Without such help, people who have suffered, lost homes and familiar social structures, and been humiliated, remain permanently vulnerable to manipulation by propaganda and exploitation by dictators. Individuals are the focus of healing work, which involves listening and witness to restore their human dignity, and being present alongside in order to provide them with release from their own hurt. Emotional health of the individual needs to be rebuilt before reconciliation can occur. Cultural exchange may become possible. In a project based on these principles, a women's election observation project proposed for Sierra Leone will provide training for each community separately in the first phase and for both communities together in the second.
Reconciliation happens at the level of the individual.
For reconciliation to occur, each side needs to take responsibility for their part in contributing to the conflict. Cross-community work can permit people to develop a joint account or common memory of what happened in the conflict, as a platform for reconciliation. Individual acts of public apology can also be very influential on willingness for reconciliation. Media effects and potentials Media are often state-controlled and used to foment and perpetuate fears and hatred in order to inhibit return. The socialisation of people by their governments to accept media messages uncritically continues as a problem in Africa, former Yugoslavia and elsewhere.