'Yeah this na mi brah' : the peacebuilding potential of business development programmes in post-conflict Sierra Leone

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Rikke van der Veen University of Amsterdam 15-6-2018

‘Yeah This Na Mi Brah’

The Peacebuilding Potential of Business Development Programmes

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‘Yeah This Na Mi Brah’

1 The Peacebuilding Potential of Business Development Programmes in

Post-Conflict Sierra Leone

University of Amsterdam Graduate School of Social Sciences MSc International Development Studies

Master Thesis 15-06-2018 28030 words

Rikke van der Veen – 10533184 Rikkevanderveen@gmail.com

Supervisor: Dr. Simone Datzberger Local Supervisor: Mr. Willie Gaus Williams

Second Reader: Dr. Esther Miedema

1_{The title is freely translated as: yes, this is my man (see section 5.1). The cover picture was taken during the 2018 presidential elections in}

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Abstract

In peacebuilding contexts, unemployed youths are frequently perceived as a high risk for the stability of a country while employed youth are seen as carrying an enormous potential for economic growth. Technical Education and Vocational Training is globally promoted as the solution for unemployment but also heavily critiqued for its narrow economic and technical problem framing. By drawing on the case study of Sierra Leone, this thesis analyses a Business Development Technical Education and Vocational Training programme

implemented as part of the country’s policy to promote entrepreneurship development among structurally unemployed youth. It will highlight, that an exclusive focus on economic growth ignores important social and political tensions, such as the inequality in educational and job opportunities and a distrust in the state, that contributed to the start of the civil war (1991-2002) and are still present in Sierra Leone today. In explaining this phenomenon, the

Redistribution, Recognition, Representation and Reconciliation framework is used to answer how a Business Development programme shapes the agency of heterogenous youth in the peacebuilding processes of post-conflict Sierra Leone. Carried out during a two months’ fieldwork period, this research draws on 37 semi-structured interviews and five focus group discussions with different actors involved in the Business Development programme. Field research clarified that the programme does not significantly contribute to long-lasting social transformation resulting in positive peace. Instead, it maintains pre-war grievances by

contributing to the social inequality in educational and job opportunities and does not rebuild a relationship of trust between the state and heterogenous youths. This research thereby creates a better understanding of Business Development programmes contributions to attitudes, behaviours and knowledges of young people linked to their exercise of peacebuilding within specific contexts. Technical Education and Vocational Training programmes should broaden their narrow economic scope by enhancing social and political inclusion among youths in peacebuilding contexts because they have the potential to increase employment opportunities and create long lasting social transformation resulting in positive peace. The question remains how this can be done successfully with a continuing lack of donor funding and political will.

Key words: Technical Education and Vocational Training, Sierra Leone, Peacebuilding, Non-formal education, Business Development programmes, Youth

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Acknowledgements

I would first like to thank everybody who participated in this research. Even while there was often no direct benefit for the participants, they all welcomed me into their homes or offices to very patiently answer my questions and tell me more about Sierra Leone in general. Special thanks go out to the former Education Deputy Minister Sylvester O. Hanciles who has a huge interest and experience in TVET, for sharing his thoughts. I would furthermore like to thank all the employees of the implementing agency I conducted this research with for giving me this opportunity, welcoming me into their team and supporting me during the whole process. If this thesis ever reaches the people from the Brookfields community I would like you guys to know that the reason I was able to carry on for two months is the bar were we hang out together.

I could not have done this research without the continuing support of my two

supervisors. Many thanks to Dr. Simone Datzberger from the University of Amsterdam who provided guidance during the whole research process. My decision to go to Sierra Leone was solely based on our first one hour meeting. The detailed accurate feedback that always came directly after I submitted a draft or asked a question was of enormous value. Good luck with your new job! Many thanks to Mr. Willie Gaus Williams who was my supervisor in Sierra Leone. You went way beyond being a supervisor as you showed me the country, took me to multiple research areas and made me feel comfortable by slowly explaining how to behave and what was happening. I consider you a true friend and hope that you also finished your Master in International Development Studies. I furthermore thank Dr. Esther Miedema for being the second reader of this thesis. Especially nice because you were the first to teach me about the two faces of education during my bachelor’s degree. Last but not least, Ben Munson. Even while we do not know each other in person you gave me your consent for using the best picture I have seen so far of the 2018 presidential elections in Sierra Leone. The picture really captures the atmosphere during those elections. Say no to violence.

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List of figures

Figure 1: Paintings in the Peacebuilding museum in Sierra Leone ... 15

Figure 2: The route to prosperity is through thrift, hard work, and finding out what other people want in order to sell it to them ... 21

Figure 3: Table A - application of the 4Rs in post-conflict Sierra Leone ... 27

Figure 4: Conceptual scheme ... 29

Figure 5: The BD programme objectives ... 31

Figure 6: The Western Rural District, Sierra Leone ... 32

Figure 7: Walking towards the farm of a participant of FDG1 (F1) ... 33

Figure 8: The harbour of the fishing community (F5) ... 33

Figure 9: A main street in the city of Waterloo ... 34

Figure 10: The street were the construction market owner has his shop (I27) ... 34

Figure 11: Table B - classification of research participants ... 36

Figure 12: Focus Group Discussion 1 with youth that were excluded from the BD programme and youths that did not receive a grant ... 38

Figure 13: The barber at his shop (I24) ... 54

Figure 14: Business Recruitment 2012-2017 ... 61

Figure 15: Young people being employed in the bakery ... 74

Figure 16: Table C - the impact of the BD programme in post-conflict Sierra Leone ... 79

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List of acronyms

APC All People’s Congress BD Business Development

BDTVET Business Development Technical and Vocational Education and Training BRU Business Registration Union

BSC Business Service Centre FGD Focus Group Discussion GoSL Government of Sierra Leone

LGBT Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender IMF International Monetary Fund

INGO International Non-Governmental Organisation MoYA Ministry of Youth Affairs

NAYCOM National Youth Commission

NCTCE National Council for Technical and Vocational Education RUF Revolutionary United Front

SDG Sustainable Development Goals SLPP Sierra Leone Peoples Party

TVET Technical and Vocational Education and Training UK United Kingdom

UN United Nations

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organization USA United States of America

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1. Introduction

“[A] large majority of voters might have absolutely fell for the free education bait and subsequently caught on the hook by voting for [Julius Maada] Bio overwhelmingly. Among his promises that are entrenched in his party's manifesto, the provision of free education resonated with voters and subsequently raised their expectations. The expectations are high and even those who have dropped out of schools for one reason or the other, are now hoping to go back to school and enjoy the free education as promised by President Bio.'Paopa Salone for betteh' through free education”.2

