Community perceptions of commercial motorcyclists in Liberia

Young motorcycle taxi drivers in Liberia face critical challenges often unaddressed by development assistance: health and safety threats, police harassment, and ongoing, serious social stigmatisation. Social reintegration assistance has also been under-prioritised in DDR assistance for ex-combatant and conflict-affected youth after war. This documentary short film reflects collaborative participatory action research with ex-combatant and conflict-affected youth in the motorcycle sector, to identify the drivers of social stigmatisation and to analyse and support young people’s own strategies to counter it. The film was screened during several focus group discussions in Liberia communities that have experienced cyclist-community and cyclist-police violence, to generate community-level dialogue for violence prevention and counter-stigmatisation.