Liberian News:RICCE Enhances Liberia Partners of Green Livelihoods Alliance on Gender Sensitive Programming

Monrovia-As part of efforts to ensure gender sensitive programming, the Rural Integrated Center for Community Empowerment (RICCE) has trained Liberia partners of the Green Livelihoods Alliance (GLA) on the regimental of gender, definition, inclusion, equity, equality and intersectionality.

RICCE with funding support from the Green Livelihoods Alliance (GLA) forest for a just future programme through the Global Forest Coalition (GFC) is responsible for providing gender technical support to Liberia partners of the GLA. The partners are the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI), Community Rights Support Facility (CRSF) and The Daylight respectively.

Speaking at the end of the one-day intensive training on Thursday May 8, 2025, the Program Manager of RICCE, Madam Renee N. Gibson said RICCE’s role is to ensure gender lenses of these partners are widened so they can be aware as they go into the communities to make sure biases and barriers that promote inequality and lack of women participation are prevented.

Madam Gibson said “There are different barriers that promote exploitation and exclusion. The training helps them to understand how society assigned roles and responsibility to both sexes based on culture and tradition which perpetuate inequality and exclusion of women and girls.

Madam Gibson said “We are grateful and we think our intervention is impacting partners through these training and OGAP implementation as the Organization Gender Action Plan (OGAP) is helping partners to institutionalized the OGAP.”

Responding to question of feedback from participants, Madam Gibson said the feedbacks were good evident by partners’ participation and results from field activities.”

The one-day meeting involves men and women from all implementing partners with a shared mission: to learn about integrating gender perspectives into their environmental and development initiatives. The session was facilitated by Renee N. Gibson and Dayugar Johnson who are experienced facilitator and committed to championing gender equity and community empowerment in the context of sustainable development.

Dayugar Johnson emphasized the importance of using gender lenses in all project activities. He explained that understanding the unique roles and responsibilities that women and men hold in rural settings is crucial for designing effective programs.

The training focused on interactive discussions about the socio-economic factors influencing gender dynamics in the country. Participants shared their stories, highlighting the challenges faced by women in accessing resources, participating in decision-making, and benefiting from environmental initiatives.

During the training, the participants were introduced to practical tools and frameworks designed to assess and integrate gender into their projects. Through hands-on activities, they learned how to conduct gender analysis, apply gender-sensitive indicators, and engage in participatory planning that ensures women’s voices and needs are prioritized. The facilitator encouraged collaboration, highlighting successful case studies where gender-sensitive approaches led to more resilient and inclusive community outcomes.

For her part, Esther Lanford, a participant representing RICCE in the meeting said “The training has helped me a lot to clearly the different between equality and equity. I now know about gender and intersectionality as well.”

Also speaking, Olympas Jackley representing the Community Rights Support Facility (CRSF) said “I pray that what we learned here today will go a long way. It was really insightful and we will get in the field and make them practical.”

At the same time, Titus Zeogar of CRSF said “Today, I really understood intersectionality and I will make them practical when we get in the field.”According to them, they are now energized, equipped with the tools to implement their gender-sensitive projects and foster community engagements. Together, they envisioned a future where both men and women worked side by side, ensuring that the richness of Liberia’s forests could be sustained for generations to come.

Mark Neywon Mengonfia