Graduates of Raising Community Voices Project challenged to make maximum use of the skills and knowledge acquired

The Chairperson of the National Civil Society Council of Liberia(NCSL), Madam Loretta A. Pope Kai, has urged graduates of the Raising Community Voices Project(RCV) to make maximum use of the skills and knowledge acquired from their just ended training program.

Serving as keynote speaker at the official program highlighting the Graduation Ceremony of the Raising Community Voices Project(RCV) on Thursday, November 9, 2023 at the Paynesville Town Hall, outside Monrovia, Madam Kai urged the graduates to take action on what they have learnt.

Madam Kai, who strongly challenged the graduates to leave no stone unturned in combating sexual based violence in the country, lamented that women and girls are the main victims of sexual-based violence.

While identifying rape as the most common violence that has been reported, she pointed out that President George Manneh Weah declared it as a national emergency.

Against this backdrop, she called on the Government of Liberia(GoL) to take concrete action in dealing with this violent act.

‘‘Gender based violence affects mental health, it makes you to be frustrated, abandoned, do not give up. Do not keep silence, we need more action on what has happened. Do not settle it in your home, it could be your father or any other relatives. Report it and the more you keep silence it will affect you. Be the change in your community,’’ the NCSL boss stated.

‘‘If we do not work collectively, we will not get. Government must take the lead in taking action against gender-based violence. Do not get tired. We, as parents, have to monitor our children because they are smart, when it comes to technology. We have to strengthen coordination. We need more data if we have to address the issue of sexual based violence and other violent acts against our girls and women. I want to encourage our partners to work with the men and boys because they are the perpetrators as you have committed your action, you need show them in your community,’’ she continued amid tremendous applause from the audience.

‘‘I want to also encourage our parents to work with their men and boys because they are the perpetrators as they have committed their action, you need to show them in your communities. Call on the women and girls to redefine their friendship with friends, mainly with male friends with negative attitude. Never give up on anything. Let us continue to build solidarity. I appreciate Plan International Liberia and other civil society organizations to change your negative social behaviors. I have availed myself to work with plan International Liberia in helping in this initiative,’’ Madam Kai, among other things, added.

Speaking earlier, Madam Anitta K.T. Monger, the Program Manager of Raising Community Voices, who gave the Overview of the Programme, said the global commitments through the Sustainable Development Goals remain critical to the landscape of Liberia.

‘‘While Liberia has progressed in guaranteeing equality between men and women through legislation and policies, sexual and gender-based violence is still widely acknowledged to affect the growth and well-being of women and girls in schools, communities, homes and workplaces. Gender equalities are deeply entrenched in societal values, norms, practices including stereotypes and prejudices against women,’’ Madam Monger pointed out.
 

Madam Monger asserted that the gap in women’s participation and decision making at all levels remains unwavering against expectation and growth. Sexual genital mutilation(FGM) and harmful practices are endemic.

‘‘Young people and women continue to face challenges in accessing economic and societal affordable services including quality sexual and reproductive health information and services. The prevalence of adolescent girls experiencing deprivation due to harmful traditional practices and gender norms is largely contributing to teenage pregnancy and high levels of gender-based violence,’’ she said.

She recalled that I 2019, the Government of Ireland approved the four-year Raising Community Voices(RCV) Project for the International Rescue Committee(IRC) and its consortium partners Coalition of Women Against Gender Based Violence in Liberia(COWAGIL), Women Solidarity Inc. (WOSI), Servant of All Players Assembly(SOAP), and Rural Women and Girls Promoters for Sustainable Development(RWGP) to strengthen community-level GBV prevention and response interventions and enhance women’s economic and social empowerment in Lofa, Montserrado and Nimba Counties.

‘‘The RCV Project’s overall goal is to increase the safety and power of diverse women and adolescent girls, while at the same time grow their social networks, protecting them from the consequences of GBV and referring them to relevant response services. Engaging men and boys in individual transformative behavior change guided by inputs from women and girls, to reduce violence against women and girls(VAWG) and amplifying the voices of women and girls through advocacy to drive structural changes and reducing women’s risk of violence by increasing their access to income generation and control over economic resources,’’ the Program Manager of Raising Community Voices intoned.

