Peaceful Messages can Counter Misinformation and Foster Peace Education: Insights from Sierra Leone

Hello, I’m Paul, a youth leader and a participant in the DEPA training which took place in 2021. My perception of mobile phones was initially limited to social media, making and receiving calls, and playing games. However, the training changed my narrative. I realized that a mobile device is not just for communication and entertainment, but a powerful tool to create short videos that can foster peace and cohesion within my society. 

Barriers to peace in Sierra Leone 

One of the significant barriers to peace has been the misuse of social media. Young people often use social media to misinform rather than inform, causing commotion and unrest within the country. This is particularly evident in politics. Politicians access social media to discredit oppositions, thereby disturbing peace. At the end of the day, they start throwing invectives at each other, using all sorts of negative words. This has been a significant barrier to peace in Sierra Leone. 

How to counter misinformation 

To counter misinformation through social media, we can use our mobile devices, which are less costly compared to advanced cameras. I’ve had the opportunity to use my phone to create videos, short texts, skits, etc., raising awareness about misinformation and sharing them on social media. This helps us counter any misinformation sent prior. 

Using peer influence for good  

As young people, we are significantly influenced by our peers. In this aspect, peer influence has positively impacted this training. I’ve been using this training, my mobile phone, and friends’ phones to raise awareness. We create peace videos, bringing young people together. As young people in this country, we have often taken sides based on our different backgrounds. The trainers helped us deal with or try to mitigate this to avoid discomfort. We create videos that could sensitize peace in this country. 

Change the narrative 

During the training, we were given tasks on the second day to see how best we could go out to take photos and send out stories. The purpose of taking photos or videos with your android phone is to send out stories.  My angle of the story for the young people in this country was narrative change, how to change their narratives. That was the type of angle I wanted to look at. In narrative, we have something that we hold onto, and that change of narrative was what I decided to work on.