1.1 The promise and failure of education in Sierra Leone

Education is seen by many as a pathway to a better future. Opposition party candidate of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) Julius Maada Bio’s promise of free education was a reason for many of Sierra Leonians to vote for him in the 2018 National Elections. Primary education was however already officially free under the rule of the former All People’s Congress (APC) government who was in power since 2007 but students still had to pay all kinds of other school-related expenses.3_{The question remains if Julius Maada Bio can really} deliver free education or that the young people of Sierra Leone as The State of the Youth: Sierra Leone 2018 found, are rightly very pessimistic about the real improvements in the education sector that the change of government will bring.4

The education sector in Sierra Leone needs improvement as it is currently failing young people with only 37% of the school-aged population enrolled and over half of the youth illiterate (Ministry of Youth Affairs Sierra Leone 2014:3). A lack of educational and job opportunities and social inequality in gaining the opportunities available due to a patrimonial system was one of the reasons that triggered youth participation in the civil war [1991-2002] (Keen 2005; Peters 2011; Mitton 2015). After 16 years of relative political stability, post-conflict Sierra Leone is still not fully recovered from the war. It namely

vandalised around 50% of the already weak educational facilities and had huge consequences for teachers and students performances and motivation (Bennell 2004; Nishimuko 2007). The war also impoverished the government that became even more dependent on foreign donors (Nishimuko 2009:281). Moreover Novelli and Higgins (2017) found that the internationally

2_{See http://allafrica.com/stories/201804110527.html (18-04).} 3_{See http://allafrica.com/stories/201804110527.html (18-04).}

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guided transformation of the education system in Sierra Leone does not satisfactorily support peacebuilding processes as it fails to adequately deal with underlying tensions in society. Hanlon warned in 2005 that the international community might be recreating the conditions that fuelled the war. The Ministry of Youth Affairs Sierra Leone (2014:20) adds that ‘many of the pre‐conflict conditions that helped fuel the young people’s participation in the civil war [1991-2002] (including exclusion from family life, society, jobs and the decision making processes as well as living under oppressive traditional and cultural systems in the rural areas) still exist’ (ibid.:20). A lack of social, political and economic inclusion is in Sierra Leone captured by the notion of Sababu and experienced by youth as a huge challenge (See section 5.1 and Enria 2015).

The promise of free education is thus very welcome but not easily realised while it similarly raises high expectations among youths that felt mistreated by the government for a long time (see chapter 5). The dissatisfaction with the former government is captured by a concerned citizen: ‘President Koroma (APC) promised to lay down his life for the young people of this country to take them out of poverty. Ten years later, the president is not only standing, he is one of the richest presidents in Africa, while the youths continue to suffer from poverty and joblessness’.5_{If the new president fails to fulfil his promise of free education and}

lets youth down again, it could result in violent protests. Both formal and non-formal

educational development programmes in peacebuilding processes can fuel new conflicts if the outcomes do not match youth’s expectations. Looking into the agency of youth in

peacebuilding processes, Lopes Cardozo et al. (2016:10) found that ‘managing these expectations is crucial, as lack of work opportunities following vocational training interventions or lack of participation in decision-making processes following political awareness raising may exacerbate youth frustrations, thereby driving rather than mitigating conflict and alienation’.

Bush and Saltarelli (2000) were among the first to argue that education is not per definition a force for good. As a consequence of theirs and many other studies of education in conflict-affected areas (Davies 2010; Novelli 2011; Smith 2011, Smith Ellison 2014 ), it is now widely acknowledged that both formal and non-formal education initiatives in post-conflict settings have to be adjusted to particular contexts to contribute to peacebuilding processes. It is highly relevant to provide vocational education for youths in conflict affected areas as the need of a steady income cannot be overlooked. However, in peacebuilding

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processes in particular these initiatives have to take the social and political context into account (Lopes Cardozo 2015:50).

1.2 The need to understand Business Development programmes in post-conflict Sierra Leone

Against this backdrop, this research focuses on a non-formal Technical Education and Vocational Training (TVET) programme. Specifically a Business Development (BD) programme that tries to develop sustainable youth entrepreneurships to ensure youths livelihood enhancement, as is mentioned in the new Education Sector Plan 2018-2020. The Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) has ‘a vision of an appropriately educated,

entrepreneurial and innovative citizenry, tolerant, productive and internationally competitive’ (2018a). This is relevant to Sierra Leone; there is a steady growing youth population (15-35) as 75% of the population is below 35, of which 60% are structurally unemployed (Ministry of Youth Affairs Sierra Leone 2014:3). Unemployed youth are generally seen as a high risk for the stability of a country, while employed youth carry an enormous potential for economic growth (Lopez Cardozo et al. 2016:9). In coherence with this assumption, TVET takes a prominent role in the newest World Bank (2018) publication: Learning to realize education’s promise and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are calling for universal access to quality TVETs.6

TVET has however been criticised by scholars since the 1960s, as ‘the evidence from field research did not match the benefits that were attached to TVET’ (Middleton et al. in Oketch 2007:222). Young people that went through such programmes namely stayed unemployed much longer or were underpaid (ibid.:222). Recently, TVET programmes are still criticised by scholars for narrow economic and technical problem framing. The programmes are often not adjusted to the local labour market, provide insufficient training and the youth voice is ignored while developing these programmes (Batmanglich and Enria 2014;Lopes Cardozo et al.:2016). It is nevertheless acknowledged that when taking the critiques on TVET into account, it has ‘a key role to play in addressing the drivers of youth alienation and promoting their active participation in peacebuilding processes’ (Lopez Cardozo et al. 2016:4).

The Ministry of Youth Affairs Sierra Leone (2014) incorporated the critiques into Sierra Leone’s National Youth Programme 2014-2018, which instead of top-down, narrow

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and technical short-term solutions, promotes youth-led development. It encourages gender equality on all levels, and states that development programmes have to provide sustainable solutions and stimulate social cohesion by recognising the heterogeneity of youth. The position of youth is thus gaining a prominent place in Sierra Leonean policies and

governmental structures, but how does this translate to the post-conflict Sierra Leone reality that young people face every day? How does a BD programme that answers to one of the biggest challenges identified by youths themselves, namely unemployment and a lack of job opportunities, shape their ability to deal with this reality?7

This research uses the 4Rs framework, an analytical and theoretical tool developed by Novelli et al. (2017) to grasp how educational interventions influence peacebuilding processes by focussing on Redistribution, Recognition, Representation and Reconciliation to answer the question: “How does a Business Development programme shape the agency of heterogenous youth in the peacebuilding processes of post-conflict Sierra Leone?”8 It addresses a

knowledge gap identified by The Research Consortium on Education and Peacebuilding (Lopez Cardozo et al. 2016:1) that aims to contribute ‘to the generation and use of evidence and knowledge in policies and programming related to education, conflict and

peacebuilding’.9_{This research thereby creates a better understanding of the peacebuilding} potential of Business Development programmes in post-conflict settings.

