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| The Sierra Leone Delegation |
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In March 2017 a delegation from Sierra Leone including the Minister of
Local Government and Rural Development, Maya Kai Kai, visited Belfast.
The visit was the result of my visit to Sierra Leone in
February 2016 on invitation of
Catalyst for Peace (operational US
Foundation) and Fambul Tok a local NGO. The trip focused on observing
the work of
Fambul Tok. Fambul Tok (meaning "family talk") is a
community ritual process that takes place at bonfires in which
reconciliation between victims and perpetrators of political violence
takes place (see http://www.fambultok.org). When the Ebola crisis hit,
the same networks were used for post-war reconciliation were transformed
into health prevention networks. Then in the last two years the
networks have continued to develop, and have morphed into a local
governance processes called the “People’s Planning Process”. Fambul Tok
have run this new peace and development process in 3 regions. Through
the trip I was invited to be an advisor to and Fambul
Tok, as they set out to mainstream the process with government. As part
of this process, funded and supported by Catalyst for
Peace, Ulster University hosted a delegation from Sierra Leone including the Minister of
Land and Rural Development, MPs, a major, local council members and
various civil society representatives in Belfast in April 2017 to
discuss the inclusive local governance and peacebuilding process
unfolding in Sierra Leone.
