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Profile and Analysis of Youth, Gender and Land Related Conflicts in Bong Profile and Analysis of Youth, Gender and Land Related Conflicts in Bong and Lofa Counties, Liberia For the joint FAO-ILO-WFP project Sustaining Peace and Improving Social Cohesion through the Promotion of Rural Employment Opportunities for Youth in Conflict-Prone Areas in Liberia funded by the UN Peacebuilding Fund X Profile and Analysis of Youth, Gender and Land-Related Conflicts in Bong and Lofa Counties, Liberia For the joint FAO-ILO-WFP project Sustaining Peace and Improving Social Cohesion through the Promotion of Rural Employment Opportunities for Youth in Conflict-Prone Areas in Liberia funded by the UN Peacebuilding Fund November 2019 Copyright © International Labour Organization 2020 First published 2020 Publications of the International Labour Office enjoy copyright under Protocol 2 of the Universal Copyright Convention. Nevertheless, short excerpts from them may be reproduced without authorization, on condition that the source is indicated. For rights of reproduction or translation, application should be made to ILO Publishing (Rights and Licensing), International Labour Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, or by email: [email protected]. The International Labour Office welcomes such applications. Libraries, institutions and other users registered with a reproduction rights organization may make copies in accordance with the licences issued to them for this purpose. Visit www.ifrro.org to find the reproduction rights organization in your country. ISBN: 9789220337813 (Print) 9789220337820 (Web PDF) The designations employed in ILO publications, which are in conformity with United Nations practice, and the presentation of material therein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the International Labour Office concerning the legal status of any country, area or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. The responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles, studies and other contributions rests solely with their authors, and publication does not constitute an endorsement by the International Labour Office of the opinions expressed in them. Reference to names of firms and commercial products and processes does not imply their endorsement by the International Labour Office, and any failure to mention a particular firm, commercial product or process is not a sign of disapproval. Information on ILO publications and digital products can be found at: www.ilo.org/publns. Design and layout by the International Training Centre of the ILO, Turin – Italy Profile and Analysis of Youth-, Gender- and Land-Related Conflicts in Bong and Lofa Counties, Liberia iii Foreword Since early 2019, ILO, FAO and WFP have been jointly implementing the project “Sustaining peace and improving social cohesion through the promotion of rural employment opportunities for youth in conflict-prone areas” funded by the UN Peacebuilding Fund. The project is implemented through two key outcomes: 1. Young women and men have increased access to local conflict resolution mechanisms, with a focus on land disputes, and become active agents of peace; and 2. Rural young women and men have access to sustainable agricultural livelihoods addressing key drivers of conflict. Under outcome 1, the project is supporting youth participation in peacebuilding at the community level, works to ensure that young women and men have increased access to land-conflict resolution mechanisms as a vehicle for youth-inclusive peacebuilding, and provides both technical and material support for youth to become peace champions and ambassadors. In this context, the present study was conducted to map and document land-, youth- and gender-related drivers of conflicts in the Lofa and Bong counties of Liberia and update the conflict profile in both communities. It builds on a survey among youth representatives and relevant stakeholders, key informant interviews, focus group discussions as well as secondary literature. The study aims to inform project implementation and provide insights for other national and international actors active in the area of socio-economic approaches to sustaining peace and social cohesion in Liberia. Findings of the study were presented to national counterparts, project partners and beneficiaries during a validation meeting organized on Wednesday, 26 February 2020, in Monrovia, Liberia. We would like to express our gratitude to those who have contributed to the development of this study, in particular Mr. Stephen Ganawa, Mr. Felix Rüdiger, Mr. Dino Corell, Mr. Salif Massalay, Ms. Nieves Thomet and Mr. David Dorkenoo. A special thank you to our project partners FAO and WFP as well as to the Secretariat for the Liberia Multi-Partner Trust Fund for their valuable feedback and collaboration, as well as the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs for supporting the publication of this analysis. iv Profile and Analysis of Youth-, Gender- and Land-Related Conflicts in Bong and Lofa Counties, Liberia Executive Summary This study informs, and is part of, the UN Peacebuilding Fund project “Sustaining peace and improving social cohesion through the promotion of rural employment opportunities for youth in conflict-prone areas”, implemented jointly by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Food Programme (WFP). Its findings serve to support the analytical basis upon which project activities are designed and implemented, and the participation of local stakeholders throughout the project’s components. The first section introduces the purpose, scope and methodology of the study. The study describes and explains the age and gender dimensions of land disputes and related youth violence by identifying their main drivers in Bong and Lofa counties of Liberia. Its empirical findings build on data collected from interviews, surveys and focus group discussions, with a total of 202 study participants, as well as a comprehensive desk review. On this basis, it formulates recommendations that will help the main partners ‒ the FAO, the ILO and the WFP ‒ and all the stakeholders involved in successfully planning and implementing further project activities, as well as designing future projects focused on socio-economic approaches to peacebuilding in the area. Section 2 provides an overall socio-economic profile of the two counties and explains the main causes of conflict. It contains original data on the two communities and leads to some important conclusions. As regards survey participants’ “main concerns” in respect of youth and women’s development, the findings confirm that the counties face a dual challenge of economic despair (unemployment at 33.7 per cent and economic hardship/poverty at 15 per cent) and non-inclusive decision-making structures (20 per cent), particularly with regard to land disputes (21 per cent). Similarly, survey respondents in Bong and Lofa counties named land disputes as the main cause of conflict in their communities (37 per cent), followed by youth unemployment (33 per cent), youth/women’s marginalization (16 per cent) and traditions/religious practices (14 per cent). This shows that the project’s overall approach of combining young women and men’s access to governance of land disputes with socio-economic empowerment meets the demands and aspirations of local youth and other community members. This section of the study also finds that existing conflict resolution mechanisms are largely considered effective, but that there are opportunities for the project to build on. Section 3 provides a detailed analysis of the project’s main problem of interest: the age and gender dimensions of land disputes and resulting youth violence. It describes the problem at hand and identifies the distant root causes and main drivers of the problem. What is the main problem of interest? Years after the end of the Liberian civil war, recurrent community-level conflicts (sometimes violent) in the two counties have largely metamorphosed into disputes over land boundaries and fairer access to land, and land Profile and Analysis of Youth-, Gender- and Land-Related Conflicts in Bong and Lofa Counties, Liberia v use and leasing. These conflicts run not only along ethnic lines, as often emphasized, but also have age and gender dimensions. Firstly, respondents confirmed that, where access to land is concerned, youth and local authorities have often resorted to violence. Secondly, young unemployed men, in particular, appear to be perpetrators of violence in cases where members of their families are affected by land disputes and dispute-resolution mechanisms are inadequate. Thirdly, given that young women and men are excluded from having a fair share of fertile land – the most important resource for licit, sustainable livelihoods – and from access to dispute resolution mechanisms, they revert to illicit and harmful alternatives, such as illegal mining, illegal logging and other criminal activities. Fourthly, in the specific case of young women, it can be argued that their being barred from land ownership and dispute resolution not only excludes them economically, but, given their economic dependency, makes them more vulnerable to the common phenomenon of gender-based and sexual violence. What are the drivers of conflict? The study argues that two main factors explain the recurrence of land disputes with age and gender dimensions, and the related agitation and violence: X A lack of socio-economic opportunities for young women and men, and X Grievances
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