1.3 Thesis outline

To address the main research question, qualitative research methods were used in combination with preliminary data analysis to grasp how a BD programme shapes the agency of

heterogenous youth in the peacebuilding process of post-conflict Sierra Leone. The two months fieldwork research took place in February and March 2018 in Freetown and the Western Rural District, Sierra Leone. The preliminary data came from an international development agency that implements the BD programme, which functions as a case for this research, in the Western Rural District of Sierra Leone from 2012 onwards. This specific BD programme takes place around the city of Waterloo. The Western Rural District is quite developed compared to other rural areas in the country due to its close proximity to Freetown. Most youths that participated in the research came from all over Sierra Leone. This is in line with the overall trend of population movement from rural to urban areas, as those areas are

7_{See http://restlessdevelopment.org/file/state-of-the-youth-sierra-leone-final-signed-off-to-print-v2-280218-pdf (17-4-2018).} 8_{see section 2.3 and chapter 5 for a justification of the term heterogenous youth.}

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commonly viewed as more prosperous (Ministry of Youth Affairs Sierra Leone 2014). This research therefore focuses on heterogenous youths and not specifically on rural youths.

Before explaining the research methodology in more detail in chapter 4, chapter 2 presents background information that discusses the role of young people, from their

participation in the civil war towards the position of youth in Sierra Leone society today, with the focus on peacebuilding and TVET. Chapter 3 explains how and why the 4Rs framework is applied in this study. Chapter 4 elaborates on the research methodology, the case study and the research location. The findings are presented in chapter 5 and 6. Chapter 5 outlines the everyday reality of young people in Sierra Leone by discussing the challenges youth identified themselves (Certeau 1984)10. The chapter grasps why youths experience the inequality in employment and educational opportunities and a distrust between them and the state as the main challenges.. Thereafter chapter 6 looks at the BD programme through the 4Rs framework. It discusses processes of Redistribution, Recognition, Representation and Reconciliation within the BD programme. Chapter 7 then answers the research question: “How does a Business Development programme shape the agency of heterogenous youth in the peacebuilding process of post-conflict Sierra Leone?”, by combining the findings from chapter 5 and 6 to understand how the BD programme influences the space for manoeuvre of the participants in relation to the challenges youths identified themselves so that it contributes to long lasting positive social transformation.

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2. Youths role in the ongoing economically driven

peacebuilding process of Sierra Leone

This chapter summarises the findings of an extensive literature review on the role of young people in Sierra Leone from the war onwards. It discusses youths role in the civil war and the international influence in post-conflict Sierra Leone, after which it elaborates on the ongoing peacebuilding process. It explains why it is relevant to understand the position of youth in Sierra Leone today and the role TVET education could play to improve this situation.

2.1 Youths role in the civil war and international influence in post-conflict Sierra Leone

The civil war (1991-2002) in Sierra Leone was started by youths who formed the

Revolutionary United Front (RUF) to change their marginalised position. Most youths were excluded from educational and job opportunities as education was a privilege that one could only gain through the patrimonial system. These youths felt mistreated and neglected for years by their government, which did not provide education or other state services. This is underlined by Figure 1, a picture that was taken at the Sierra Leone peace museum: ‘No justice for the youths’. What started as an idealistic revolution for youth rights ended in a bloody conflict that is known for its horrible pictures, death and destruction (Hanlon

2005:460). After 16 years of relative political stability, post-conflict Sierra Leone is still not fully recovered from the war. It namely vandalised around 50% of the already weak

educational facilities and had huge consequences for teachers and students performances and motivation (Bennell 2004; Nishimuko 2007). The war also impoverished the government that became even more dependent on foreign donors (Nishimuko 2009:281). The Ebola outbreak in 2014 furthermore exposed the inability of the Sierra Leonean government and civil society to deal with the virus in an adequate manner (Novelli and Higgins 2017:33).

Hanlon argued in 2005 already that the international influence was problematic. Directly after the war the UK and the USA pushed for a government of their favour, resulting in a restoration of the old chiefdom system. IMF spending caps made it impossible for the new government to expand the education sector as wished by the youth and made it impossible to raise civil salaries which led to continued corruption. Furthermore

ex-combatants did ‘not receive enough training or money to be reintegrated into society. Young people remain jobless and largely uneducated and job creation is not a priority of donors or government’ (Hanlon 2005:461). In 2017, Novelli and Higgins furthermore found that the internationally guided transformation of the education system in Sierra Leone does not

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satisfactorily support peacebuilding processes. Datzberger (2015) underlined that the Sierra Leonean civil society became highly depoliticised as it turned into a platform that listened to donor wishes instead of local needs, making it an instrument to implement liberal ideas. The lack of education among the wider civil sphere is also hampering the political agency of local youth, as they cannot adequately express their opinion. This resonates with the need for youth voices and participation in policy and programme development (Lopez Cardozo et al. 2016).

Figure 1: Paintings in the Peacebuilding museum in Sierra Leone

2.2 Peacebuilding in post-conflict Sierra Leone

This section summarises the peacebuilding process in Sierra Leone. It shows why the root causes that started the civil war in 1991 are possibly not disappearing. This was already seen by the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2004, and many scholars acknowledged it over the years (Cubitt 2011; Hanlon 2005; Peters 2011). It is therefore still relevant to look at non-formal educational initiatives in Sierra Leone through a peacebuilding perspective.

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Novelli (2011:7) looked at the role of education in peacebuilding in Sierra Leone and states that:

‘After several failed peace negotiations, the Lomé Peace Accord was signed on 7 July 1999, which led to the partial cessation of hostilities; the demobilization of armed actors; the transformation of the RUF into a political party; the creation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission; the establishment of a commission to manage the country’s national resources; and a pardon for all ex-combatants. Finally, with the assistance of both UN peacekeepers and British military troops, a fragile peace was established, and on 18 January 2002, the war was officially declared as having ended’.

