Fambul Tok 2014

Stakeholders Meetings

Many of you know I will be observing the beginning of the Fambul Tok peace process this journey whereas last year the observation of the village success stories was the focus. 

The very first step for 2014 was taken last January 2013 when Fambul Tok conducted Chiefdom meetings in several districts.  By ballot, 6 sections in each of 6 districts were chosen to go through the process in 2014.

The next step is the Stakeholders Meeting and this is where I begin my journey through the process.  The attendees are 2 people (1 man & 1 woman) from each village in the section and are leaders or elders in their communities.  The Section Chief also attends.

The Fambul Tok staff, with me along, conducted 5 of these meetings in 2 districts.  The meetings had the same structure, but the participation and questions varied from group to group.

Jibrila Interviewing an Attendee

At the Stakeholders Meeting the following takes place:

1. Before the meeting starts each participant is privately interviewed using a questionnaire asking such things as to the ability to feed the village, how respected they are in the village, their willingness to work with FT, are there known unresolved conflicts from the war etc.
2. At the beginning the facilitator asks how they heard about Fambul Tok.  The radio seems to be the way for most. It is stressed that FT will come to the people in the villages using motorbikes.  This differs from other NGOs (Non-Government Organization) who do not go below district level for their activities.
3. Then the facilitator imparts the Fambul Tok values, and how the process is structured to work.  FT sees the importance in bringing back some of the old traditions particulary the ceremony of honoring the ancestors and those who died in the war.  This subject is well received in all the meetings.  Some state that their religious leaders have forbidden conducting these ceremonies, but the people are delighted to hear they will be used as part of the FT peace process.
4. Then the attendees are asked if they wish to work with Fambul Tok.  If yes (and it was yes and has been always yes), then they are asked for input regarding their particular needs that may not have been met in the initial explanation of the values and process.
5. They are asked to provide 20 names, 10 women and 10 men from the section with each village having representation.  Two committees will be formed from these 20 names.
1. Reconciliation Committee (RC) who will be trained in mediation and reconciliation techniques.  Two of the members must be youths (18 to about 25) and be one of each gender.  The other 8 (4 women & 4 men) must be made up of the elders in the communities such as the Mammy Queen, Chief, religious leaders, etc.
2. Outreach Committee (OC) who will be trained to observe in the communities and bring any unresolved conflicts to the attention of the RC for them to get involved. The OC will be composed only of youths 4 men and 4 women and should be peer group leaders in the community or highly respected.  
3. The attendees provide a date for the list of the 20 people, no later than a week out.  The FT District Staff then travels to the designated spot to retrieve the list.
6. Once the date is given and after any unanswered questions are addressed, the meeting adjourns to food and conversation.

After the names are obtained the FT District Staff will do a spot check to ask the population of each of the villages about the integrity of the chosen person.  FT is very committed to provide people who are honest, nonpolitically motivated, village residents, respect all and accept all peoples in the village regardless of class, have no secrets, clean law record, and passionate about reconciliation on the committees.  If they find a candidate to be unacceptable, they will go back to the Stakeholders and ask for another name.

Once the committees are chosen the training begins.  This is the next phase I will be observing in about 2 weeks time.  In the interest of blog length I will tell about some of the experiences at the Stakeholders meetings in my next blog.

Much Love To You All,

Mom,Grandma,Sara