The Connect for Peace (C4P) project is a 36-month initiative to support peace efforts in Liberia, particularly in Nimba County and Monrovia. C4P activities target 230 men, women, and youth across Nimba County and at least 50,000 residents of selected electoral districts in greater Monrovia. As revealed by the project’s conflict analysis, Liberians have never experienced the benefits of a healthy social contract between citizens and the state. Land disputes, ethnic rivalries and clashes, and limited state capacity for peaceful resolution of disputes explain Liberia’s propensity for conflict. For positive peace to take root and prevail, Liberians must find ways to reconcile, overcome mutual mistrust, and live in harmony. It is in this light that the project seeks to:

• Strengthen vertical and horizontal social cohesion between and among Civil Society Organizations and public officials through People-to-People trainings, workshops, consultative public gatherings, social and cultural events, and connector projects.
• Employ CRS’ innovative binding, bonding, and bridging (3Bs)/discovery, dream, design, and deliver (4Ds) methodology to promote healing and reconciliation and to strengthen vertical and horizontal social cohesion in and between key social groups and state actors in Nimba County and Monrovia.
• Build individual and institutional capacity, offer disparate adversarial groups opportunities for reconciliation, and establish trust between citizens and the state.
• Reinforce Indigenous Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms (I-ADRMs) so that women and youth, members of civil society, public sector institutions, and traditional authorities can embrace diversity, resolve differences constructively, and establish conditions for positive peace in Liberia.