So, at the start of 2002, the war was officially over, but what happened then? The influence of an internationally influenced minimalist security-first agenda and ‘liberal peace thesis’, is a reason that many pre-war conditions that triggered the conflict are present in Sierra Leone today (Denney 2011; Novelli 2011 Paris 2004). During the immediate post-war phase,

importance was placed on safety and security. Other reconstruction processes could only start when there was no violent conflict. The liberal peace thesis ‘prioritizes the introduction of liberal democracy and market forces as key drivers of stability once security has been achieved’ (Novelli 2011:24). It was assumed that when military and police forces have neutralised the violence, democracy and a free market will do the rest.

In Sierra Leone, this internationally-guided reconstruction process was based on an uncomplete understanding of the factors that started the war. ‘The Sierra Leone conflict became categorised as a resource war’ (different authors in ibid.:19). It is commonly known as a diamond war wherein ‘greed’ was seen as the main motivation of the rebels. The idea was that neutralising these criminals would bring stability. This however ‘fails to recognize the genuine grievances felt by much of the Sierra Leonean population, which had been marginalized by decades of colonial rule and post-colonial mismanagement, corruption and patronage’ (ibid.:20). It consequently misplaced development aid as the focus was not on transforming the underlying social tensions and grievances in society. Liberalisation that would bring development and economic growth was, following Cubitt (2011) not even possible. The complicated shredded post-war context namely consisted of ‘[c]ontinuing patrimonial practices, corruption and lack of political will; chronic low capacity; challenging local conditions for private sector development; an economy skewed towards raw commodity

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production; and international partners satisfied with the patchy implementation of liberalising reform (ibid.:12).’ This underlines the mismatch between internationally guided post-conflict development in Sierra Leone and local reality. Enria (2012) highlights the problems with the internationally accepted idea that youths pose a security treat that can be neutralised by giving them skills training. Providing employment and skills training opportunities addresses

economic deprivation but neglects other context-specific tensions in society that possibly evolve into renewed violent conflict. Youths themselves argued that their dissatisfaction with their economic position cannot be disconnected from their distrust of the state and politicians (ibid.). Employment by itself cannot solve all these issues as it does not improve the

struggling relationship between youths and the state.

It is for these reasons that Lopez Cardozo et al. (2016) argue that the youth voice has to be included in development policy and practice. Batmanglich and Enria (2014) underline that TVET programmes have to be context-specific. The UN Resolution 2250 of 2015 on Youth, Peace and Security also recognizes the need for ‘appropriate, quality education for peace that equips youth with the ability to engage constructively in civic structures and

inclusive political processes’.11_{The youth that are targeted by such programmes should have a} say in the designs as they can put their finger on the sore spot.

2.3 The position of heterogenous youth in Sierra Leone today

Youth is defined as ‘the transitional phase from childhood to adulthood during which young people gradually come to be recognized—and to recognize themselves—as adults through a process of intense physiological, social, and economic change’(World Bank in Peeters 2009:11). This research’s focus is on the transition wherein youths start a productive working life, as that is the main goal of TVET and the inability to do so was one of the motivations for the war. Sierra Leonean youths are, according to the African Union (2006:3) aged between 15-35 which is in line with the fact that school-aged children in Sierra Leone are aged between 6-14 years (UNESCO 2013:xx). The working population (15-64) in 2015 consisted of 55,6 percent of the total population (Statistics Sierra Leone 2015). The younger part of that working population is especially facing problems as they are ‘the war generation’ resulting in a lack of education and traumatization. In a country were job opportunities are scare and unequally distributed, intergenerational tensions exist between youths and elders, with the latter claiming the jobs available and exploiting the former in many culturally accepted ways,

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this is yet another disadvantage (Peeters 2009). The annual per capita income of 805$ in Sierra Leone is one of the lowest in the world and most of the economically active population (59%) is engaged in agriculture, mostly for subsistence. A literacy rate of only 57.6% among people between 15-24 years, underlines the shortcomings of the national education system (Ministry of Youth Affairs Sierra Leone 2014:8-10).

There is a huge divergency between youths in terms of tribes, religion and regions in Sierra Leone, as Harris (2014) describes in Sierra Leone: A political history. The concept heterogenous youth is however specifically used in this research to draw attention to the differences in educational levels and job opportunities among youths as a consequence of the war and the patrimonial system. It furthermore acknowledges that many rural youths from all over Sierra Leone are moving towards urban areas in search for economic prosperity,

resulting in a urban centres that present a mix of people with different cultural, social, economic and political backgrounds and opportunities (Ministry of Youth Affairs Sierra Leone 2014; see chapter 5).

The formal position of youth in Sierra Leone has recently improved, as the youth voice, to some extent, is incorporated in governmental structures. The first National Youth Policy in 2003 ‘outlined the definition, rights and responsibilities of young people, the state, parents, and other stakeholders’. It established the now called Ministry of Youth Affairs (MOYA) that ‘supervises the National Youth Advisory Council, which supports the policy implementation and connects government and youth clubs’.12_{There is also a governing board:} the National Youth Commission (NAYCOM) with youth representatives from both MOYA and the Ministry of Finance and Development. There are District Youth Councils and a Chiefdom Youth Council to represent youths on all levels. This seems like youth

representation is going in the right direction.13_{However, ‘the majority of the youths are not} aware of their roles within these mechanisms and the processes involved in participating and influencing their outcomes’ (ibid.:12). Besides this, it can be questioned how serious the national government takes these structures as the recurrent budgetary allocation of the fiscal year 2018 to MOYA is only 0.5% (GoSL 2018b:39).

There is thus still a lot of room to improve the situation of young people in Sierra Leone. According to Sierra Leones National Youth Programme 2014-2018, youths identified eight main challenges that they face in Sierra Leone (see Ministry of Youth Affairs Sierra

12_{See http://www.youthpolicy.org/factsheets/country/sierra-leone/ (23-04-2018).} 13_{See http://www.youthpolicy.org/factsheets/country/sierra-leone/ (23-04-2018).}

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Leone 2014:12-13 for an overview). The first two are indeed focused around (a lack of) government and political representation: ‘[y]oung people are under-represented in positions of decision making’ and ‘lack self-confidence and trust in the system, exacerbated by

marginalisation of differently abled and poor young people by state systems and chieftaincies’ (ibid.:12). Three challenges are furthermore focused on the unemployment issue. There are ‘[c]continuing high barriers to accessing formal, technical and vocational education’, ‘[p]oor support … to young entrepreneurs and youth-oriented enterprises’ and a ‘[l]ack of secure income or employment opportunities resulting in a failure to meet the basic needs of young people: food, water, shelter’ (ibid.:13).

