The Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection (MoGCSP), has concluded a two-day women empowerment and gender based violence (GBV) training for Gender County Coordinators and Social Workers in Gbarnga, Bong County.
The workshop, which brought together Gender County Coordinators and Social Workers from the 15 counties of Liberia, was held under Component 4 of the US$44.6 million World Bank’s sponsored Liberia Women Empowerment Project (LWEP). It also embodied brainstorming and presentations by individual groups among others.
The activities commenced on Wednesday, December 4, 2024, and officially climaxed on Thursday, December 5, 2024, as the Liberia Women Empowerment Project (LWEP) is fully being implemented by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.
The training objectives seek to change gendered perspectives on the roles of women and men, countering gender-related stereotypes and creating a more equal environment in service delivery. It also enabled county coordinators to monitor, track, and evaluate project outputs, outcomes, and indicators.
The workshop further aims to conduct gender analysis, using gender analysis frameworks and educate them on the GBV Referral Pathway Gender and learn how to prevent and respond to Gender Based Violence (GBV) in the workplace and communities.
Speaking on behalf of Gender Minister Gbeme Horrace-Kollie, Grace T. Kortu, Head of Women Empowerment Division at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP), urged the participants in the various counties to take advantage of the project and treat it with their utmost seriousness.
“This project should not be business as usual – it should be something that’s going to show impact,” she stated. She also reminded them of the loan and grant agreements between the Government of Liberia and the World Bank. “We’re going to pay some of the loan tomorrow; we got a grant and loan”.
She also emphasized the sole purpose of the training – to unlearn, learn, and relearn about reducing GBV, and women empowerment among others. “So, do not sit and say, ‘Oh, the project is not in my county. Probably, your brother or sister could be in the next county that is benefiting from the project.”
Madam Kortu added that the overall expectation of the project’s full implementation in the six affected counties is to see many Liberians economically empowered, self-reliant, independent, and contribute positively back to society.
She encouraged the participants to stay proactive and engaged professionally to make positive changes in their respective counties. Madam Kortu also encouraged all gender coordinators who attended the workshop to effectively train others in their respective counties.
According to her, the WB’s sponsored project seeks to also promote development for the government and people of Liberia. Due to the significance of the project, Madam Kortu indicated that the government through the Ministry of Gender saw the need to get to others in the hard-to-reach areas, including in the forest to conduct said training.
“So, our being here should not be a waste. The sole objective of the project should be met within our own behaviors, and our own work that we are going to do,” she stressed.
Also speaking, the Regional Gender Coordinator of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Madam Viola Cooper-Teamah, expressed optimism that the training will yield the expected results. She also lauded all gender coordinators and social workers who sacrificed their time to form part of the initiative.
“We pray that this training is a special training – it is to impart knowledge in people and to carry it back, not to sit down with it,” she stated. Madam Cooper-Teamah further urged the participants to stay effective in their various counties and impact others.
Meanwhile, several participants of the training lauded the Liberian government through the Liberia Women Empowerment Project (LWEP) for the initiative, promising to effectively pass on the knowledge acquired over the last two days to others.
The six counties affected by the project include Gbarpolu, Bomi, Cape Mount, Grand Gedeh, Rivercess, and Montserrado. It is targeting 267,200 beneficiaries from 750 communities.
The initiative further aims to foster positive social norms, enhance basic services in health and education, promote resilient livelihoods through community-led approaches, and strengthen public institutions to advance gender equality.
A total of 36,000 women are expected to benefit from the livelihood and grant components of the project.
Under Component 4 which focuses on the institutional level, the project supports institutional capacity building for the gender machinery in Liberia, providing support to MoGCSP and the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) to enable them to better generate sex-disaggregated data and deliver gender-focused programs in line with the policies of the Liberian government.