The Ministry of National Defense and the Armed Forces of Liberia launched their gender policy and five-year action plan at an event held in Monrovia on Friday, March 25, 2022.
The gender policy is aimed at promoting equal opportunities for all personnel and advance gender equality within the institutions and will act as a guiding document, outlining the strategic priorities and actions for achieving gender equality and integrating a gender perspective in the Ministry of National Defense and the Armed Forces of Liberia.
The Deputy Minister of National Defense, Tibli Olandrous Dickson, who launched the gender policy, highlighted that, initially he did not understand the importance of mainstreaming gender in the Ministry of National Defense but with time, he realized the significance of having a gender program and now they are intentional about gender mainstreaming.
The Ambassador of Sweden, Urban Sjostrom, emphasized the importance of investing in gender equality so that men and women have the same opportunities, particularly in terms of rights, representation and resources.
He noted that gender responsive budgeting is key because both men and women should benefit from resources and that he was happy that the Ministry of National Defense was not just launching a gender policy but a gender policy and an action plan for implementation.
Meanwhile, the Acting Head of Programs for UN Women Liberia, Ghoma Karloweah, paid tribute to the government of Sweden for the financial support to develop the gender policy and highlighted that she was looking forward to seeing more women being recruited at the county level.
Ms. Karloweah pledged UN Women’s commitment to providing technical capacity to ensure that women retain their jobs. She also highlighted that UN Women advocates for the promotion of women to decision making positions and urged partners to provide resources for implementation of the action plan.
Most of the speakers congratulated the Ministry of National Defense and the Armed Forces of Liberia for developing the gender policy and thanked partners for the support provided.
UN Women supported the development of the gender policy and action plan with funding from the Government of Sweden.
