Stakeholders meeting in Ganta City, Nimba County at the end of the 3 day Working session, have validated the Communication Strategy documents of the Liberia National Commission on Small Arms (LINCSA) intended to propagate the commission’s policies and programs through internal and external engagements aimed at explaining the work, mandate, vision, core values achievement, challenges as well as success stories and to generate feedbacks for improvements and described it as a major milestone in the work of the commission since it was created.
Presenting the validated documents to the Chairman of LINCSA, Atty Maxwell Grisby, one of the consultants on the project, John Jallah said he was excited to be part of the project which will go a long way in assist LINCSA how to communicate with its partners and other stakeholders as it strives to execute the mandate given the commission by the Act of the Legislature that created it.
He said the document encompasses the work he and his team produce as communication strategy and those of the inputs made during the deliberation from stakeholders at the session. He said the document when it comes into effect will cover 3 years, 2021-2024.
Receiving the document, Atty Grisby said he was happy that the Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS) supported the process through the West African Small Arms Project, managed by the United Nations Development Program(UNDP) and Coordinated by the GIC.
“I think the validation session of the communication strategy was a unique opportunities to look at the activities of the commission and see how we can communicate with the people of Liberia on the legal instrument governing the commission the regulations governing arms and ammunition in the republic of Liberia and international instruments and treaties which Liberia has signed and being part of. The strategy looks at the different actors that include the state security officers, the civil societies, the media and other sectors of the society”, the young administrator said.
It was an eye opening session for some people but then some of the fresh ideas coming from the table about the no go zone for arms and other areas was very much inspiring and will further strengthen my resolve as a lead advocate for arms control in Liberia.
Providing an insight of how the project was executed, he said it took the consultants 60 days to deliver the draft, as part of the deliberations to meet with stakeholders , including the state security , civil societies, the media, the international partners and share with the commission and that the validation was about bringing in the external parties to look at the draft and make input so that the commission can have a communication strategy that will inform its intervention across the country.
Atty Grisby said the two days of deliberations by all the stakeholders did two major things, one being that it helped the commission to develop a communication strategy to which the institution align its policy and legal intervention and secondly it created a platform for the different actors within the society to fully appreciate the work of the commission and that he was excited over the outcome of the process.
“ It was an eye opening session for some people but then some of the fresh ideas coming from the table about the “no go zone” for arms and other areas was very much inspiring and will further strengthen my resolve as a lead advocate for arms control in Liberia”
When asked what next after the validation exercise, he said there will be a final communication strategy sent to the commission by the consultants and the inputs from all of the participants that will be shared with LINCSA’s international partners to include ECOWAS, UNDP and different state security institutions and it is going to be the guide that will be used in communicating messages from the commission.
According to the document, the objective of communication strategy is to efficiently create national and cross-border awareness on strengthening regional governance frameworks in combating transnational organized crimes (TOC) and trafficking and to effectively communication with its stakeholders the need to enhance the capacity of state agencies specialized in combating threats of transnational organized crimes (TOC).
The document further stated that specifically the project seeks to address lower level objectives among which are to create high level and community awareness and sensitization on the dangers associated with the illicit proliferation and trafficking of small arms and armed violence, strengthening the role of national small arms commission(NATCOM) and enable the set up of effective decentralized structures, coordinate relevant security stakeholders and foster linkages within the respective national security architecture and reduce the existing circulation and trafficking of additional availability of small arms and light weapons within the pilot communities by strengthening border communities’ mechanisms, systems and controls.
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