The Program Manager of Raising Community Voices further recalled that in 2020, the IRC released a new strategy(S100) to refine the organizational identity, to increase its focus on the humanitarian sector. This resulted in some countries being prioritized for a scale down of activities, including the IRC Liberia Country Program. With this understanding, the IRC Liberia Country Program and the Embassy of Ireland in Monrovia agreed to officially transfer the collaboration with IA, the IRC agreed to source a potential INGO with like minded strategic focus, programme and geographical coverage.

‘‘From September-December 2021, the IRC engaged stakeholders and programme participants in project transition meetings in Lofa, Montserrrado, Nimba Counties and INGOs (Concern World-Wide, Kvinna till Kvinna and PIL) in Monrovia. The transition meetings were held in Lofa, Montserrado and Nimba Counties engaging stakeholders and programme participants to reflect the process of the transition. The INGOs acquaintance transaction meeting was heard early October at the IRC Main Office to understand their GBV programming in Liberia. This process climaxed with the IRC Transition Committee using a standard capacity criteria tool for potential selection and recommendation,’’ she disclosed.

According to her, the IRC and the Embassy of Ireland officially agreed on November 12, 2021 to transition the RCV Project to PIL for continuity of the remaining two years of implementation. PIL has a strategic focus in line with IA Policy priorities and IRC’s desired results. PIL also operates similar programmes in the geographical locations and manages referral and service providers.

On February 1, 2022, the Embassy of Ireland in Liberia awarded the Raising Community Voices(RCV) Project to Plan International Liberia((PIL) and four local partners to strengthen community-level gender-based violence(GBV) prevention and community-led response interventions and build women’s economic and social empowerment in Monrovia and two districts each in each Lofa and Nimba Counties.

PIL has strategic choices that prioritize the agency of girls to identify and increase the power to lead changes that enable confidence to enjoy their own bodily integrity. With complimentary to the RCV sustainable outcomes, the lack of adequate access to sexual reproductive health rights(SRHR) and the low priority of the Government of Liberia(GoL) in tackling FGM, CEFM, Rape Teenage Strategy recognizes the importance of engaging with boys and young women to ensure the sustainability of the gender transformative change at the community level.

The five objectives remain the same with PIL and achievement over the four years of implementation. Objective 1: Increase the safety and power of adolescent girls through growing their social networks.

Objective 2: Project women and girls from the consequences of GBV and refer them to relevant response services. Two thousands nine hundred thirty-eight (2,938) GBV Cases received basic counseling and referral to health facilities.

Objective3: Engage boys in individual behavior change, guided by the voices of women and girls to reduce violence against women and girls. 1360 men, 1360 women and 1080 boys.

Objective 4: Amplify the voices of women and girls through advocacy. SASA Activities and CBOs established. 200,000 people reached through house to house and mass awareness.

Objective 5: Reduce women’s vulnerability to violence through increasing their access to and control over economic resources. 1,858 women of the 78 VSLA groups, 150 women benefited a cash award and one cluster group established and engaged in Soap production.

Also speaking at the program, Plan International Liberia Country Director, Miriam Murray, said Plan International is a non-governmental organization which believes in empowering young people, especially girls and young women because we believe that the world will not develop sustainably without bringing everybody who should be on board.

Plan decided to work in Liberia because we believe that the children of Liberia deserve more. And today you are here about to show the evidence of when people believe and trust young women. This project was given to us by the IRC when they were about to change to something else but they had the money and did not want Liberia to lose this money so because we do similar work and we have been working with them as partners we competed for the project with three others and they saw what we presented was trustworthy and so they gave us this project together with the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP)  and we have not failed them.

The donor is Irish Aid. They are very trusted people. When you invest in young people you are investing in development. She encouraged parents to send their children to schools. She wants them participate in meaningful activities in their communities

‘‘If you show true love to your children, they will show you true love. Go show your friends about what you have achieved so they who have not benefited from this initiative will follow suit. Do not fail us and go put your acquired skills and knowledge into practice for ypour betterment,’’ she added.

For his part, the Executive Director of SOAP, one of the organizations that took part in the training program, Dr. Thomas Nelson Williams, commended the graduates for successfully completing the training program and urged them to make maximum use of the skills and knowledge acquired.

Dr. Williams, who was given the responsibility to give out the certificates of achievements to the graduates, also thanked Irish Aid for the support, saying without Irish Aid, the initiative would not have been possible.

She also thanked Plan International Liberia and other civil society organizations for the role they played in the implementation of the project.

‘’ What we do with our degree that matters. Go into the field and practice what you have learnt,’’ he admonished them.