Ministry of Gender trains more than 50 directors, coordinators and technical staff of the Gender and Social Inclusion Unit

The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection has trained more than fifty (50) directors, coordinators and technical staff of the Gender and Social Inclusion Unit (GSIU) from five (5) implementing government ministries of the Liberia Women Empowerment Project (LWEP) under Component 4 of the project.

The Liberia Women Empowerment Project is a US$44.6 million, five-year program to support women’s empowerment. It is implemented by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection through a Project Management Unit and funded by the World Bank.

The training, which was held from August 22 to 23, 2024 at the Corina Hotel in Monrovia, aims to strengthen public institutions involved in the implementation of the project to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in Liberia.

The initiative brought together about 50 technical staff from the Ministries of Agriculture (MOA), Education (MOE), Home Affairs (MIA), Health (MOH) and Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) and strengthened their capacities.

Key areas were highlighted, including gender mainstreaming, monitoring, tracking and evaluating project results and outcome indicators, conducting gender analysis using gender analysis frameworks, and understanding prevention and response mechanisms for gender-based violence (GBV).

Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Gender and the Director of Research and Statistics of the Ministry, Samuel Ekyinabah, he said that achieving gender equality, which the project aims to achieve, is a gradual process.

He said that tasks that were previously assigned specifically to individuals based on their gender and in accordance with the tradition and norms of the society, are now performed collectively by both genders regardless of their affiliation.

“I want to encourage and challenge our participants to take advantage of the knowledge they have gained during this training and make a positive impact on society; these are small things that matter a lot,” said Mr Ekyinabah.

At the climax of the training, participants praised the Liberian government through the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection for organizing the event. They individually shared their experiences with the media.

The Director of the Gender and Social Inclusion Unit (GSIU) at the Ministry of Agriculture, Ms Catera Woods, highlighted that an important aspect of gender-based violence that is not overlooked by many in society is attempted rape. “The most dangerous rape is attempted rape because once you attempt to rape the person, the person becomes vulnerable to self-harm because of the trauma.”

She also promised to use the knowledge she gained during the training to mentor and train others in the ministry, adding that the Trainers Initiative (TOT) aims to educate farmers involved in agricultural activities across the country about the various forms of gender-based violence (GBV).

Also sharing her thoughts was the GSIU Director of the Ministry of Health, Ms. Quitina Cooper-Davis, who stated that the training was timely and will improve the way the GSIUs across government agencies work with others and help identify different forms of violence.

“The awareness of the forms of violence is not at the level that we as a government or even the public want, and apparently that is why others consider these forms of violence as normal,” Ms Davis advised the government to greatly increase and accelerate awareness of the forms of violence and the consequences for the perpetrators.

She further called for the empowerment of women who, according to her, are most vulnerable or exposed to social and economic violence. Ms. Davis believes that empowerment of women and girls will make them self-reliant and stable in meeting their needs and aspirations, thereby reducing their challenge of social and economic violence from their male counterparts.

“If a woman or girl does something economically to empower herself, the elders have a way of calling that lady by adding the name of her business or work at the end of her name, such as ‘Mary the bread seller’ or ‘Ma Korpo the mechanic,’” she explained.

The Director of GSIU at the Ministry of Education, Mrs. Lorpu G. Mannah, also pledged to work towards training others with the knowledge acquired and to spread the message to all public secondary schools with the aim of minimizing gender-based violence in those educational institutions.

She also called on the Liberian government, with the support of its international partners, to decentralize training in the country’s remaining 14 political subdivisions. “Bringing this kind of training to the other provinces will help educate others who may not be aware of the existence of gender-based violence in schools.”

Ms Mannah further advised the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to engage its international partners, including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), to establish the Sexual Exploitation Abuse Police to protect all genders – men and women.

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