We have been interested in mobilizing religious resources for peace since our founding, and specifically in the process of truing to the highest and best of our faith commitments and translating them into practices and programs that help build peace in the world. We commit to that work individually and organizationally, and invite those we work with to do the same. We believe this process of ‘truing’ and ‘translating’ brings transformative ….Keep reading this post >
John Caulker, Senior Fellow at Catalyst for Peace and Executive director at Fambul Tok, appeared on MidPoint to give an update on Ebola in Sierra Leone. He discussed the impact of the disease and how groups like his are handling the marathon fight of against it, as well as what’s happening with children orphaned by Ebola.
Blog banner image (c) Sara Terry for Catalyst for Peace
In Libby’s TEDxDirigo talk on “Forgiving the Unforgivable,” she describes the values and processes at the center of Fambul Tok.
From her introduction:
“Most of the media coverage we are privy to portrays Africa as a place of darkness, despair, disease, conflict, and savagery in many respects. On somewhat of a flip-side of that, we also hear a lot about how we have a ‘save Africa.” We see lots of stories about move ….Keep reading this post >
Fambul Tok Director/Producer Sara Terry speaks eloquently about filmmaking that tries to let a culture speak for itself⎯being mindful of a Western audience, without imposing Western assumptions on the story itself or how it gets told. Her Director’s Statement, copied below, illuminates CFP’s approach to storytelling⎯responding to Ben Okri’s call for a ‘new seeing’ of Africa, that can help ‘reveal its brightness, its brilliance, its beauty.’
The Power of Forgiveness: Truth-Telling ….Keep reading this post >
Fambul Tok in Sierra Leone has pioneered a large scale, but fully locally-owned and led post war reconciliation and community building process. The key to local local ownership is in the PROCESS Fambul Tok uses facilitate community agency, collective decision making, and collective action.
So – how exactly does that process work?
Download our How It Works chart here [PDF].
The first step of any Fambul Tok process is a consultation. Sierra Leone ….Keep reading this post >
CFP founder and President Libby Hoffman wrote an article for the Alliance for Peacebuilding’s Building Peace Forum, linking inside-out, community-owned and led peacebuilding to effective Ebola response. Her article highlights the powerful impact of Fambul Tok’s Peace Mothers groups in preventing the spread of Ebola and helping communities respond constructively.
An excerpt:
This ‘inside-out’ approach holds great promise for effective Ebola response, as Fambul Tok’s newly-empowered community leaders are showing ….Keep reading this post >
As a part of efforts to strengthen community representation in Ebola response, Catalyst for Peace supported the creation of the Bridging Communities Network (BCN), a coalition of leading national NGOs in Sierra Leone and over 30 community based organizations, that formed in October, 2014 to facilitate a community-led response to country’s Ebola crisis.
Concerned by the lack of channels for community voices and perspectives in the national and international Ebola response, the ….Keep reading this post >
Adapted from the original written by Jina Moore.
Good leadership is critical to the success of any program. But when a process is meant to be community-owned and led, the kind of leadership required to support and sustain that process is unique.
Listening to community stakeholders in Pujehun District, Sierra Leone
Fambul Tok has pioneered living out this kind of leadership in practice for over 8 years, so it exemplifies the ….Keep reading this post >
Interweaving peacebuilding and film yields transformation.
There are occasional moments in this work when people, activities, resources, and timing all align, and there’s a powerful experience that grabs you in the pit of your stomach, leaving you feeling – This is what it is all for. Thursday, May 10, 2012 was one of those moments for me, with the workshop Fambul Tok held in Waterloo, just outside of Freetown (Sierra Leone), for a group ….Keep reading this post >
Adapted from the original written by Jina Moore.
Maada Alpha Ndolleh is the town chief of Kailahun town (the capital city of Kailahun District). He is also the first District Chairman for Fambul Tok’s community reconciliation program in Kailahun, elected by his district to head the all-volunteer District Executive that oversees Fambul Tok there. In village after village, since Fambul Tok started working there in 2008, he has opened honest conversations ….Keep reading this post >
