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The Moral Foundations for Democracy (MFD) – a training programme for the military, police and civil society developed by IofC – is now being carried out by Sierra Leonean trainers under the auspices of Hope-Sierra Leone, a local IofC-affiliated non-government organisation (NGO). This phase of the programme follows pilot projects and ‘train the trainers’ courses supported by Dutch Aid Agency Cordaid during 2005.

In the three months since commencement in September 2006, three of the five-day MFD courses have been held and three one-day outreach programmes in the provinces. In one of these, in the south of the country, 100 people arrived for the seminar, many coming as a result of hearing faculty members discussing MFD on the radio the night before. Some had to be turned away as facilities were limited. Further programmes are now being planned at the MFD Office in the capital, Freetown.

2007 is a crucial year for Sierra Leone with presidential and parliamentary elections set for 28 July. Hope-Sierra Leone is a member of the Network for Collaborative Peacebuilding – Sierra Leone. This Network will be actively promoting a ‘Clean Election Campaign’ in the next months, in collaboration with the Electoral Commission, the military and the police. Similar IofC inspired Clean Election Campaigns in Kenya, Taiwan, the Solomon Islands and elsewhere have encouraged voters and candidates to refuse bribes and make choices based on integrity. MFD trainers will be much involved with outreach programmes, both before and after the elections.

Hope-Sierra Leone`s Peace Farm at Makeni, in the north of the country, was formally opened in Makeni Town Hall on Friday, 24th November in the presence of the Minister of Internal Affairs and the Minister of Agriculture (Mechanised). Some 200 people representing a variety of organisations attended. This year 200 acres of land given to Hope-Sierra Leone have been cultivated for rice. The project is bringing together former ex-combatants and members of the local community. At special Muslim and Christian ceremonies held on the previous day, symbolic burials were carried out to commemorate those from the local community who died during the civil war and whose bodies have never been buried.

Sierra Leone is the second poorest country in the world, according to the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) 2005 Index. Peace is still very fragile and most people are struggling to survive on less than US$2 per day. Hope-Sierra Leone is helping to build trust within this war-ravaged and impoverished nation. Without the hope and vision that comes through integrity, transparency and moral change, economic progress and permanent peace are going to be very hard to achieve.

www.hopesierraleone.org

Keith Neal