To Bring Together Traditional, Leaders, Women And Youths, Local Leaders And Security
FLASHBACK: Previous forum held by CENSSAD
A two-day cross-border capacity-building training workshop on peace and security will be held at the Guinea-Sierra Leone border this weekend.
The workshop, which runs from 10-11 January 2025, will take in the border town of Kambia on the Sierra Leonean side of the border, and it is expected to bring together about 50 participants from both sides of the border.
According to the Center for Security Studies and Development (CENSSAD), participants will include traditional leaders, women leaders, youth groups, commercial motorcyclists, border security, and local leaders. The event will be 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 will climaxed by a cross-border dialogue, which will provide the platform for participants to discuss the main challenges encountered at the border, including harassment and extortion of women, poor infrastructure, the absence of public service delivery, youth marginalization, drugs, and organized crime. The participants are also expected to make a number of recommendations and undertake a civic education campaign aimed at reducing the incidence of travellers crossing the borders without the necessary paperwork. They will assess the quality of border personnel management with emphasis on gender balance, and take measures to improve the terms and conditions of employment for officers based at the borders, among other issues.
Similar events took place in the border town of Yeala in July 2024 at the Liberia-Guinean border, and Jenemahn in October 2024 at the Liberian-Sierra Leonean border, both events brought together participants from both sides of the borders.
The upcoming workshop is part of the cross border project on peace and security being undertaken across the Mano River Union basin 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
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 basin. 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.