By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The international aid agency, PLAN International, has disclosed plans to launch a new girls empowerment initiative across Sierra Leone.
The initiative dubbed ‘Girls Get Equal’ will target schools and communities in all 16 districts of the country, officials said on Monday.
Girl empowerment in Sierra Leone has been the major focus of most organizations. Girls growing up in the country face problems like teenage pregnancy, early marriage and access to education.
Timothy Sam, Youth Management Specialist at PLAN, said the organization has a history of empowering girls and being vocal on issues that affect them. He said this new initiative will be a step forward in their fight for equality.
“We have been bold to tackle issues affecting girls. We have positioned ourselves for a global campaign, Girls get Equal,” Sam said at a press conference held at their head offices at Tengbeh Town in Freetown.
“We will be launching it and it will go across Sierra Leone. Most importantly, girls will be at the center of this campaign. The campaign will focus on three things; equal representation, equal power and equal freedom,” Mr Sam added.
The charity has not released more details on the upcoming project, but its officials said they will be launching it globally in the next two months.
The press conference was meant to present a former international cyclist and global ambassador for PLAN, Lauren Simon, to the Sierra Leonean public.
Mr Simon has been travelling across the world to asses the needs of girls and look at how PLAN could help them. He said there are common problems that girls face across the Sub-Saharan Africa region.
“Most of the problems in these countries is access to education. Genital mutilation, pregnancy and forced marriage for girls are also common problems,” the French cycling legend told journalists.
“I have seen an 11-year-old been married in Senegal,” he said.
Like elsewhere, in Sierra Leone these problems constitute a major barrier to girls fulfilling their potentials, especially in rural areas. Currently there is ongoing debate on the laws surrounding rape and other sexual offences in the country. This debate is in response to the high rate of sexual crimes against women and girls, especially rape.
To reduce the problems of access, the government has introduced universal free education for boys and girls in primary and secondary schools in the country. Government has also given a blanket scholarship to all girls who will pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics courses in universities.
Simon hopes to use the Cycling Association in the country as partners in the upcoming project to address some of the issues concerning girls welfare.
President of the Sierra Leone Cycling Association, Chrispin Crowther, said the sport in the country is already on track in terms of equality.
“We are keen in the development of female cyclists in the country. with Lauren here it will only get better. We are working with PLAN to make sure cycling is an equal sport,” Crowther said.
Cycling is one of few sports that have decided to pay more price money to female cyclers than their male counterparts. Crowther said it is a way of encouraging more girls and women to join the sport.
© 2019 Politico Online
