Bringing Côte d’Ivoire’s Divided Communities Together in Search of Common Ground
By Jamie Pleydell-Bouverie
It has been over a year since Côte d’Ivoire’s violent post-election crisis was brought to an end by the arrest of former President Laurent Gbagbo and the ascension to power of his long-time rival, Alassane Ouattara. The crisis resulted in at least 3,000 civilians killed, more than 150 women raped and over 400,000 refugees and internally displaced persons.
I was working for Human Rights Watch’s West Africa division at the time of the crisis, where I documented some of Côte d’Ivoire’s horrors, took testimony of unspeakable atrocities and came dangerously close to losing my faith in human nature. read more…
A New Approach to Conflict Resolution: Computer Games Create a Safe Space for Learning
Students in P4 and P5 hold up their One Laptop Per Child computers after participating in the SFCG evaluation.
By Katherine Conway
In 2010, Search for Common Ground in Rwanda partnered with the U.S. Institute for Peace, the Rwandan Ministry of Education, and Serious Games Interactive to address conflict resolution in an innovative way. Through this partnership, Search for Common Ground developed a computer game designed to teach primary school students about the causes of conflict and conflict resolution skills. The design and implementation of the game is timely as it complements the Rwandan government’s focus on technology described in its strategic report, Vision 2020.
The game, Bana Dukine (Kids, Let’s Play!) depicts a water hole and the animals that surround it. The central character is Little Lion, who is left in charge of distributing water to the animals by his father. read more…
Fasten Your Seatbelts: Shaking up Political Participation in Guinea
SFCG intern Julien Bolamou runs out in front to give the driver directions on the road from Conakry to N’Zerekore in Guinea.
By: Jacob Muirhead
The road from Conakry to N’Zerekore is a perilous one. I had heard mention of the quality of the Southern highway that connects Conakry with Guinea’s second largest city, as well as the southern portion of the country, before setting out, but I still wasn’t prepared for what lay ahead of me. When Magass, our driver for the mission, told me to buckle up, I laughed. Rules around driving etiquette—speed limits, alcohol consumption, number of people in, or on top of vehicles, and especially the need to wear seatbelts – are all matters for loose interpretation. The gravity of my situation dawned on me during this exchange when, without flashing his usual post-joke smile, Magass himself buckled up before firing up the engine of our soon to be not-so-white four-wheel drive Toyota Hilux pickup truck. read more…
Mob forming and beginning to fight after recent violence in Rayfield, Nigeria.
By Matt Medved
The call came shortly before 5 pm.
I sat in the shadowed interior of a Fulani Muslim leader’s home in Dadin Kowa, one of the few Jos communities where Christians and Muslims still peacefully coexist. Alhaji Shehu Umar sat to my right, dressed in the traditional pill blue khaftan and cylindrical earth-tone cap of his tribe. My friends Dalington and Bashir reclined on an adjacent couch, spent after showing me around their neighborhood all afternoon.
Nigerian Pepper Soup
The preceding conversation had been cordial and commonplace. Umar expressed his regret that he was on his way out and unable to offer me food in accordance with Fulani custom. I assured him I was already stuffed from an unexpected meal bestowed upon me by the neighborhood reverend’s wife. Not to mention, my lips were still throbbing from the pepper soup’s spice.
My phone erupted in a flurry of 8-bit tones. It was Chom Bagu, the Search for Common Ground Nigeria Country Director. Unsure of proper custom, I hesitated.
“I know Chom,” Umar said softly. “Answer it.”
“There has been some violence near Barkin Ladi,” Chom spoke gravely. “Fulani herdsmen have killed a senator and a state assemblyman.”
“Oh no,” I replied. The energy in the room shifted to tense silence; all eyes fixed on me. read more…
Connecting & Learning: Young Tunisians Discuss Peacebuilding with SFCG’s Senior Leadership
John Marks and Susan Collin Marks with the SFCG Tunisia staff during their most recent visit to the SFCG office in Tunis.
By Andrew White
Earlier this month, SFCG Tunisia hosted its first Common Ground Café on the occasion of a visit by SFCG president John Marks and senior vice president Susan Collin Marks to Tunis. The event was attended by over 30 members of the youth councils that SFCG has help to found in Tunisia this year as well as several journalists and bloggers.
John and Susan began by discussing SFCG’s mission and approach to peacebuilding, focusing in particular on the organization’s dedication to youth and women’s issues. They also discussed SFCG’s early success in Burundi and the more recent success of The Team in a number of countries as illustrations of the way in which media can be a powerful driver of innovative approaches to conflict resolution and promotion of dialogue.
SFCG Tunisia’s Youth Council, many of whom attended the Common Ground Café this month.
Following their presentation, John and Susan fielded a number of questions (many posed in English!) from participants. The youth in attendance, while clearly excited to be able to speak with their guest, showed an encouraging willingness to challenge the ideas with which they had been presented. Several female attendees, for example, asked read more…
By Elizabeth McSheffrey
I’ve gone over these words again and again since my first day in Sierra Leone. Democracy begins with the right to speak – simple words that pack a powerful punch in a country where voices are often oppressed. Coming from a country like Canada, it’s difficult to truly appreciate their meaning, but the more time I spend here, the more I understand.
It’s been six weeks since I left home for this small West African country. Now that I’ve settled, people keep asking me, “So how do you like Sierra Leone?” I wish I could come up with a more descriptive answer than “good” or “fine,” but the question is deceptive in its simplicity.
Houses in a village outside Freetown
Sierra Leone is not a place that can be described in a phrase or two. read more…
