As Sierra Leone prepares for the 24 June 2023 elections and based on the role played by the media in promoting peace and democracy in the country; the West Africa Network for Peace Building–Sierra Leone (WANEP-SL) last Friday organized a press conference at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Aberdeen in Freetown.
The National Network Coordinator, Dr Isata Mahoi who also chaired the event, stated that their mission was to enable and facilitate the development of mechanisms for cooperation among civil society-based peace building practitioners and organizations in Sierra Leone by promoting cooperative responses to violent conflicts.
She disclosed their plan for the June 2032 elections as “Operationalizing the National Election Response Group (NERG) and Insider Mediation and Negotiation Council during the 2023 Electioneering process in Sierra Leone”. She underscored that WANEP was also providing the structure through which these practitioners and institutions would regularly exchange experience and information on issues of peace building, conflict transformation, social, religious and political reconciliation and promote Sierra Leone’s social cultural values as resources for peace building and that they were exploring ways of replicating the training.
According to Dr Mahoi, together with efforts by other actors within and outside Sierra Leone, “WANEP-SL is proud to be part of the process that has resulted in the ongoing relative peace prevailing in the country”. She added that it had been actively instrumental in working with other partners to manage pre-election conflicts to maintain and build the peace.
She informed that the Network had made significant contributions to building peace in the country through capacity enhancement of its member organizations, underlining that its primary strategy was advocacy to push initiatives or influence policies that would consolidate the peace attained in the country.
Dr Mahoi continued that “WANEP is also working with government line ministries and other women’s groups towards the development of a National Action Plan on 1325 in partnership with the Mano River Women’s Peace Network and the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs”.
Highlighting WANEP’s six strategic objectives, she articulated that it was to ensure that the network was well-capacitated, organized, stronger and functional demonstrated by building a common front in its advocacy work for a peaceful Sierra Leone.
Other strategic objectives are to broaden the youth and peace education programmes and support youth participation and voice issues of governance, peace and security, increase WANEP’s research capacity towards supporting policy advocacy, providing knowledge products for effective decision-making, leveraging partnerships and strengthening WANEP’s institutional capacity and that of its member organizations to deliver on their mandate.
She informed further that it was in these peace and human security deficits that WANEP was using the opportunity to inform the public about current challenges that lie ahead of the electioneering processes for citizens, partners and peacebuilding practitioners to reflect and how to address these challenges and reminded all that three months to the elections and the process of consolidation of the Sierra Leone democratic process, it is fraught with constraints and challenges, especially with regards to the conduct of the elections and that similarly, the notion of democratic transitions, which is an essential ingredient of democracy, is gradually becoming a source of concern despite the enormous efforts to promote democratic principles across the country.
The press conference was preceded by a five-day training of 22 participants on election mediation and dialogue with Mr Per Bajalkander, Peace Mediation Specialist from the FolkeBernedetta Academy in Sweden, as one of the facilitators.