The civil war in Sierra Leone, Western Africa, is considered one of the most vicious in recent decades. The often ruthlessly brutal conflict, which lasted for over ten years from 1991 to 2002, resulted in a death toll of at least 50,000 people. In addition to this over two million people, about one third of the population, were driven from the country as refugees. The war left the country in a state of economic and social desolation. Now it is slowly returning to normality with the help of international support. Following the withdrawal of the United Nations peace mission, the army and police have again resumed responsibility for security. Over 70,000 fighters from various warring factions have handed in their weapons and more than 50,000 of them have taken part in education and reorientation programmes.
Support for the reconciliation process and peace building in Sierra Leone, but in other places too, comes from Germany. For instance, with the help of the civil conflict resolution programme “zivik” run by the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (ifa) and funded by the Federal Foreign Office. Since 2001 “zivik” has been supporting international peace projects managed by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in crisis areas and advising civil society and state actors on peacemaking measures. The programme is a practically oriented initiative with which Germany is dedicating international efforts to civil conflict prevention above and beyond its multilateral commitments to the UN, the EU and the OSCE. Together with other measures, it helps put into practice the German action plan “Civilian Crisis Prevention, Conflict Resolution and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding”. “The aim of ‘zivik’ is to strengthen civilian power structures in crisis areas and to support projects devoted to coming to terms with conflicts and essential aftercare,” says Peter Mares, head of the “zivik” funding programme at ifa. The programme’s budget for 2009 totals 6.6 million euros, an increase of almost two million euros against last year. The selected projects clearly illustrate “zivik’s” international character: two-thirds are run by NGOs which do not originate from Germany. And as Peter Mares explains, the scope of organizations involved is broad: “We support small voluntary associations as well as large internationally active NGOs.”
In Sierra Leone, for instance, the Berlin children’s support association “Kinderhilfswerk Sierra Leone” has been working for four years on peace education as part of the “zivik” programme and has developed an education centre with a library in Pujehun District in the south of the country. The work there focuses especially on seminars promoting peaceful methods of conflict resolution; it trains adults and young people in mediation and conflict management and informs the population in rural areas about human rights and good governance. For example, the “Kinderhilfswerk” organized a pilot project together with a local NGO to train “peace monitors” and mediators to settle local disputes in “grievance committees”. Moderators help the conflicting parties to try and settle their disputes out of court. In this way two neighbouring villages, which had been involved in a long-standing dispute over the use of a piece of land, managed to reach agreement and peacefully overcome their quarrel.
The work of the “Kinderhilfswerk Sierra Leone” is one of 60 projects currently operating worldwide with funding from the “zivik” programme. The programme’s regional emphasis lies in Africa, Central and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, the Caucasus and Latin America. The projects concentrate on coming to terms with the past, qualifying multipliers, protecting peace workers, promoting dialogue and peacemaking journalism. In Colombia, for instance, “zivik” supports a foundation working to come to terms with the past and promote reconciliation between the Colombian state, guerrillas and paramilitary groups. In Afghanistan “zivik” supports the German NGO “medica mondiale” in the training and further education of social workers and doctors who are working with women traumatized by war. In Israel the Givat Haviva Institute for Advanced Studies received support for its project with young Israelis and Arabs. In the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia “zivik” funded local radio and television programmes promoting inter-ethnic tolerance and understanding.
In this way the “zivik” programme is making a major contribution to the Federal Government’s action plan “Civilian Crisis Prevention, Conflict Resolution and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding” which was adopted in 2004 and defines civilian crisis prevention and peaceful conflict resolution as a central and indispensible part of German peace policy. Whilst the worldwide importance of non-violent crisis prevention has gradually increased, Germany has also developed a number of instruments and strategies at national level that see themselves as cross-sectional tasks in the areas of humanitarian aid, development cooperation and human rights work and materialize to form an overall concept in the action plan. In addition to the “zivik” programme, the action plan also includes the Civil Peace Service (FFD) supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation, the German Foundation for Peace Research (DSF), the Center for International Peace Operations (ZIF) and the Working Group on Development and Peace (FriEnt) – an alliance of seven state and non-state organizations involved in development and peace policy.
