“Each of us will die one day –
it doesn’t matter.
More important is to practice living.”
These lines from a poem in my new book – Light Reading: Poems from a Pilgrim Journey – have everything to do with why I feel privileged to join Catalyst for Peace as Senior Partner and Poet-in-Residence.
Why? Because I can’t imagine a better place for me than CFP to practice living. I’m invited to ….Keep reading this post >
by Amy Potter Czajkowski
I am deeply grateful for the invitation to join the Catalyst for Peace staff. I have had a number of consulting and other relationships with CFP over the years, but I’m now officially on board. I love working for an organization grounded in values and led by a strong sense of vision and purpose. CFP embraces whole people and whole systems peacebuilding and has been pioneering in ….Keep reading this post >
Local people – and especially local women – are the real experts in keeping their communities Ebola-free. Fambul Tok’s “Peace Mothers” – local women who have been leading their communities in healing the wounds of Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war – have used their networks, skill and commitment to provide critical leadership in preventing the spread of Ebola. They show how working locally and over the long term helps create resilient ….Keep reading this post >
“We are saying deal with Ebola in a way that structures will be in place to handle post-Ebola discussions because experience or history has taught us that Ebola – there’s always a possibility that it will come again. So how do we put in place structures in the communities, in the districts, in the villages, to ensure that if Ebola comes again, we’ll have structures in place to deal with ….Keep reading this post >
In her article in the Building Peace Forum, CFP President Libby Hoffman shows how fostering community agency in peacebuilding as well as in national health crisis response (like the current Ebola crisis in West Africa) builds ‘social immunity’, leaving communities stronger for handling the next crisis:
Empowered, trusted local voices and leadership magnify the success of prevention efforts, and they do so while strengthening community capacity for the post-Ebola ….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 >
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 >
In an interview from the world premiere of Fambul Tok at SXSW film festival in Austin, Texas in the spring of 2011, Producer/Executive Producer Libby Hoffman and Director/Producer Sara Terry talk about their motivations in making the film, the approach they took, and their hopes for the impact it can have in the world.
Blog banner image (c) Sara Terry for Catalyst for Peace
