In line with its Mission Statement, the Young Women’s Actions for Rights, Peace and Development (YWARPD) is expected to shortly launch a project titled “Towards Mobilizing Women Involved in Cross Border Trade to Protect their Rights to Free Movement and To Enhance their Dignities and Capacities to Engage in Cross Border Trade” in the Liberian border town of Bo Waterside in Cape Mount, County, close to the border with Sierra Leone.
According to the Executive Director of YWARPD, Ms. Richelle Allison, the project, which is being sponsored by Het Actiefonds, a Dutch based solidarity group, is designed to protect the rights of female traders who are engaged in cross border trade in key communities.
Cross border trade is a difficult and dangerous work, especially for women. Female traders are subject to a countless number of challenges, including sexual abuse and exploitation, harassment and extortion. They often become involved in cross-border trade as a means of survival, as they find themselves responsible for supporting their families while livelihood options are constrained by lack of economic opportunities in border communities.
In conducting their trade, these women play a vital role, generating livelihoods for their families, and helping to ensure the availability of essential goods and services in local border communities.
Female traders are subject to threats and violence from a variety of men they encounter. Documented harms experienced by women trading across conflict borders include assault,
sexual violence, verbal abuse, and detention, as well as harms related to their trading work, such as having their goods confiscated, bribery, corruption, and theft. Women are at risk of violence not only at border crossings, but also at other places along their journeys, including on roads, on transport, and at roadblocks. Women involved in this trade are often stigmatized for violating societal gender norms, as they must travel away from their husbands and must associate with male border officials and other men to get goods across borders.
The project, which will be held at three border points across the Mano River Union, seeks to provide the platform to mobilize and enhance network building amongst women cross border traders and improve their collective capacity to create a safer trading environment and to influence cross border trade. It will include training workshops, cross border protest, movement building, media coverage and engagements with border personnel.
Het Actiefonds supports social movements around the world by providing small-scale grants for direct actions. Het Actiefonds was founded in 1968 as part of a broad social movement advocating a fairer global distribution of wealth.
The Young Women’s Actions for Rights, Peace and Development (YWARPD) were established in 2022 to serve as the primary catalyst for young women’s participation in issues affecting their growth, development and survival. Since its establishment, the organization has been involved in a number of activities, including environmental and democracy initiatives, to promote its objectives. It is a member of the Global Democracy Coalition (GDC). It has received funding from the European Union and National Endowment for Democracy (NED).