MONROVIA – The Federation of Motorcycle and Tricycle Union of Liberia (FOMTUL) has commended the Platform for Dialogue and Peace (P4DP), a local think tank dedicated to peace building, societal empowerment and research and the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, the United Kingdom, for their persistent support to the institutio in Liberia.
Speaking on Saturday, 29 January 2022 at the close of a month long business skills development training involving motorcyclists and tri-cyclists, which took place in several cities, including Ganta City, Mr. Joseph Y. Dolo, Nimba County Coordinator of the Federation, commended P4DP and its partner for their persistent support in helping to build the capacities of members of the Federation.
He promised that the knowledge acquired from the training would be integrated into all spheres of their activities, indicating “there is no doubt that the safety and business skills passed unto us will make a big difference in improving the sector and reducing the high risks we face daily.”
Speaking at the event, P4DP Program Manager, Mr. Kennedy K. Berrian, said his organization and the University of St. Andrews have been collaborating since 2018 to support the peacebuilding process in Liberia by enhancing the capacities of the cyclists in safety and skills development and entrepreneurship. He noted that apart from the safety and business development training, the project is presently providing scholarships to exemplary riders selected at major parking lots in Monrovia, Ganta, Tubmanburg and Weala to learn at local secondary schools, technical and vocational institutions and at the University of Liberia.
It can be recalled that on 14 January 2022, P4DP began a series of training for a cross section of motorcyclists in Monrovia which was subsequently extended to Tubmanburg, Weala and Ganta with a total of 85 cyclists benefiting. The current project seeks to promote social recognition of ‘at risk youth’ as opposed to stigmatization and marginalization they experience. The essence is to find out how do youth-generated peacebuilding strategies promote reintegration after war.
The negative effects of the fourteen years of the civil crisis are still felt in post war Liberia, especially in the transport sector. Consequently, motorcycling has emerged in post war Liberia as a critical economic sector. The sector provides cyclists with economic livelihood opportunities and constitutes a space of socio-political youth mobilization. Through motorcycling, youth also establish themselves as active peacebuilding subjects, enacting their own ideas to counter the insecurity and marginalization of post-war life.
Platform for Dialogue and Peace is a Liberian Peacebuilding NGO involved in research and participatory action activities aimed at strengthening the capacities of state and non-state actors to prevent, manage and transform conflict through collaborative action.
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