PHOTO: Participants from the Gbarnga, Bong County, dialogue forum
Residents of Saclepea, Nimba County, will today converge at the Saclepea Administrative Hall to discuss, via a dialogue forum, the Farmington River Declaration signed on April 4, 2023 by political parties and presidential candidates.
The Center for Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding (CECPAP) will guard the dialogue. Last week, CECPAP hosted similar dialogue forums in two counties – Zorzor, Lofa, and Gbarnga, Bong respectively.
The Saclepea dialogue forum is part of an on-going eight-part series community dialogue that has been taking place in several counties for the past three weeks. Already, residents of Grand Cape Mount, Gbapolu, Lofa, and Bong counties have met and discussed the declaration while Nimba, Grand Gedeh, River Gee, and Maryland counties are set to discuss the document.
According to a release from CECPAP, the dialogue forum is being held under the theme: Promoting Peaceful Electoral Environment and Community Security in Liberia. It is geared towards increasing Liberians’ knowledge and awareness level on the recently signed Farmington Eiver Declaration by political parties and presidential candidates.
Charles Crawfrof, CECPAP Executive Director
The Saclepea dialogue forum seeks to engage county authorities, community leaderships, local dwellers, and other stakeholders on their civic responsibility to preventing and managing violence during this electoral period. Liberians, as part of their roles and civic responsibilities, have the moral obligation to create and promote a peaceful electoral environment before, during and after elections.
The dialogue forum will create awareness on the maintenance of peace, anti-hate speech, disinformation, misinformation, and vices that fuel conflict and that constitute violation of the 2023 Farmington Declaration.
It is expected that at the end of the community dialogue forum, community leaders and stakeholders in the eight counties are sensitized about commitments contained in the Farmington Declaration and can hold political parties and presidential candidates to account for their misdeeds. The participants will also have the skill and ability to prevent violence and resolve issues surrounding electoral violence.
The community dialogue forum is being organized and facilitated by CECPAP with funding provided by the UN Peacebuilding Fund. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is supervising the implementation of the project.