2.4 Technical Education and Vocational Training in post-conflict Sierra Leone

Looking at these challenges, it is unsurprising that the new Education Sector Plan 2018 – 2020 (GoSL 2018a:III) aims to ‘[i]ncrease equitable access to Technical and Vocational Education’. Even universities and colleges in Sierra Leone are offering courses that can be classified as TVET today (ibid.:11). Technical Education and Vocational Training is defined as ‘vocational training to enhance employability, support the development of knowledges and skills for establishing income generating initiatives, accessing employment opportunities and acquiring relevant communication and networking skills’ (Lopes Cardozo et al. 2016:68). The Education Sector Plan 2018 – 2020 (GoSL 2018a) aims to strengthen the National Council for Technical and Vocational Education (NCTVE) founded in 2004 to increase TVET

programmes coordination on a national level and promote public/private partnerships offering such programmes and employment opportunities. This is needed to increase finance for TVET as it is very expensive. There are furthermore enormous differences in quality, fees and

regional disparities as TVET programmes mostly take place in the Western areas of Sierra Leone (ibid.).

Batmanglich and Enria (2014) looked into youth employment programmes in Liberia and Sierra Leone to understand why these programmes often fail to respond to contextual needs and what is needed to improve them. Their recommendations provide the opportunity to see if the BD programme incorporated these critiques. There is first ‘a need for more realistic analysis and framing’ on all levels (ibid.:5). Economies in fragile settings are unpredictable and not only based on a functioning labour force and job opportunities. The history of conflict influences investments in the private sector and the wider local political economy in which youths move around (See Enria 2015). TVETs are often designed for a homogenous group while heterogenous youths have different needs. Young unemployed men are mostly targeted

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as they are seen as a possible threat, leaving the women behind. Already privileged youth benefit most as they are easily incorporated and the TVET programmes often fail to match educational needs and labour market demand (Batmanglich and Enria 2014).

Secondly, ‘there is a need for more honest discussion with all stakeholders [government, businesses, young people, international agencies and implementing

agencies]’(ibid.:5). Sierra Leone’s dependency on international aid and the distrust of youth in their government creates an environment wherein a more positive picture of reality is created. Youths and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) do not honestly express their needs as they are afraid of losing their funding, resulting in insufficient programmes and unsatisfied

expectations that could result in a new conflict (ibid.:2014). Batmanglich and Enria’s (ibid.:5) third point; ‘more innovation in the way the challenge is approached’, relates back to the fact that economies in fragile settings are unpredictable and youth is a heterogenous group. Innovation is ‘about new approaches and synergies’ (ibid.:33). New approaches that focus on a specific group for a specific part of the economy are needed to tackle the unemployment issue.

The Ministry of Youth Affairs Sierra Leone (2014:34) incorporates these critiques into the National Youth Programme 2014-2018 which provides guidelines for development programmes in Sierra Leone. It underlines that youth has to be incorporated in programme development, gender equality has to be promoted and realised on all levels and the

programmes have to provide sustainable innovations and promote social cohesion by recognising the differences between youths. Figure 2 however underlines the continuing assumption that improvement of one’s economic position will lead to prosperity as one only has to find out what another person wants in order to sell it to him. Lopes Cardoso et al. (2016:4) do not deny the need to improve one’s economic situation through TVET programmes as these create opportunities to become an (economically) active member of society. TVET programmes however have to be adjusted to the local social and political environment to address the specific needs of young people in order to contribute to long lasting social transformation (ibid.).

It is therefore relevant to see how a TVET programme, specifically a Business

Development programme, shapes youths agency in the peacebuilding process of Sierra Leone. The programme namely follows the National Youth Programme 2014-2018 and this youth entrepreneurship and labour-market related skills training originated out of Sierra Leone’s National Employment Programme. The BD programme was designed in consolidation with an international donor, MOYA and NAYCOM and falls under the Agenda for Prosperity

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2013-2018 (GoSL 2013; see section 4.3). Can it, because the MOYA recognizes the critiques on TVET and the specific programme was designed together with governmental bodies, be said that the BD programme is offering context-specific training, resulting in youths active participation in peacebuilding processes or long lasting social transformation?

Figure 2: The route to prosperity is through thrift, hard work, and finding out what other people want in order to sell it to them

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3. Theoretical framework

Having discussed the potential role TVET programmes can play in improving the position of youth in the peacebuilding process of Sierra Leone, this chapter elaborates on how this research used the 4Rs framework to approach the question: ‘how does a Business Development programme shape the agency of heterogenous youth in the peacebuilding process of post-conflict Sierra Leone?’, on a theoretical level.

3.1 Youth as a potential for economic growth

In the scope of the Literature Review: Youth Agency Peacebuilding and Education and the follow-up Synthesis Rapport conducted by the Research Consortium (Lopez Cardozo et al. 2015; 2016) it became clear that the growing youth population or:

‘youth bulge on the one hand is seen a threat, as surely there are implications for youth (un-)employment and respective frustrations and grievances this might cause, and on the other hand, and on a more positive note, the large numbers of youth in (post-)conflict societies are also perceived as a potential force for economic, and social, political development. … [W]e see a clear prioritization of seeing youth for economic development and growth. In a way, this can be connected to a broader observation that in most contexts, a (globally inspired, yet locally adopted) liberal peace thesis is dominantly influencing policy and investment directions, focusing on fist strengthening markets and democratic governance, while often leaving aside (or for a later moment) substantial investments in social sectors, including education and other youth-relevant areas such as health’ (Lopez Cardozo et al. 2016:9).

While youth in policy and societal discourses are both framed as a thread and a potential for development and security, the prioritization of seeing youth as a potential for economic development dominates popular discourse, putting investments in social sectors on a second place (Kemper 2005; McEvoy-Levi 2006). This economic prioritization is based on the assumption that unproductive youth carries a huge security risk while participation of youths in the labour market will stabilize the economy, raise them out of poverty and satisfy their needs.

