Voice of peace : Meet young peace activist Nana Toure from Mali.

Q: Can you introduce yourself to us, please?

A: I am Nana Alassane Toure, a youth of Mali.

Q: 1) Describe the current situation of Violent Extremism in Mali and what can be done to counter violent extremism effectively?

A : My work constitutes generally on documentation. That is to say that I work in order to bring light to the question of violent extremism and other questions linked to women and youth. Concerning violent extremism, I participate in studies of the theme: “women , peace and security”. In addition to the role of women in the prevention and the management

of conflict and other types of violence, I also work in the role of women of Mali in the struggle against violent extremism and other forms of studies that bring the knowledge and the light about the root causes that pushed people in general and youth in particular to get recruited by armed extremist groups. So, it’s more about a work of research and action.

Q: What are female leaders in Mali doing to counter violent extremism?

A: What I really see in the field is the actions of civil society which organize generally workshops and training about building the capacities of women leaders in Mali. That way they better understand that they are potential actors of peace and they can play an important role in their families. So, in the process of peace building I have met a lot of women leaders that plead with regional authorities, communal authorities, and national authorities for the demobilization of youth and also for the information and sensitization of youth in order to prevent them from joining armed group. They also develop action plans in terms of creation of job opportunities and capacity buildings to permit to youth to thrive. Another aspect is that I am an activist, a militant, and also a researcher. So, impartiality is a core value of the researcher. So I can’t only say that women are actors of peace or sweet persons which prevent people to join violent groups, but there are some women who contribute to the worsening of violence and played an important role to push their husbands , their sons to join these armed groups. There are also women who are allied and cooperate with those armed groups. This is an important aspect to take in to account because if we don’t analyze these aspects the solutions we will propose will be wrong solutions.

Q: What is your specific role?

A: My role is what I already explained. It is mostly in the field of research and presentation of data I collect. It is also in the writing of article. Anytime I get the opportunity to talk with the media I talk about the role of youth in the prevention and the management of conflict. But it is also in pleading the government to help our youth organizations and also in our social medias platforms. We also hail or call to the government to create job opportunities for youth and create an environment where their human dignity will be respected because without that it’s really difficult that the actions of the civil society will succeed. The only question young people always ask is if we have jobs for them. It’s here that you understand that your role is limited and you must turn to the government and its partners to create an environment for youth because young people are actors of change for today and tomorrow. We have the interest to make this young generation responsible and empowered, What kind of Mali who want to have tomorrow? Education is at the base of all. If our children are not well educated today, we can never talk about a brighter future for tomorrow.

Q: With whom do you work?

A: I am a militant with the civil society and I have an assignment with the USAID PROJECT “ACCORD “ which focuses on the question of women in terms of peace and security. Individually I am also militant in youth associations and member of a team of researchers who work on the question of governance.

Q: What are the challenges you are facing?

A: There are enormous challenges in Mali, most of people think that all the problems we confront is caused by youth, I think that all the problems we are confronted with today are problems of society. Because when you are a militant in the youth organization you will find in the civil society organizations of women you will find in the political parties. In general, we are all facing the same challenges at the individual level. Politics is extremely important but I think that at individual level we must also work. I insist again in the implementation of education system in Mali. After that we must have politics which is appropriate to our daily needs. Because the political decisions we take must be decisions which respond and solve the daily problems of people. They must not be decisions that will make things difficult for people. Therefore, the civil society has an important role in terms of denunciation and sensitization. We have a role of education, information, and sensitization but also we have a role of following-up and accompaniment. We are in an ensemble and any elements of the ensemble have an important role to play. It’s important to know what’s your role in the ensemble and give your best to make an impact. That’s how we can say that a better future is possible. Education is at the heart of every achievement in this process.

Q: What are the successes stories and accomplishments?

A: We have established a youth camp in the region of Gao in collaboration with the USAID program ACCORD, the camp was gathering youth from different circles of Gao into a camp in order to build their capacities as football players. The idea was to bring youth together to discuss, sharing dormitories, and eat together. We also organized a football competition during the holidays. It was a real success story in terms of social cohesion between youth from different communities. That action permitted us to understand the youth that even though there is conflict between them. Their destinies lie in their own hands and they are the future of their regions, villages and their country. It was a really success story thanks to the USAID ACCORD program.

Q: How are you working in partnership and with support of the national and local government, the international community, civil society? What can be better done?

A: In the framework of my work in ACCORD, I work with national organizations, with my research team with local organizations. We hold a lot of debate in local level. We also produce a data base and write scientific articles. Our organization is called: (alliance pour refonder la governance en Afrique) it’s an organization that promote the development of governance.

Q: Share a positive case studies. Are you optimistic about the future of women leadership at advocating for women's rights and conflict prevention?

A : I am optimistic because in Mali there is talents. I think that we must encourage talent. when we don’t do that, we will kill the talents. So, if we help these talented people they can also be empowered. Our greatest challenge today is to empowered average people to become excellent and thrive in their own communities.

Q: What's your message to young women leaders, to your government, to the international community, to extremists?

A: my message for the country is that we are a state and we participate in a lot of meetings, summits and treaties. I think that we must make a review of all these meetings and try to apply these different texts. First of all, concerning the question of youth, the government of Mali has the obligation to create an environment which permit to youth to be in security, developing youth entrepreneurship, and also quality education opportunities. I am a traveler like you, Hadj, as traveler we all notice how universities are developed in regions in other countries so our government must open universities in Timbuktu , in Gao even in Kidal. The government must also create an environment for the Koranic school students, the Talibé, which are in the streets and prevent enrollment in armed or violent extremist groups. In civil society, our role is known about information, sensitization and also denunciation. Young people have responsibilities because our parents sacrifice everything for our future so we must work hard at school and thrive and avoid bad things.

Q: What is your last word?

A: I belong to a wonderful country which is Mali, I never stop saying that. Whenever I travel, I realize that my country is so wonderful, it’s not that others countries are not wonderful but in terms of geography in terms of culture Mali is wonderful.