FAMBUL TOK AND PEACE MOTHERS

By Jigyasa Gulati and Afeefa Fazli

Conflicts don’t only affect the body but its impact is also felt on the mind and spirit that can last for years. When unidentified and unaddressed it could lead to further conflicts by negatively affecting relationships among people. Therefore, it is imperative to extend healing at a psychological and emotional level. Peacebuilding offers a good mechanism to lead this change as it’s a continuous process that attempts to address all the realms; economic, political, social, cultural, and psychological to ‘build better’ by revamping broken relationships towards sustainable peace. Thus, it focuses on both individuals as well as states. However, the prevalent top-down practices usually overlook this broader approach and limit themselves to political and economic realms as they offer immediate solutions even though not sustainable. Overemphasis on western concepts also creates confusion when not contextualized as per the needs and characteristics where they are implemented. For instance, infatuation with individualism and liberal democracy to establish peace in communities premised upon collectivism. It takes ownership of the efforts from the people by enforcing a foundational framework that doesn’t serve the needs of the people. Therefore, it is important to seek mechanisms that touch upon all the needs of the people and are designed as per the requirement of a particular context. The Fambul Tok Model adopted in Sierra Leone provides a great example of one such great mechanism.