Monrovia – A gender transformative action coalition project, dubbed ‘Stronger Together’ has officially been launched by a consortium of five women advocacy groups aimed at contributing to a strong and vibrant national women’s movement in key decision making in the society.
The five consortium partners of the Stronger Together Project include: Medica Liberia (ml), Women’s NGO Secretariat of Liberia (WONGOSOL), Liberia Feminist Forum (LFF), Radical Young Women Movement (RAYWOM) and Sisters 4 Sisters (S4S).
The project was launched by Grand Cape Mount County Senator and Chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Dabah Varpilah on Wednesday, July 17, 2024 in Congo Town.
Reading the objective of the Feminist Coalition Project, the Project Manager for Medica-Liberia, Madam Fenny Taylor-Diggs said the initiative is to contribute to a strong and vibrant national women’s movement that influences structural, political and social change processes towards greater equality in Liberia.
According to her, the will be carried out in Montserrado County with funding from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation Development -Germany (BMZ) and will last for a period of three years (2024-2026).
It also seeks to ensure Feminist Coalition acts as an important interest group and platform for the inclusion of the gender perspective in influencing political measures and legal reforms.
This project further seeks to strengthen coalition members for the implementation of feminist leadership practices as well as strategies for action to increase the safety of employees in women-led organizations and enhance and strengthen the knowledge and analytical skills of relevant policy makers from a feminist intersectional perspective.
The project’s intervention logic is based on a theory of change that assumes that progressive social change occurs and is sustainable when strong, self-organized and diverse women’s organizations have the necessary resources, strategies and structures to help shape public and political debates.
As part of a critical civil society, it promotes the improvement of political and legal mechanisms in relation to gender-based discrimination and violence and holds relevant institutions accountable for their implementation.
As Montserrado County is the selected area for the implementation of the project , all women, girls and other marginalized persons who are affected or threatened by gender-based discrimination and violence and will benefit in the long term.
The targeted will benefit from social awareness-raising and improved legislation as a result of the advocacy activities and campaigns carried out with them and on their behalf.
At the macro level, the project has the Ministries of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Health and Justice Parliamentarians and other government representatives’ women policymakers.
There are women-led organizations that campaign for women’s rights and Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV), as well as other actors in the Liberian women’s movement at the meso Level.
Additionally, representatives of women’s rights organizations at district level, coordination platforms and human rights defenders working for women’s rights and SGBV are at the micro level.
Regarding the approach for the implementation of this project at the macro level, it will monitor national legislation on gender equality and women’s protection.
The project will also collect, analyze, and disseminate data on women’s rights and SGBV, as well as educate female political actors on existing legislation and feminist policies.
Also at the meso level, it seeks to provide spaces and resources for feminist awareness, reflection, and leadership.
The Stronger Together Project will promote unification and co-creation within the feminist movement; build capacity for feminist analyses and progressive women’s policy agendas.
It will further facilitate intergenerational dialogue in the women’s rights movement, offer training in monitoring, reporting, data collection policy analysis, advocacy from a feminist perspective, improve safety and protection for women’s rights activists and strengthen women- led feminist networks for effective lobbying and accountability.
Officially launching the Stronger Together Project, Grand Cape Mount County Senator and Chair of the Senate on Health, Dabah Varpilah disclosed that one factor that undermines the collective fight of all women is when one tends to outshine the other.
She urged the women groups to foster collaboration thus expressing excitement to officially launch the project.
“This is a laudable and pivotal movement for all women across the country. This project will seek the interest of Liberian women and girls and further be the voice of the voiceless,” Senator Varpilah added.
During the event, the Liberian government representation, international partners, civil society organizations and United Nations agencies and other donors pledged their support to the project.
The gathering also ended with intergenerational panel discussion under the theme, “Movement Building: Past, Present, Challenges, Lessons Learned, and Way Forward”.
