By Mustapha Sesay
BBC Media Action in Sierra Leone, an independent charity and the only international development arm of the BBC, has designed a radio drama and discussion programme aimed at helping people better understand women and entitlements.
The programme, ‘Leh Wi Know’, a Krio statement meaning ‘let us know’, would focus on challenges women and girls faced as they went about their day-to-day activities within various communities in the country.
It would also helping women and their support networks - husbands or brothers - know where to go and who to talk to for help and guidance.
Senior Programme Manager, Hassan Arouni, explained that each episode of the drama would be followed by discussions aimed at reinforcing key themes from land ownership to domestic violence.
“To know is to be empowered and the country will not reach its full potential if we continue to trample on the rights of women,” Aruni said.
Its Country Director, George Ferguson, observed that “justice continues to be far away from women in Sierra Leone,” and added that it was important to address the issues so as to create a balance in the trend.
He said the radio programme would help bring about the change needed with regards women and girls.
Ferguson said that they had already trained journalists to adequately report on issues affecting women in the country with the hope of arriving at a solution to ending the threat facing that fraction of the populace.
Sierra Leone’s Deputy Minister of Social Welfare Gender and Children’s Affairs, Mustapha Bai Attilla, observed that men in the country had refused to treat women as partners in development. He said women were therefore “constantly being deprived of basic justice”.
He revealed that his ministry was presently negotiating with the judiciary to ensure that persons accused and found guilty of perpetrating domestic violence were given custodial sentences instead of fines. He said that they would also ensure that such cases were fast-tracked to reduce delay in proceedings.
First Lady, Sia Nyama Koroma, who was also at the ceremony, pointed out that the media had a role to play in order to change society’s perception and behaviors towards women.
She noted that the challenges women faced in the country were far beyond sexual and domestic violence, adding that it also had to do with basic rights such as ownership of properties and decision making.
© Politico 12/02/15
