By Mabinty M. Kamara
The Social Enterprise for Development Sierra Leone (SEND-SL) a local non-governmental organisation has concluded its first ever Women’s Conference for women in Kenema, the headquarters for the eastern region.
The conference held on the 29th April 2021 on the theme: “Building Women’s Collective Resilience towards self-Reliance and Empowerment” brought together women from all three districts of the region in which the organization operates.
According to officials of SEND-SL, the conference supported by Irish Aid through a project titled ‘more than a woman’ is aimed at bringing the women together to share and learn from experiences of other women in other parts in the execution of the village loan savings scheme aimed at ensuring their financial independence and other projects.
Speaking at the event, Member of Parliament, Constituency 029 in Kono district Rebecca Yei Kamara admonished the women to be self-supportive and confident if they should grow in the male dominated world.
While highlighting some of the supports that she has given to her constituency, she noted that as parliamentarians, government does not allocate budget to them for constituency development. She said their role as parliamentarians is to ensure they make good policies and laws that can develop the country. She noted the contribution of female parliamentarians in ensuring that the Sexual Offences bill was passed into law.
She called on development partners and Civil Society Organizations to start engaging and encouraging women for leadership positions before elections approaches and wished that she could see more of her women folk in parliament after the next election.
Speaking at the event the Chief Executive Officer of SEND West Africa Siapha Kamara in a video broadcast from Accra Ghana, spoke of the need for women’s capacity building for self-reliance and leadership, especially in the eastern region of Sierra Leone. This he said came out strongly in an assessment study they conducted in 2008 which was what motivated their intervention in Kailahun district in 2009, a place he described as having the most fragile and vulnerable women.
He said the assessment recommended for a Gender Education, ensuring women’s participation in governance and women’s economic development. He highlighted the successes of the organization in achieving their goals. He therefore challenged the women of Sierra Leone to take responsibility of their growth and personal development.
“There are possibly more than 200 women leaders who have been involved with the Women’s Economic and Political Empowerment Program for more than a decade. These see SEND as their organization and we in SEND recognize them as our principals, that is, SEND exists to serve them,” he said.
The Member of Parliament for constituency 001 Kailahun district, Emilia Lolloh Tongi took the gathering through her experiences of how she sailed through the battle amongst seven strong men and two giant Political parties, the SLPP and the APC to enter parliament through an independent ticket. She said it was a tough battle for anyone to fight but that because she was confident in herself and with support from organizations and individuals like SEND-SL executive Director Joseph Ayamga, she was able to win the election.
In her Key note address, the Irish Aid Ambassador to Sierra Leone Lesley Ni Bhrian said they will continue to work with the government of Sierra Leone and other partners like SEND SL to support the work of women and girls in the country.
During the conference, a report conducted in August 2020 by SEND-SL with support from Irish Aid was presented to the participants present.
The Report according to the presenters was aimed at informing SEND and partners about the economic, social and institutional barriers that affect political participation, lessons that emerged in promoting women’s participation and to identify gaps and make recommendations to better position women for governance issues.
Women also gave testimonies of how the work of SEND has transformed their lives in diverse ways.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online 04/05/21
