BY: EDWARD KINGSTON JOMBLA NATIONAL NETWORK COORDINATOR WANEP-SIERRA LEONE PROJECT TITLE: “Open Constitutional Review Consultations – Reaching the last mile”.

Background Sierra Leone at a cross-road: from post- conflict to sustainable development is beset with challenges like corruption, unemployment, economic diversification, exclusion of rural and marginalized groups, political tolerance, regional divide, weak civil society and so on… Opportunities: creation of long term national institutional programmes through the common vision contained in the A4P and the UN Joint Vision Documents and Non-state Actors commitments to development

Project Justification Review of the 1991 Constitution - which was endorsed shortly after the start of the civil war in The 2 nd review since the end of the civil conflict: i.e. the Peter Tucker CR/Report (2008); The process is also responding to recommendations of the Lomé Peace Accord (1999), the TRC Report (2004), the enduring calls from the women, youth and the PWDs demanding greater inclusion within governance, removing section 27 (4) d & e and matching up to speed in terms of other national and global emerging socio-economic environmental and political issues e.g. addressing health, land, natural resources, climate change, peace consolidation, etc…

Project Justification Ensure inclusivity of the CR process – give as many people as possible the opportunity to participate (national ownership of the process is critical to peacebuilding needs) Involvement of the people confer legitimacy and acceptability to the constitution (build consensus for a “people’s constitution”) Provide feedback about decisions made and how views from the people considered Arousing interest in nationalism/good citizenship (civic education)

Project Location & Targets The project will mainly target 87 chiefdoms in the seven selected border districts as follows: TARGET GROUPS The project will directly target more than 10,000 people including chiefs/traditional leaders, religious leaders, youths, women, persons with disability, CSOs in peacebuilding, school pupils (age 18-23) and teachers

Activity/Strategies The following 2 main activities will be undertaken during the lifespan of this project: 1. Capacity Strengthening of Community Structures and Awareness raising on the CR process 1 three (3) days training workshop will be organised for 70 young people (10 per district) as Community ‘Mobilizers (CMs)’ on the CR process. The objectives are to mobilize border communities’ interests in the formal CR consultations; enhance their understanding about the constitution and strengthen their capacity to fully participate in the processes. CRC’s Public information packages/materials will be utilized to deliver the training…

Activity/Strategies Community ‘Door-to-Door’ campaign will be conducted for 14 days in each target district for information sharing, prepare grassroots women and community stakeholders for active participation in the CR meetings and collect data on critical issues for sharing the CRC. – A Target of 7000 people to be reached across 7 districts 7 Road Show Events titled: “MAK YU CONSTITUTION” will be organised across target districts reaching at least 2800 people to raise awareness and understanding on the CR process as well as to capture people’s views on issues such as land use, health care, security, education, citizenship, chieftaincy, management of natural resources

Activity/Strategies My Idol/Voice of Community Influence – 2 prominent/influential members of the in each target district will be selected to record a 2- 3mins long voice clip on the relevance of the CR process – translate voices into jingles to be aired on community radio stations with messages estimated to reach close to 500,000 community residents in 7 districts

Activity/Strategies School Essay Competition on the New Sierra Leone will be organised involving senior pupils across the country aimed at capturing the views of children on the topic: “The Constitution we want beyond 2015.” … a LAUNCH of the initiative will be done at regional bringing together 120 participant across 4 regions. It is estimated that 80 essay will be submitted analysed and 12 best selected for award and 2 exceptional essays will be presented to the CRC

Activity/Strategies 1 two (2) days National Consultative Meeting will be held bringing together 45 CSOs representative from 4 regions for the validation and adoption of a civil society position paper on “infrastructure for peace” to be presented to the CRC for consideration and incorporation in the “New” Constitution – Target: 45 CSOs representatives (10 from North, South and Eastern regions and 15 from WU/WR) working in the field of peacebuilding, human rights and the media to brainstorm on the initiative to include the establishment of a national peace council in the reviewed constitution.

Activity/Strategies 2. Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting on the CR process Four (4) quarterly project monitoring visits to be undertaken and report shared with the CRC Monitoring CRC activities and providing feedback on the process to the CRC – Target: 149 CRC consultations monitored and information shared with the general public through SMS and other social media 1 End of Project Discussion Forum to be held bringing together 30 participants from across communities of implementation

Expected outputs/Results 70 ‘Community Mobilizers’ trained on the constitutional review process and are engaging communities on the process. 7,000 households reached and informed about the constitutionally through the community door- to-door campaign and mobilized public interest in the constitutional review meeting. A total of 2,800 people across 7 district during the Road Show will contribute to the discussions on critical issues to be incorporated in the New Constitution.

Expected outputs/Results 1 School Essay competition on the ‘new’ Sierra Leone Constitution planned and implemented with a target of more than 80 submissions nationwide; and 2 exceptional essays presented to the CRC for consideration and inclusion. 45 CSOs representatives participated in 1 National Consultative Meeting and 1 CSOs position paper on the establishment of a National Peace Council adopted and presented to the CRC. Produced and aired 14 (2-3mins) jingles in local languages across the 7 border districts

Expected Outcomes Enhanced participation and inclusiveness in the constitutional review process through increased awareness among local border communities to understand and claim rights by the end of the project period Contribute to the legitimacy and acceptability of the constitution “The People’s constitution”

THANK YOU! QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS ARE WELCOME!!!