Lopez Cardozo et al. (ibid.:49-52) however point out that such framing portrays youth as a homogeneous group for which narrow and technical solutions are sought that serve a

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liberal goal and thereby consequently underestimate the differences between youths

themselves, their needs and their expectations. It is moreover globally recognized that youths voices need to be heard, and their participation in peacebuilding processes and developing policies is required to develop suitable programmes for local realities (Dunne et al. 2014). The youth voice is in reality nonetheless too often neglected (Lopez Cardozo et al. 2015;2016). This is one of the reasons that the latest UN security resolution on youth, peace and security (2250) ‘emphasizes the importance of youth as agents of change in the maintenance and promotion of peace and security’.14

The prioritization of youth for economic development consequently promotes education in conflict-affected areas that is focused on economic growth by giving youth the tools to become productive citizens and thereby going beyond ‘its potential for peacebuilding’ (Lopes Cardozo et al 2016:50). ‘While underlining the important potential of (vocational) education for economic empowerment and increased employment opportunities, of particular concern here is the detachment of political, social, and cultural aspects of education’

(ibid.:50). Sayed et al. (2016) however point out that it is not possible to go beyond economic empowerment as young people’s livelihoods enhancement cannot be separated from youths agency in peacebuilding processes. Especially as youths across conflict-affected areas face ‘high levels of unemployment and lack of access to labour markets’ (Lopes Cardozo et al 2018:8).

TVET programmes are therefore highly relevant in post-conflict environments as they potentially give young people the necessary skills to gain employment. This does not mean that challenges outside the economic spectrum can be overlooked. Youth in conflict-affected areas are often excluded from political participation and there are other social tensions, like gender inequality, a certain distance from the state or a disengagement with public education, which is experienced by youth as irrelevant. Youth in fragile contexts furthermore experience a lot of ‘direct as well as indirect violence’ (ibid.:8). To address such social and political tensions in education initiatives and utilize their potential for peacebuilding, it is necessary to look beyond the narrow technical economic problem. An educational programme like TVET programmes can be focused on economic empowerment but should simultaneously be based on the social, political and historical environment in which it is implemented. A thorough understanding of the political economy is needed so that a development programme does not

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contribute to continuing post-conflict tensions in society (See Novelli et al. 2014 for an extensive literature review of the political economy of education systems).

3.2 The 4Rs framework and youth agency for peacebuilding

The 4Rs framework developed by Novelli et al. (2017:14) and used by the Research Consortium for research and reflection ‘on the peacebuilding role of education in conflict-affected contexts’ provides a useful theoretical and analytical lens to grasp how educational programmes shape youths agency in peacebuilding processes. The 4Rs framework focusses attention on the social justice and reconciliation aspect in education needed to create ‘positive peace’ in society. Narrow and technical short-term programmes or quick fixes to secure stability through education do not automatically provide sustainable solutions as they do not take broader social historical inequalities, tensions and differences into account (ibid.:2017). The 4Rs framework helps to understand if BD programmes in post-conflict Sierra Leone take broader social historical inequalities, tensions and differences into account and thereby utilize their potential for peacebuilding.

Novelli et al. (2017) borrow Galtung’s (1976;1990) concept positive peace to underline that an absence of violence is not enough to ensure sustainable and long lasting development. Real peacebuilding is ‘[a] strategic process involving a synergetic series of actions targeted at addressing the sources of conflict and supporting the structures and capacities for peace; usually includes a variety of institutional and socioeconomic measures, at the local or national level aimed at institutionalising justice, building positive peace’ (McCandless and Bangura 2007). Datzberger (2014:26) adds that ‘peacebuilding is further perceived as a post- war activity, which, in an ideal case, leads to sustainable and long-lasting development. In Lederach’s (in ibid.) words: “When things are suddenly headed towards a [peace] agreement the work is hardly over. It has only begun” ’.

The 4Rs framework builds on Fraser’s (1995; 2005) work on social justice and transformation that focusses on Redistribution, Recognition and Representation within education systems to capture and change underlying inequalities. Novelli et al. (2017:24) add Reconciliation processes; ‘that deal with historic and present tensions, grievances and

injustices in order to build a more sustainable peaceful society’. ‘Political, economic, social and cultural transformations are needed in conflict-affected societies to support positive peace, and to address rather than reproduce or sustain the injustice and inequality that largely drive conflicts´ (ibid.:17). Education can provide or support what Hamber and Kelly (2004) ‘call mechanisms for social justice, healing, restitution or reparation, and restoration. …

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Individuals and institutions can acknowledge their role in historic conflicts, and by doing so learn to avoid a relapse into conflict’ (in Novelli et al. 2017:30). Definitions of the 4Rs as given by Lopez Cardozo et al. (2016:20):

• ‘Redistribution concerns equity and non-discrimination in education access, resources, and outcomes for different groups in society, particularly marginalised and disadvantaged groups.

• Recognition concerns respect for and affirmation of diversity and identities in education structures, processes, and content, in terms of gender, language, politics, religion, ethnicity, culture, and ability.

• Representation concerns participation, at all levels of the education system, in governance and decision-making related to the allocation, use, and distribution of human and material resources.

• Reconciliation involves dealing with past events, injustices, and material and psychosocial effects of conflict, as well as developing relationships of trust’.

Reconciliation specifically addresses the legacies of conflict and aims to bring opposed social groups together. The triggers that resulted in conflict possibly stem from long-lasting social and historical tensions. It is therefore needed ‘to develop contextualized, locally defined and historically informed understandings of what reconciliation could/should mean in the very different contexts under study’ (Novelli et al. 2017:30). With the physical violent conflict 16 years in the past, and relative political stability as the 2018 National Elections were the fourth democratic elections since the end of the civil war, what is there to reconcile in Sierra Leone? Based on an extensive literature review (chapter 2), reconciliation in Sierra Leone involves dealing with underlying tensions and inequalities that might have been normalised over the years. Reconciliation is added to the 3Rs of Nancy Fraser to specifically address the legacies of conflict while the social justice aspect deals with triggers of conflict. This presents

‘significant tension’ as triggers and legacies of conflict often overlap (ibid.:31).

The legacies of the civil war in Sierra Leone are comparable to the conditions that led to the war. Youths participation in the civil war was triggered by the social inequality in gaining the view educational and job opportunities available, and a state that neglected marginalised youths. These pre-war conditions also present the legacies of that war today. There are, despite the continuing international support, still a lack of quality educational and

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job opportunities in post-conflict Sierra Leone, as the country failed to satisfactorily rebuild the education system and job market. In addition, many youths lost their social and financial support (aggravated during Ebola), which contributed to the social inequality in gaining the educational and job opportunities available that was already present due to the patrimonial system. A high distrust between youths and the state is moreover still present as the state consequently does not provide adequate state services nor includes youths in political decision-making that could potentially rebuild relationships of trust (see chapter 5). Reconciliation in post-conflict Sierra Leone involves dealing with pre-war conditions and grievances that are still present today and possibly even intensified during the past non-violent years. Especially the distrusting relationship between youths and the state and the social exclusion and inequality among heterogenous youths is problematic as this legacy triggered the civil war in 1991.

