By Abass Jalloh
After 20 years of working in Sierra Leone, Search for Common Ground (SCG), one of the leading organizations that seeks to support peace building in conflict areas, has ended operations in Sierra Leone.
This means the Talking Drum Studio (TDS), which was a programme under SCG throughout its operations, will now continue to operate as usual. As such TDS will henceforth be independent.
SCG ends its operation in Sierra Leone because it now wants to turn its attention to other conflict-prone places, according to the Media Coordinator of TDS, Emrys Savage – famously known as King Fisher.
The transition statement by SCG, dated 8th June 2022, says the decision to leave affects Sierra Leone and other countries such Guinea, Liberia and Madagascar, and both parties agreed to register TDS as a successor organization to SCG.
SCG and the TDS believe that their “innovative programmes – “Atunda Ayenda” and others have contributed to opening the space for dialogue on critical and sensitive social, economic, security and political issues, promoting transparency, accountability and inclusive governance.”
Officials said SCG was an active member of several networks and coalitions including the Budget Advocacy Network (BAN), National Elections Watch (NEW), and Independent Radio Network (IRN) in promoting democratic and inclusive governance in Sierra Leone.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday 8th June 2022 at the TDS office at Tengbeh Town in Freetown, Alpha Kamara, the Acting Country Director for SCG and National Director for TDS, said the process of effecting the transition started in 2018 and by the 30th June 2022, SCG would end its operation in Sierra Leone.
Kamara said the transition is meant to localize and maintain the work of SCG in Sierra Leone and also provide an opportunity for everyone to take ownership of the initiatives of TDS following the takeover.
He assured that the TDS would be doing their usual production of programmes, invest in peace building, conflict transformation, and media programming as a tool in elevating discussions at community level. He added that their partnership with local radio stations would continue,providing platforms for citizens to engage with local authorities and elected officials to improve services at local and national levels.
Talking about the upcoming 2023 elections, Kamara went on to say that the TDS would be “fully participating” in the electoral processes before, during and after elections, assuring that they would contribute to mitigating violence in the process.
The Country Director of SCG in Sierra Leone, Joseph Jimmy Sankaituah, recalled how the organization upon coming to Sierra Leone raised funds and created linkages with funding partners.
Sankaituah said the difference between SCG and the TDS by then was difficult to make but simply noted that the TDS in the past was a “media arm” for SCG. “We used Talking Drum Studio as a production house to disseminate critical information to the public,” he said, adding that the media house became “so popular that people knew Talking Drum Studio instead of Search for Common Ground”.
“So Talking Drum Studio is no more a production studio to disseminate Searches across the country; it is now a viable national organization set up to continue to promote peace-building work in Sierra Leone,” he declared.
He added that the Atunda Ayenda programme was needed for the promotion of peace. He said the programme was “determined, set, and planned right from the beginning for Atunda Ayenda to be the most popular radio programme in Sierra Leone, and were able to achieve that.
He said Atunda Ayenda is from the Madingo language which means ‘Lost and Found', and it was introduced to help trace the location of people.
Atunda Ayenda programme discusses issues that affect everybody in Sierra Leone, such as water shortage, electricity, child abuse, violence against women, corruption, and electoral violence.
Among other several programmes by the TDS under the watch of the SCG, Atunda Ayenda has over four thousand, five hundred (4,500) episodes since it was launched in 2001.
The Regional Director for SCG, Alhassane Drabbo, said doors are still open because the TDS is part of the global peace building communities, and that collaboration between the two parties will continue.
Drabbo explained that what they had been doing over the past two decades was investing in organizational strengthening in terms of registration and legitimacy, building TDS capacity regarding mobilization to raise funds, and strengthening capacity in terms of the technicality of monitoring and learning.
“We are confident that we are leaving behind a very strong organization that is capable of not only carrying search [SCG] as legacy but going way beyond that,” Drabbo stated.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (10/06/22)
