On Saturday 20 of May 2017, 70 women from the seven communities in Bombali District took to the streets of Makeni holding placards on an awareness raising campaign called, “Access to Justice for Women and Girls”.
Kadiatu Thullah of Momoru Village said that AJLC has taught her about rights as a woman. “Before this time, I only thought it was a subject for men in society,” she said.
Access to Justice Law Centre (AJLC) has successfully ended a 13-day programme on the theme “Empowering Women to Access Justice” aimed at educating women about justice and rights in the northern part of Sierra Leone.
The programme started by engaging seven communities in Bombali District, at an information meeting. The purpose of the meeting, according to the Deputy Programme Director, Lawyer Madiana Bunserry, was to inform the targeted communities on the project and how to implement other activities of the project.
The Town Chief of Mayendeh Village, Chief Luke Man Conteh, applauded the implementation of such a project in their community. He ended by saying that they will embrace such developments for their women and children.
Each community identified stakeholders that are to be involved in the formation of their community laws, and ten women from each community that are to be trained as psycho-social counselors and social protection animators.
During the training of these women, Bunserry stated that the training aimed at supporting individuals and communities to develop strategies to promote positive behaviours appropriate to their settings and provide a supportive environment for continuous counselling and protection for women and children.
This project was supported by Trōcaire, a Catholic organisation in Ireland. Trōcaire has been working as partners with AJLC for the past several years.
Trōcaire works with civil society organisations at the grassroots level, who are providing essential services to communities in terms of livelihoods.
SB May 23 Trōcaire
By Saidu Bah
Twitter @mohamedsaidubah
Tuesday May 23, 2017.
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