This research uses the definition of youth agency for peacebuilding given by Lopez Cardozo et al. ‘[Y]outh agency is defined as the space for manoeuvre available to young people (in their 2nd and 3rd decade of life) in developing conscious or unconscious strategies that either support or hinder peacebuilding in relation to the broader cultural political

economy context’(2016:24). This definition underlines that economic, political, cultural and social structures together influence youths ability to shape peacebuilding processes in

different contexts (ibid.:24). It acknowledges that more than solely economic empowerment is needed to support peacebuilding processes.

3.3 The 4Rs framework and the BD programme in Post-conflict Sierra Leone

The 4Rs framework is used in this research as a tool to better understand the problems that arise with TVET programmes due to the narrow and technical economic problem-framing discussed above. The 4Rs framework provides clear suggestions that help to utilize BD programmes peacebuilding potential. The arguments to include the youth voice, make programmes context-specific and go beyond the economic spectrum (Batmanglich and Enria 2014) fitted perfectly with the 4Rs. Those recommendations guided the way the 4Rs were interpreted and applied during the fieldwork research. While the processes of redistribution, recognition, representation and reconciliation do overlap and influence each other constantly, they are mostly separated for the purpose of this research. Figure 3 shows how the 4Rs Framework guided this research in post-conflict Sierra Leonean context.

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The 4Rs The BD programme in post-conflict Sierra Leone

Redistribution (addressing inequalities) Is the BD programme equally accessible to heterogenous youth in Sierra Leone?

Are the beneficiaries equally divided among those youths? This is especially important because educational and job opportunities are traditionally passed on through a patrimonial system in Sierra Leone, and TVET in general often targets already privileged youths.

Recognition (respecting difference) Is the heterogeneity as discussed above also

respected and anticipated on during the training? The educational level of youths differ a lot as a

consequence of the war and many youths are illiterate. Do they have equal possibilities in the training programme?

Representation (encouraging participation) Is the youths voice being heard and listened to during the BD programme and while improving it? Youth in Sierra Leone expressed that their economic

marginalisation was not the only problem. Was there a possibility to express these issues so that the programme is not too narrow and technical, because it acknowledges that the problem is bigger than only economic deprivation?

Reconciliation (dealing with injustices and the legacies of conflict)

addresses the BD programme the inequality in educational and job opportunities and does it rebuild relationships of trust between youths and the state. A big issue in Sierra Leone seems to be the distrust between youth and the government and social exclusion of marginalised youths. These legacies are past grievances that triggered the war and intensified after that war.

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4. Research methodology

During two months fieldwork research from February till the end of March 2018 in Freetown and the Western Rural District of Sierra Leone, qualitative research methods were used in combination with preliminary data analysis to grasp how a BD programme shapes the agency of heterogenous youth in the peacebuilding process of post-conflict Sierra Leone. This chapter discusses the research methodology and elaborates on how it worked out in practice.

4.1 Research question and sub-questions

This research analyses a Business Development Technical Education and Vocational Training programme implemented as part of Sierra Leone’s policy to promote entrepreneurship

development among structurally unemployed youth. It specifically focusses on BD

programmes potential for peacebuilding as many of the pre-war conditions are still present in Sierra Leone today.

How does a Business Development programme shape the agency of heterogenous youth in the peacebuilding process of post-conflict Sierra Leone?

• What are the main challenges identified by heterogenous Sierra Leonean youth and how do they currently channel and express their opinions and difficulties to deal with those

challenges?

• What is a Business Development programme and how are these challenges incorporated in the training?

• How does heterogenous Sierra Leonean youth graduated from -and excluded from- the Business Development programme experience these challenges?

• How does the Business Development programme meet the expectations and needs of heterogenous youths in Sierra Leone?

4.2 Operationalisation

The epistemological underpinning of this study is critical realism (Bryman 2012:29). This research acknowledges that there are social structures and discourses that challenge the agency of youth in peacebuilding processes. This is context specific because the challenges faced by youth differ from person to person and situation to situation. It is therefore important to grasp how different youths perceive these challenges to understand how the BD programme

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shapes theiragency to face these challenges in post-conflict Sierra Leone. The 4Rs framework helped to visualise these structures as it underlined where, why and when young people experienced challenges.

The conceptual scheme (figure 4) is based on a similar scheme developed by Novelli et al. (2017:92) but adjusted to this research. It shows how the research concepts relate to each other. The scheme shows that structural challenges in post-conflict Sierra Leone influence the space for manoeuvre of youths but also influence the way a BD programme functions. Youths agency in the peacebuilding process of post-conflict Sierra Leone is however context specific and simultaneously shaped by the BD programme through processes of Redistribution, Recognition, Representation and Reconciliation.

Figure 4: Conceptual scheme

Structural challenges in post-conflict

Sierra Leone

The Business Development programme

Agency of youth in

peacebuilding processes

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The operationalisation table in Appendix 1 furthermore outlines how the main

concepts are broken into pieces to be able to grasp what they mean in Sierra Leonean society. The concepts, dimensions, variables and indicators stem from an extensive literature review but were adjusted during the fieldwork period to utmost match social reality. During the research period it for instance became clear that (a lack of) family support influences the economic position of young people and this is incorporated in the operationalisation table

4.3 Case study: a Business Development Service programme

A non-formal Business Development programme of an international Non-Governmental Organisation (INGO) working in Sierra Leone functions as the case of this research.15 This BD programme is an exemplifying case (Bryman 2012:70). The implementing agency namely follows the Youth Policy Framework that guides youth-focused development programmes in Sierra Leone. (Ministry of youth affairs Sierra Leone 2014). This can be seen in the

implementing agencies focus on youth empowerment, leadership capabilities and holistic approaches.Looking into the BD programme indirectly provides the opportunity to grasp how the Youth Policy Framework works in practice.

This youth entrepreneurship programme runs since 2012 in the Western Rural District of Sierra Leone.

“The Business Development (BD) initiative is the component of a national employment programme geared toward preparing young people for self- employment through the development of enterprises and the employment market. Its aim is to create and expand sustainable enterprises leading to increased employment opportunities for young people in major urban and rural centres. In 2012, five Business Support Centres (BSCs) were opened in the main urban Centres. These centres provide direct assistance and support to over 2,000 entrepreneurs per annum (D4).16”

The BD programme falls under a National Employment Programme that addresses

unemployment and was originally implemented in the five main urban centres of Sierra Leone

15_{The organisation is anonymised to the best of my ability to protect the privacy of the participants and is further referred to as implementing}

agency.

