RECONCILIATION PROCESS IN TOGO: TRAUMA HEALING AND VIOLENCE PREVENTION

Elaborated and presented by Kwami Dodzi KpondzoPeacebuilder

WHY/Background of the Project• Togo enter in the reconciliation process in

May 2009 when the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission was established. In fact Togo has gone through into several violence when it comes to elections; the worse part of the history is the violence of 2005 where many people were killed, raped, injured and wounded. The change I want is to see people choose to be healed from their wound or trauma and avoid violence for the best future to all. My theory of change is that the people themselves make choice to change following the information received. Note that in April 2015 Togo will have a presidential election.

WHAT/The issue I want to address• In some youth gathering, considering the

community of Bè, people are very clear about their concern regarding their participation or contribution to the development of the country. You will hear many of them saying: “I will not go for vote or poll anymore”, “the election is coming again is better for me to leave the country”, “I am not interested in participating to the community activities”. You can feel the frustration of people; they are traumatized and deeply wounded.

WHO/Owner of the Project•Young Christian in Action for

Development (YCAD), faith base organization will lead this project. YCAD was founded in 2007 and intervene in the area of child and women protection, Conflict Transformation and HIV/Aids. The primary target of the organization are the children and youth.

WHOM/The target community

•The community or the audience I will work with is composed of youth from the community of Bè where there is violence most of the time. I will bring together leaders from youth organizations, women organization, village development committee.

WHERE/Project location

•The project will take place in Togo.

WHEN/Timeframe The project will cover the period of six

months Phase 1: from 1st September to 30 November 2014

Phase 2: from January to March 2015

HOW/Strategy•Three seminars for two days each will be

organized to start the process of healing in the community. The project will have two phases: during the first phase the leaders, through video and people testimonies, will be trained and informed about the negative impact of violence on the community. In the second phase the trained leaders will sensitize and raise awareness of the community on the importance of non-violence. Video, song and testimonies will be used during the sensitization.

OUTCOME•90 leaders from the community of Bè

were trained•The process of trauma healing started

within the community•The community of Bè is aware of the

negative impact of violence •No violence registered before, during and

after April 2015 election