Non-Traditional Approaches To Strategic Policy Design In A Post-Conflict Environment
Non-traditional approaches to strategic policy design in a post-conflict environment is more than warranted in today’s Sierra Leone . Contextually, when a nation-state emerged from years of rebel war, or by some measure, an externally-induced internal political/diamond-driven conflict that massively disrupted the basic functioning of society, to the misery of ordinary Sierra Leoneans, a comprehensive introspective review of ‘business as usual’ is required to determine what we call in basic introductory journalism the five Ws: Who, What, Where, When, Why, and H: How, of the problem, and explore possible strategic policy agenda to prevent similar occurrence in the future, by creating a reasonable socio-economic and political environment with a dynamic bottom-up participation of the masses. Further, the review should be informed by trustworthy qualitative data (physical immersion, interviews…) from primary and secondary sources in Freetown and the rural areas. In February, this year, sources in Freetown told me that the above was done, albeit notably, in a piecemeal and unproductive way. To confirm and clarify collected information, I conducted a study on post-war social policy design, efficiency of governmental policies, the sociology of communication in a post-modern society, and the need for applied participatory communication theory culminated in the necessity for this short commentary, and conclusion thereof. This piece is a combination of issues raised in my forthcoming book (in press, 2009), and an academic article “Critical Social Development Discourse in Sierra Leone ” (in press, Dec. 2008). The intent here is to share with my fellow Sierra Leoneans how a minor socio-economic adjustment, through the borrowing of non-tradition forms of policy development and execution can produce unimaginable positive consequences. Gramsci, a marked political philosopher, once wrote that, [paraphrased] every human being is an intellectual in his or her own right because of his or her daily contribution to society, but not all human beings behave intellectually because of our hegemonic tendencies to stifle information, unwillingness to share or write to confuse. In fact, as Sierra Leoneans, despite our intellect, there is always the tendency to pull him or her down, because of fear, jealousy and unwillingness to share. The above perspectives mirror themselves in our crisis handling, evaluation, and strategic policy design.
Excruciatingly, I have come to the realization that from a strategic policy perspective, post-conflict Sierra Leone is still hemorrhaging—socially, economically, politically, and culturally, even after years of rebel carnage, and notwithstanding the measured gains from 2002 to date. Those gains were designed to restore hope, improve the lives of people, and [de]construct the existing multiple tier and less beneficial social and economic structures of the Sierra Leone society for a more horizontal one, where our people can, at least, begin to harvest the benefit of being a citizen of a country endowed with natural riches; but the riches are becoming intangibles to the optics of the ordinary Sierra Leonean. I know, altering the status quo can be difficult, but not complex, Nelson Mandela once observed; but we can not ‘fiddle while Rome burns’. Interpretively, from personal observations, recent interviews, and rural-urban interactions; and also, from secondary sources, internal government and external non-government reports, it is apparent that there is an intentional maintenance of existing traditional forms of strategic policy design, execution and evaluation, with limited input from those the policies are intended for. For example, over 80% of the rural interviews I conducted in Bo, Kenema and Makeni, only a handful of rural projects where conceived, developed and executed by the rural or urban-rural communities themselves, with assistance from the national government, and in some cases, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Strategic policy design—the systematic planning construction and execution of action plan, guidelines and procedure to address a social, economic, political or cultural phenomenon requires a fresh perspective in the Sierra Leone locale.
The traditional approaches to policy design, since independence, are yet to produce tangibles, and move the country beyond, in a measured way, from what it was in 1962—post-independence. Other than the relics of the late Sir Milton Margai and Siaka Stevens (irrespective of one’s political views, they did something for the country), rhetorically, what do we have to show for independence—virtually nothing! Despite the struggles came the rebel war, which blighted our country, reversed the meager gains; and sent the country back to the stone age of underdevelopment. What existed then, and even today, is an inefficient, top-down, ‘the people are illiterates’, prescriptive, one-sided, centrally controlled, ‘expert knows it all’, averse to change attitude to policy design and execution. We have been chasing shadows for a long time by wanting to be like the West, in all its glory, forgetting the fundamental socio-cultural foundation on which the country was founded. Visiting China , one would instantly notice a vast contrast of postmodernism and pre-modernism in its agro-business, technology, politics, and social structures; the duality of the modern versus the agrarian is evident. The rural areas, even though they receive authority from the central government, yet there is constant consultation, dialogue and participation in policy design and execution.
In sum, the use of participatory communication and integrated social communication and policy planning theoretical perspective may be useful in the convergence and application of government and NGO resources to address post-conflict social, economic and political needs. In her book, Critical Ethnography, Soyini Madison explained the complexities involved in using the principles of critical ethnography to address social issues, but can be done with determination, consultation and interaction with those affected by the social issues. That same complexity belies formulating strategic policies in a country bedeviled by war, and can also be done if the processes and intended outcomes are viewed from a new lens—integrating local voices, not just on paper, creating and maintaining lasting and trustworthy relationships in the rural areas, and making effective use of the academic institutions to craft social and economic policies, and ensuring that the 12 districts in Sierra Leone are represented in the development, design, execution and evaluation of governmental and NGO policies.
The realities of the 21st century have necessitated my conclusions that: (1) the national government should amalgamate its limited allocated resources, presently dispersed in the different government departments and ministries, (2) increase rural participation in policy design and implementation, (3) and [re]build, [re] construct and develop affected sectors battered by the waves rebel attacks through alternative policy design methods.
