Conflict Risk Mitigation - Private Sector Vis-à-vis communities in Sierra Leone For 18 months, Cordaid and AAD-SL have been working on a CMDRR project in 4 communities around Makeni and Port Loko. The Participatory Disaster Risk Assessment conducted in the area revealed that these communities were affected by Land and Water pollution from Industries. 
Next to Makeni (Tonka Village):
About 10 years ago, a bio-fuel production company called Addax (originally partially financed by FMO) was created a few hundred meters upstream from the village. Prior to this, the community could use the water from the river for its daily use (food, drinking, cleaning, etc). After the implementation people (especially kids) started to get sick and having skin rashes, plants, animals, fish and other organisms living in water channel died. The community linked the effects to the factory and asked the company to resolve the problem. However, several years down the line the issue remains unresolved. instead the company provided one water tank for drinking water that is rarely refilled. The inadequate water service provision is causing water stress in this community that is now creating tension against the provider (Addax). Additionally, the company issued caution to the community against using any other water source including digging of shallow wells or bore holes. In this10 years after the implementation, no independent environmental impact assessment (EIA) was done to ascertain the extent of pollution and the health and Economic effects to the community. 
Next to Port Loko, (Manonkoh village):
The village is almost surrounded by a wetland area that was used for growing crops (especially rice). In early 2000, an Iron mining company began operations a few hundred meters from this wetland. The mining company uses a very large amount of water that is then polluted during operations and is dumped into the surrounding wetlands (fields) of the villagers causing flooding. The company created an open reservoir that discharges polluted water into the community’s arable land making the lands unsuitable for farming. However, the amount of mining varies during the year, but unfortunately during the higher production period or during the wet season, the reservoir fills up quickly and the additional polluted water is then released in the community wetland, which at times reaches their village compounds especial during the peak of the rain season. Again, no independent EIA was done yet, so we can’t prove scientifically that the wetland is polluted, but only the excess water results in flooding the only bridge used by villagers to access shops/markets and schools and destroying rice paddies, reducing their livelihood and access to market places. 
For this two villages, the first step of this project aims to make an independent EIA. To make sure these assessments are authorized and recognized by government, we have to incorporate them in the designed EIA methodology. The outcomes will then be used to develop advocating strategies after we trained local partner and communities in advocacy and negotiation techniques. We will also use the knowledge gained during PFR 2 program in the mega Dam project in northern Kenya, where they were able to stop the construction of a dam until negotiations with affected communities were made and an independent Environmental impact Assessment put under scrutiny. Based on this experience we hope that negotiations with the different parties will result in identifying solution to reduce/stop this pollution as well as mitigate the conflict between communities and the company. The project aims at achieving two main objectives, and these are;

1. Strengthen the capacity of local partner and communities in advocacy and healthy engagements with the private sector and government

2. Develop action plans with all involved stakeholders to reduce/stop the pollution resulting from industrial activities Two communities will benefit from the project ( Manokoh and Tonkah