministries in the governments of the MRU states,
Review procedures for joint investigation of cross- border criminality and serious and organized crime. Review ‘working together’ procedures for joint patrols to deter smuggling activities and identify security breaches at unofficial border crossing points. Introduce a cohesive cross-border ‘working together’ policy, especially for visible foot patrols.
The workshop was part of a wilder cross border project on peace and security, which is being undertaken across the Mano River Union by Rotary Peace Activator Richelieu Marcel Allison, with support from Rotary International and the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP). Mr. Allison is also a Rotary Peace Fellow and served as Past President of the Rotary E-club of Social Innovators (RESI) from July 2019-July 2020. As a Rotary Peace Fellow, he obtained his Post Graduate Certificate in Peace and Conflict Studies from the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2006 and a MA in International Politics and Security Studies from the University of Bradford in the UK.
The project encompasses a number of activities including discussion on positive peace for Rotarians in the sub region, as well as cross- border activities in three border communities in the Mano River Union. Already, a similar capacity-building workshop was conducted in the Liberian border town of Yeala, close to the Guinean border, and brought together 50 participants from both sides of the Liberian -Guinean borders, including traditional leaders, women leaders, youth groups, commercial motorcyclists, border security, and local leaders. The next training workshop will be held in December 2024 at the Guinean Sierra Leonean border.
Rotary Positive Peace Activators are a group of peacebuilders who are committed to building peace through the structures and resources of Rotary. The Rotary Positive Peace Activator Program provides selected trainees the opportunity to gain concrete knowledge and resources to foster peace and access to a global network of like-minded peacebuilders. IEP’s Positive Peace research demonstrates that lasting peace cannot be built merely on the absence of violence but rather requires a supportive social system inclusive of factors such as good governance, access to needed services, a sound business environment, and respect for the rights of others.
Rotary brings together a global network of volunteer leaders dedicated to tackling the world’s most pressing humanitarian challenges. IEP is a non-profit, non-partisan, independent research institute. Furthermore, IEP is the world’s leading think tank dedicated to developing metrics to analyze peace and quantify its economic value.
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