In 6 Counties In October
Monrovia-The Center for Security Studies and Development (CENSSAD) is expected to commence a series of townhall meetings for 270 local women in six counties in October 2024, CENSSAD said in a statement today, Monday.
The meetings will take place in Lofa, Grand Gedeh, Nimba, Sinoe, Rivercess and Cape Mount counties under CENSSAD’s ongoing project titled: ”Amplifying Women’s Voices: Understanding and Tearing Down the Barriers To Women’s Participation In Liberia’s Peacebuilding And Reconciliation Processes”.
The theme of the meetings is: ”Fostering Intra Community Women’s Dialogue to Develop Strategies and Formulate Recommendations to Address Barriers to Women’s Participation in Liberia’s Peace Building and Reconciliation Processes”, will provide the platforms for local women to validate the findings of a survey recently undertaken by CENSSAD in the six counties with the aim of understanding the barriers to women’s participation in Liberia’s reconciliation and peace building processes.
The selected counties have been assessed as being particularly vulnerable to violence and demonstrating low levels of reconciliation in the past.
Each meeting will bring together 45 participants who will openly discuss what they can do within their communities to make a larger contribution to the reconciliation process and what kind of support they could do to overcome the barriers that have prevented them from doing so. At the same time, participating women will have the chance to express their opinion about what the government should do to address women’s marginalization in reconciliation. Town Hall meeting participants will also be encouraged to create local mechanisms/platforms that allow them to regularly gather within their community and discuss as well as report barriers to their representation as well as threats to reconciliation, including possible activities to counter them.
The Research survey, which undertook the pioneering attempt to acquire systematic, in-depth knowledge about the drivers of Liberian women’s systematic exclusion from the reconciliation process. More specifically, CENSSAD conducted a total of 1200 one-on-one semi-structured interviews with women residing in the counties where the project is implemented in order to examine the barriers that underlie their neglect in the reconciliation process.
According to the findings of the survey, which was recently conducted across the six counties, the barriers to women’s participation in reconciliation and peace-building activities in Liberia are multifaceted and deeply rooted in societal structures and cultural norms. The survey identified several major barriers, including domestic work responsibilities, fear, denial by spouses, lack of education, and cultural issues.
This project contributes to the establishment of an inclusive reconciliation process that aligns with both the 2003 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and the 2017 Liberia Peacebuilding Plan (LPP). It is supported with German Federal Foreign Office’s Funds., through the Zivik Funding Program.