JOSEPH KAIFALA ESQ WINS THE INAUGURAL PROJECTS FOR PEACE ALUMNI AWARD

Press Release

May 8, 2023

Joseph Kaifala, A Sierra Leonean Has Received the First Projects for Peace Alumni Award

Joseph Kaifala (Sierra Leone) has received the inaugural Projects for Peace Alumni Award. The newly created award is given in support of the ongoing peace-building efforts of a past Projects for Peace recipient who demonstrates innovation and persistence in working for peace and transforming conflict. Joseph received a Projects for Peace Award in 2007 when he was a student at Skidmore College which he used to build a library in Sierra Leone. He is the Founder and Principal of the Center for Memory and Reparations – facilitating remembrance and collective narratives around the Sierra Leonean civil war.

A major aspect of his work is identifying, mapping and protecting mass graves left by the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone between 1991-2002. Kaifala survived both the Liberian and Sierra Leonean civil wars and spent a few years as a refugee in Guinea. His Center grants communities where mass graves exist the opportunity to offer traditional burial rites for those they lost in the war. The Center also teaches civil war history to school children and has been advocating for the Government of Sierra Leone to declare National Reconciliation Day as recommended by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Follow this link for the announcement and learn more about the Projects for Peace Alumni Award https://www.middlebury.edu/projects-for-peace/alumni-award

Follow this link to learn about the award announcement and about the Conflict Transformation Collaborative at Middlebury College https://www.middlebury.edu/projects-for-peace/alumni-award

Read more about Joseph Kaifala and his work here https://www.middlebury.edu/projects-for-peace/alumni-award/2023-joseph-kaifala

And here https://www.josephkaifala.com/about.php