FLASHBACK: Participants from the first phase of the dialogue forum in Sinje, Grand Cape Mount
The second phase of the Center for Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding (CECPAP) community dialogue has started over the weekend in Gbapolu County.
The second phase of the dialogue is part of an eight-part series community dialogues bound to take place in 8 counties – Grand Cape Mount, Gbapolu, Lofa, Bong, Nimba, Grand Gedeh, RiverGee, and Maryland respectively. Grand Cape Mount County hosted the kick-off of the first phase of the community dialogue.
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 Declaration by political parties and presidential candidates.
Henry Town, Gbapolu County, serves as the venue for the second phase of the community dialogue forum which seeks to engage county authorities, community leaderships, local dwellers, and other stakeholders on their civic responsibility to preventing and managing violence as part of their roles and civic responsibilities in promoting 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, said a CECPAP press release signed by its Executive Director Charles Crawford.