Building lasting peace in Liberia

10 October 2011

It was a proud day for Liberians as president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and peace activist Leymah Gbowee became the second and third African women to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on 7 October.

Anti-violence message at peace-building workshop run by Liberia YMCA

Edward Gboe from our partner organisation, YMCA of Liberia, expressed his pride: “We all (civil society organizations including the YMCA) proudly share this noble achievement as the YMCA is part of the peacebuilding network where Leymah's work came to prominence.”

It is nearly eight years since the brutal civil war ended, largely thanks to Gbowee and her fellow female peace activists who stood up to the fearsome military leaders. But living in a country that is rebuilding after conflict and struggling with poverty is extremely difficult, especially for the large youth population. Many young people had to drop out of school during the conflict and have not been able to get a full education. Young heads of households have no means of providing food for their families and ex-combatants often fail to find sustainable livelihoods.

Young motorbike riders gather to talk in Liberia

Many young men who fought during the conflict have become motorbike taxi riders – a livelihood which provides an unpredictable income. They used to clash violently with the wider community as the country’s disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programme failed to effectively reintegrate many of them back into their communities. However, thanks to trained peace peer mediators talking closely with motorcycle unions at least 32 potentially violent disputes have been resolved amicably in the past year.

The training of peace peer mediators is part of a four-year project run by Y Care International and YMCA of Liberia, funded by Comic Relief and the European Commission, and is now in its third year. The project enables young people to build a sustainable peace in their communities. Peace clubs have been formed in nine sites across Liberia and neighbouring Sierra Leone and peace peer mediators have organised peace-building sessions reaching over 1000 young men in just one year, nearly all of them ex-combatants and motorcycle taxi riders, who are now less prone to resort to violence during a dispute and more likely to call the union to intervene.

Emmanuel Mulbah, a peace peer educator in Zorzor, Liberia

Emmanuel Mulbah, 20, is the local youth council president and one of six peace educators in Zorzor, Liberia. He lost a brother in the war.

“When we came back [after the war] there were a lot of violent incidents that took place here in Zorzor but by the YMCA intervention... they have really minimised the issues.”

The peacebuilding activities being implemented by the YMCA of Liberia run alongside other activities supported by Y Care International, including teaching sustainable trades to vulnerable young people, providing them with the opportunity to find work and lift themselves of poverty. Follow this link to read more about Y Care International’s work in Liberia.

This project has been funded with support from the European Union.