Another important follow-up activity is the designation of a Peace Tree as a physical space in the
community where future conflicts can be resolved. This Peace Tree can be used to facilitate dialogue in
the coming months and years or to clarify past grievances. For example, if a victim feels provoked because
a perpetrator (who had previously hurt the victim’s family) unexpectedly comes to the victim’s house, the
victim and perpetrator and Reconciliation Committee could meet under the tree to resolve the issue and
facilitate a shaking of hands. In this way, a designated community Peace Tree contributes to community
resilience and conflict prevention/resolution.
A final follow-up activity grew out of the vast number of women who were raped during the war. Given
the sensitivity of this issue, Fambul Tok program personnel consulted with the affected women in the
communities to see how they would want this to be handled. The women wanted space to facilitate
dialogue and figure out their problems as women. As such, groups of women, primarily rape victims and
war widows, came together to form the Peace Mothers program. These energetic women reclaimed their
sense of community that was shattered during the war by creating sustainable programs, including income
generation initiatives. (Later, during the outbreak of Ebola in 2014, many of these Peace Mothers were
involved in community health sanitation initiatives, distributing soap and promoting handwashing in rural
districts.)
Fambul Tok personnel have worked to keep the program non-partisan and have resisted efforts from
government officials to officially codify the process. The power of the program comes from community
ownership to create a space where victims and perpetrators can tell their stories. Within the first 3 ½ years
of the program, over 117 bonfires had been held. By November 2013, 5 ½ years into the program, over
30,000 victims and perpetrators had testified to over 83,000 people in 1920 villages across 6 districts in
Sierra Leone. In more recent years, Fambul Tok has continued momentum by strengthening community
governance initiatives.
Recommendation.
1. Programs designed to aid reconciliation in a post-war context should consult with the people directly
affected to understand how they conceive of justice and to find out what would meet their needs for
justice. The international community should not assume that a check-list approach to post-conflict
reconstruction will necessarily meet the needs of diverse local people for justice.
2. The international community should consider providing long-term funding commitments to
community-based transitional justice initiatives in post-war contexts, as Catalyst for Peace did by providing
15 years of funding for Fambul Tok. This organization did not dictate the terms so that Fambul Tok was
able to tailor the program to the needs of the people.
3. Other contexts should consider using Fambul Tok as a model that can be tailored to a particular
community, affording supportive opportunities for community acknowledgement of what was done in the
past, truth-telling, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Consider how justice could involve mending the whole
and rep