By: R. Joyclyn Wea
Monrovia-The Organization for Women and Children in collaboration with the Project Accountable Safe Space Women’s Accountability Room (PASSWAR), held a focus group discussion to mainstream the UP-led government’s ARREST policy.
ARREST stands for Agriculture, Road, Rule of Law, Education, Sanitation, and Tourism is a six-year development plan for Liberia.
Speaking at the beginning of the program, Atty. MmonbeydoNadine Joah said the purpose of the meeting was to ensure that women’s rights and their intersection with Liberia’s development challenges are integrated into the ARREST agenda.
Atty. Joah further that the meeting also seek to address multiple inequalities and disproportionate impacts faced by women, girls, and marginalized communities is essential for promoting gender equality and sustainable development in Liberia, and, integrating gender considerations systematically to ensure that the proposed measures benefit both women and men.
During the focus group discussion, the facilitator, Madam Chantal Bright noted that the ARREST policy is a very important development agenda for the next six years however, it could be improved in terms of the gender-specific objectives.
Bright noted that gender-sensitive policies ensure both men and women benefit from agricultural development and contribute to food security and poverty reduction hence, a need for review given the absence of gender-specific considerations and the need for more detailed data on the roles and experiences of men and women in the respective focus areas.
Madam Aisha Lai, Kvinna til Kvinna Country Director also spoke at the opening of the focus group discussion during which she called on women leaders to coordinate and have one voice on the outcomes of the meeting.
She said, ‘When women and girls are put first, the nation succeeds. The world is looking at us because we have had one of the most democratic transitions compared to other nations in the region.”
ORWOCH is collaborating with Project Accountable Safe Space (PASS) Women’s Accountability Room – a consortium of grassroots women leaders and organizations dedicated to advancing the political rights of women, girls, and marginalized groups. PASS WAR aims to raise awareness, document, and ensure that grassroots women’s voices are included in the fight against barriers, particularly violence in all its forms that limit women’s political participation. The Focus Group discussion was supported as part of the POWER project with funds from Kvinna til Kvinna and the Embassy of Sweden.
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