YPB to Commence Restorative Justice Circles

“Addressing Challenges in Communities through Nonviolence Engagement and Dialogue” trainings which were conducted in Makeni, Kambia, Bo, Kenema and ended in Western Area Rural in Freetown on 11th-13th February, brought together stakeholders from the Jui Kossoh town community that benefited from a three days training during which the Restorative Justice Circles were also introduced as a possible method to addressing community challenges as part of the training. According to the project lead & Community Solutions leader Herbert Bangura, the current justice systems in Sierra Leone only seeks to punish offenders as against repairing and restoring which the Restorative Justice Circles seeks to do, making the communities safer as it has the potential to bring the communities, offenders and victims together instead of dividing them. Mr. Bangura further stated that the circles would now be incorporated into all of its peace building processes and encouraged participants to do same. Such training can actually be traced to United States where Restorative Justice Circles has been very effective in peace building as experienced during an exchange program that I benefited from and spent some time working in the USA with organizations that are active in the field, an exchange supported by the United States government, said Herbert Bangura. Among the participants were Religious leaders and community stakeholders who expressed desire to see the commencement of the circles as they believe it will transform their communities and make them safer. A physically challenged participant, Mohammed emotionally thanked the organizers of the training while the village headman also said he can’t wait to see his people begin to put into practice all of the knowledge gained during the training and thanked both the organizers and funders of this very timely training noting that his community has endured many youth related violence.