Gbarnga, Bong County – The Community Development and Research Agency (CODRA) has concluded a lesson-learned conference with support from the Women Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) through UN Women in Gbarnga, Bong County.
Community Development and Research Agency (CODRA) is a non-governmental and not-for-profit organization based in Bong County, Liberia. CODRA is registered under the Association Law of Liberia as a Charity. We work in the areas of community development and research.
Speaking at the lesson-learned conference, CODRA Executive Director, Mr. Lasanah A. Dukuly said the conference is in continuation with CODRA vocational training programs that was launched in 2022 to support women with the necessary skills and opportunities to strengthen self-resilience and sustainability.
The CODRA Executive Director said training is part of a project to prepare women and girls for disaster management in three of Liberia’s fifteen counties.
He said the project is to improve women’s economic outlook to strengthen their voices so that they can advocate for their participation in humanitarian and crisis response, planning, and programs at the county, district, and community levels.
According to the CODRA Executive Director, he will also work with the three counties to develop a county disaster management and response plan that is gender sensitive and responsive.
Mr. Dukuly revealed that based on an assessment done in the three counties, CODRA has found out that the plans the counties have are not gender sensitive and responsive, as a result, women are less considered in humanitarian response even though they are the most victims of disaster-related issues.
Additionally, Mr. Dukuly said acquiring these skills will help in the collective development and rebuilding of the three counties by the women.
The CODRA Executive Director further revealed that the project whose implementation is coming to an end has been funded by the United Nations agency called Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) through UN Women Liberia.
The CODRA skills training program has been targeting women from Bong, Nimba, and Margibi Counties.
The areas in which the skill is being provided include tailoring, Soap Making, and Bleach (Clora and detergent).
According to Mr. Dukuly, those who will complete the targeted courses and meet the key requirements on various vocational skills will be provided grants in the form of village saving loans.
He further said his organization’s objective is to ensure that women and other marginalized community groups are given opportunities to harness their full potential to address their common issues through training, capacity-building activities, community-based advocacy, and livelihood empowerment.
The conference was held under the theme: “Inclusive gender participants in humanitarian crisis response planning and programming.”
Remarking, at the CODRA lesson-learned conference in Gbarnga, the Office Assistant to Bong County Superintendent Esther Walker, Josephus Dormeyan lauded CODRA for organizing the women’s skills training in the County.
He revealed that women from other countries have been involved in the production of local goods like soap, which women in Liberia should be doing but it is because women have been lacking the skills.
Serving as a guest speaker, Sara Dahn expressed gratitude to the Community Development and Research Agency for the empowerment of women in Liberia.
Madam Dahn told the women that CODRA is fighting to reduce economic crises in their various homes in Liberia.
The CODRA lesson-learned conference keynote speaker said women have been at the highest degrees of risk presection in the living environment, adding “We are at risk when it comes to home disaster; women are the victims of home disasters more than men.”
She further underscored the importance of women working along with men when it comes to disaster management because it will expose women to understanding the disaster situation in their various counties and Communities.
For their part, some beneficiaries of the project lauded CODRA for the opportunity provided to them, especially when it comes to the lesson-learned conference.
They have vowed to take complete ownership of the empowerment training they are undergoing for the overall betterment of their lives and children.
They noted that they as beneficiaries are committed to acquiring necessary skills from three counties because other women depend on them to make use of the skills they are learning from the training.