Conciliation Resources: Building paths to peace: Bo Peace and Reconciliation Movement

Sierra Leone

After careful preparation, a young ex-combatant returns to his village and is welcomed by his family. (Photo © BPRM)

David Ngombu

Participants work in a group to identify some of the potential areas of conflict in the 2007 national elections, during a consultative meeting facilitated by BPRM and Conciliation Resources.

The war in Sierra Leone devastated more than lives and national infrastructure. It created a population traumatised by their experiences, displaced from their homes and families, lacking trust in one another and vulnerable to anti-social behaviour.

Historical disputes in communities were often dealt with during the war through personal vengeance, widening social divides. After the war ended and during the processes of building peace, some community disputes were superficially addressed without resolving the root causes of the conflicts that helped perpetuate over a decade of warfare. With the large number of disenfranchized youths and without genuine peace, some community disputes spiralled into violence, acting as an obstacle to rebuilding community infrastructures and unity among the people.

In July 1996, Conciliation Resources (CR) responded to an invitation to the southern region of Sierra Leone to see how civil society groups were involved in engaging with Revolutionary United Front (RUF) combatants to promote their demobilisation and reintegration. Following a series of meetings with civil society representatives in Bo town, Conciliation Resources realized that if peace was to be truly sustained it was essential to promote local organizations’ practical involvement in the peace process.

As a result, Conciliation Resources held its first workshop to train interested local organizations in contemporary conflict resolution skills, so that they could more effectively help to resolve some community disputes that might otherwise have continued to evolve into violent conflicts at national level.

Inspired by the training and determined to contribute as citizens to upholding peace in Sierra Leone, civil society groups recognized the need for a more structured locally-based organization capable of resolving various conflicts. With support from Conciliation Resources, nine civil society organizations from varying backgrounds worked together to develop the concept and to form what is now known as the Bo Peace and Reconciliation Movement (BPRM). BPRM is a community based, voluntary peacebuilding organization made up of a union between the Amputees Dependent Association, Drivers Union, Ex-combatants, Jaima-Bongo Descendants Association (JAGBONDA), Sierra Leone Awareness Movement, Muslim Youth Movement, Sierra Leone Red Cross, Teachers Union and the Petty Traders Union. Over a decade later, BPRM are recognized at national level for helping prevent and resolve over 1,000 cases of both armed violence and community disputes, acting as a bridge between conflicts, linking communities to peace.