Monrovia – Building an emerging society of young leaders (YOCEL) has launched its first scorecard with a call for more economic empowerment for women in Liberia.
The scorecard is meant to provide the opportunity where civil society organizations can assess the performance of government in line with regional and international instruments with emphasis on the Maputo protocol.
It is also geared to ensuring that the Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Gender Children Social protection complies with the protocol.
The scorecard is to provide the avenue for the government to identify the area of challenges in line with the key articles in the protocol that can be considered as a future advocacy approach by CSOs.
The Maputo protocol gave rise to state parties to develop policies and legislation that protects the rights of women and girls in Africa.
Liberia signed unto the protocol December 12, 2003, and was ratified on December 14, 2007.
The member state and government have key mandates which include head of state and government developing a national policy that protects the rights of women and girls.
The head of state should pass legislation that protects the rights of women and girls including domestic violence and after ratifying the protocol the government and head of state shall report to the commission on human and people rights after every 2 years on the progress that government has made in line with provisions within the protocol.
Matthew Karley, YOCEL Program Manager said the scorecard was done due to the Government of Liberia failure to follow the standardized procedure of reporting.
“Surprisingly, since 2015, the government is yet to submit any report to the commission and once the government does not submit a report there will be no shadow report done by CSOs.
He said the scorecard will mandate the MoGCSP to readjust change their strategy in addressing critical needs of women and girls with strong political will.
The 2018 scorecard was focused on article 4 and 13 of the Maputo protocol, that speaks on implementing issues that affect women and economic empowerment for women.
The project was supported by the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) through Plan International.
Miriam Murray, Plan Deputy Country Director says spaces must be created to enable women to express themselves specifically issues that affect them.
Juliet Kimotho, Communication &Advocacy Officer FAWE regional secretariat thanked the Liberian Government for the passage of the Domestic Bill but said there are more to be done to enable women to have a safe space.
Alice Howard, Deputy Minister, MoGSCP and Jonathan Kaipay, Senator, Grand Bassa County commended YOCEL and partners recommitting the government support to youth’s development.