YOCEL Trains Staff from the Ministry of Gender and Civil Society Organizations on Status Reporting

Monrovia – As part of the Girls Advocacy Alliance (GAA) Project, the Youth Coalition for Education in Liberia (YOCEL) has trained more than 40 persons comprising of members of Civil Society Organizations and key staffs of the Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection, on status reporting and how CSOs and government institutions can build synergies in developing the country’s status report with emphasis on the Maputo Protocol.

The training was also intended to empowered members of CSOs on the ratification of the African Youth Charter and to advocate for the elimination of all forms of gender-based violence among women and girls. 

The training was held @ ICampus, upper Carey Street on July 11, 2019.

Serving as the first facilitator, Atty. Tonieh Tarley Wiles, Commissioner, Independent National Commission on Human Rights with vast experience on gender issues and once served as a deputy minister at the ministry of gender,  in her presentation she encouraged CSOs to join the campaign for the Ratification of the African Youth Charter and provided an historical overview on how the Maputo protocol came in to existence and why should CSOs hold the government feet to report on the Maputo protocol and other international instruments.

Being a lawyer she also provided insight on some key provisions of the constitution of Liberia that are in line with the Maputo Protocol and mandated civil society to continue to hold government accountable on the reporting deadline to regional and international bodies and CSOs should see this training as an eye opener to strengthen their capacity.

She stressed the need for participants to take the training seriously as it’s important for the enhancement of Women’s and Girls’ Rights in the Country.

Commissioner Wiles, however noted that the Maputo Protocol seeks to address the many challenges faced by Women and Young Girls across Africa, stressing the need for CSOs to build synergies with government institutions to ensure compliance to these regional and international laws.

She indicated that women and girls continues to be marginalized and abused despite the many laws and treaties that protects them, adding that it’s not only the responsibility of government to ensure that their rights are protected, but also the rights of CSO’s and responsible citizens.

She mentioned that some of the issue of contentment mentioned in the Protocol are traditional practices and must therefore be handled with care and caution.

In her closing presentation the commissioner encouraged participating CSO’s to continue to hold government accountable for the full implementation of national laws and policies that have been put in place to protect women in the Country.

For his part, Anthony Ndebehwolie Borley, Director for Policy and Planning at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection highlighted the Ministry of Gender compliance to the international and regional conventions, treaties and protocols, the procedures in delivering state parties report, the process through which the Ministry generate the information, and the national reporting mechanism amongst others.

At the close of the training CSOs agreed to build stronger network with the ministry of gender and other line ministries in helping to generate the information for the status report but also reveal that they will join the women NGO secretariat during the shadow reporting process.