16_{All the quotes from internal documents (D) and from Interviews (I) and FGDs (F) are adjusted to make them readable without influencing}

the meaning. They are also anonymised to protect the privacy of the actors involved. The letter stands for the type of data and the number refers to the number that can be found in appendixes 2, 3 and 4, which present an overview of the documents, interviews and FGDs.

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(D4). Due to funding problems there are three centres left of which the one in Waterloo provides the case study of this research.

This BD provides eight weeks free entrepreneurship training (food and travel expenses excluded) to facilitate youth employment through micro and small-enterprise development. The overall objectives are simplified in figure 5(D5). The programme targets heterogenous youths around Waterloo, meaning that youths from all backgrounds present the target group, respectively male and female, illiterate and literate, educated and uneducated and youths from different tribes or religions. The winners of the Business Plan Competition at the end of the programme receive a grant to (partly) fund the business plan. Every participant receives a certificate which improves their chances in the labour market. During the latest programme in 2017 there were 60 participants. There is furthermore an Postgraduate Network wherein the alumni’s of all the implementing agencies programmes provide support to each other, creating a youth network. All the businesses are furthermore officially registered and mentoring is provided by a Business Registration Union (D2).

The programme design changed over the years as the timeline of the training went from three to eight weeks. The number of participants decreased from 182 participants in 2012 to 60 in 2017. In 2016, 60% of the participants was male while 2017, 60% was female. It is nowadays encouraged to participate in the Business Plan Competition in groups. People that already run businesses are favoured above others while it was originally meant to fund new businesses. This is due to an ever decreasing funding resulting in smaller grants (D2;I9.1) Despite these changes, he overall objectives however stayed the same.

Figure 5: The BD programme objectives AIM:

Youth Employment through Micro & Small Enterprise Development

Objective 1: Promotion of an entrepreneurial culture by expanding and

improving business development

services Objective 2:

Boost the employment

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4.4 Research location

This specific BD programme is implemented around the city of Waterloo, Sierra Leone, and in agricultural and fishing communities. Figures 7, 8, 9 and 10 portray the different research environments. Despite the area being named the Western Rural District, it is quite developed compared to other rural areas in Sierra Leone due to its close proximity to Freetown. the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Response underlines the shortcomings of the area in their 2015 Western Rural District profile. Over half of the population lives in poverty, the primary net enrolment is 66.1 and the fertility rate is 3.8 with a life expectancy at birth of 50.10 years and an early childhood mortality rate of 176 under-five deaths per 1,000 live births. 22% of the population furthermore has food insecurity and there is 26.06% prevalence of chronic malnutrition.17

The youths that participated in this research live in the Western Rural District but came from all over Sierra Leone. This is in line with the overall trend of population movement from rural to the urban areas as urban areas are commonly viewed as more prosperous (Ministry of Youth Affairs Sierra Leone 2014) The participants therefore represented the heterogeneity of Sierra Leonean youths in terms of ethnicity, religion and place of birth. Their level of education also differs from person to person and the same counts to a certain extend for their socio-economic class and status. The youths overall however represent a marginalised group as many of them have responsibilities within family structures and lost at least one parent or benefactor as a consequence of the war or/and Ebola (I13.1).

Figure 6: The Western Rural District, Sierra Leone

Source:https://www.google.nl/search?q=western+rural+district+sierra+leone&oq=western+rural+district+sierra+leone&aqs=chrome..69i57j 69i59j69i60j0.12505j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 (1-05-2018) 17_See https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/final_district_profile_template_western_rural_10_dec_2015am%20%281%29.pdf (30-04-2018).

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Figure 7: Walking towards the farm of a participant of FDG1 (F1)

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Figure 9: A main street in the city of Waterloo

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4.5 Unit of analysis

The main unit of analysis is the BD programme. The focus is on the youth that participated in the programme between 2012 and 2017 as their experiences explained a lot about the

influence of the BD programme on youths economic, political, and social agency. This research moreover included other stakeholders (government, private sector/local

organisations, youth, international agencies and implementing agencies) participating in decision-making and implementing processes surrounding TVETs and policy development. it furthermore analysed relevant youth-policy documents and news media to understand how youth in post-conflict Sierra Leone are framed at different levels of society.

4.6 Purposive sampling

Purposive sampling was used so that all the stakeholders could share give their views on BD programmes and the position of youth in Sierra Leone. Due to the 2018 National Elections it was not possible to speak many government employees. There are two high government officials included in the study and combining their views with policy-document analysis and interviews with other actors helped to understand how the Sierra Leonean government frames youth.

The criteria for inclusion and the number of participants that participated in both the interviews and Focus Group Discussions matching that criteria included in the study are given in Figure 7.18_{It has to be noted that youths below the age of 18 were not included due to} ethical issues.

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Type of actor specification frequency

Government 2 international/ multilateral agency 3 Local (public/private) agencies Private sector 1 CSOs or related 2 Implementing agency (case) Employees 5 Field officers (volunteers) 2 Postgraduate programme

(youth network)

2

Business registration office (mentorship)

2

youth Excluded youth 13

Youth that received a grant 15 Youth that did not receive a grant

16

total 6219

Figure 11: Table B - classification of research participants20

4.7 Data-collection methods

Qualitative research methods enabled a context-specific and nuanced analysis of social structures and heterogenous youth perspectives, needed because peacebuilding processes are based on a particular post-conflict environment (May 2001). Document analysis,

semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) captured these social structures and heterogenous youth perspectives. One FDG and two interviews were conducted with a

translator. This was done by the programme coordinator of the BD programme who supervised the research and was present during some interviews and FGDs. A small

reimbursement of 20.000 Leones which equals approximately two euros was given to FGD participants because the implementing agency insisted and covered the reimbursement. The

19_{One female participant belongs to two classifications: youth that did not receive a grant and the postgraduate network. Therefore the total}

participants is one less than the total sum.

'Yeah this na mi brah' : the peacebuilding potential of business development programmes in post-conflict Sierra Leone

‘Yeah This Na Mi Brah’

The Peacebuilding Potential of Business Development Programmes

‘Yeah This Na Mi Brah’

1

The Peacebuilding Potential of Business Development Programmes in

Post-Conflict Sierra Leone

Abstract

Acknowledgements

Table of contents

List of figures

List of acronyms

1. Introduction

2. Youths role in the ongoing economically driven

peacebuilding process of Sierra Leone

3. Theoretical framework

4. Research methodology

Structural challenges in post-conflict

Sierra Leone

Agency of youth in

peacebuilding processes