In an effort to support women in Sierra Leone politics, the British Council in collaboration with the 50/50 Group recently organised a workshop for women councillors. Held at the British Council Hall in Freetown, the workshop was designed to equip women with skills in lobbying and advocacy.

The 50/50 Group is a non-political group based in Sierra Leone, whose aim is to change people’s perception of women’s politics and to increase women’s participation in democratic politics and other decision-making bodies.

The aim of the workshop was to develop women’s ability to raise gender-sensitive issues in council and to teach them about mobilising women’s support.

According to the press release marking the workshop, for these women to survive and excel as councillors, they need to be skilled in some form of gender advocacy, through which they will be able to introduce and advocate for women-friendly projects and programmes.

This workshop, entitled ‘Empowering Community Women to Participate in Politics’, with a focus on women’s participation in the 2008 local council elections, attracted more than 86 female councillors.

Commenting on the workshop, the president of the 50/50 Group, Harriet Tura, says: ‘We want to involve women in the country’s decision-making process. They should be part of the government because they have a pivotal role to play.

‘We need to work side by side with the men for the betterment of the nation,’ says Tura.

50/50 Group founder and workshop co-ordinator Dr Nematta Majeks-Walker says women are discriminated against in Sierra Leone. ‘Women here feel intimidated. They are afraid to stand in elections, so we need to empower them, give them the strength and the confidence to carry out the campaign.’

She says the British Council has been a great support to the 50/50 Group.

‘We got funds from the British Council and other sponsors so that we can train the women and aim to make elections gender-friendly.’

According to Majeks-Walker the project has been a success.

‘We have trained over 3 000 women for local and general elections and more women are coming forward to stand as candidates. If their parties won’t allow them, they are coming out as independent candidates. There were once only six women in parliament and now we have 16 women, so it shows that the work done by the 50/50 Group is actually being noticed.

‘For me personally it gives me a sense of achievement to be part of the 50/50 Group. When there is war, women suffer most, and I believe that we are giving women an opportunity to lead and take the country forward. Women shouldn’t only be there to create peace – they must take part in governance,’ she says.

The 50/50 Group has recently been awarded the National Democratic Institute’s Madeleine K Albright Award, which was founded in 2000 with the aim of promoting greater participation of women in politics. According to the US-based non-profit institute’s website: ‘The 50/50 Group’s accomplishments stand on their own, but are amplified by the environment in which they operate.’

Aisha Fofana-Ibrahim, project manager for the 50/50 Madeleine K Albright Award 2007-2008, says workshops like this need to be held all over the country.

‘It’s worth doing because this workshop has been very successful,’ she says, adding that the British Council has played a vital role in the project.

‘We are currently utilising their hall for the workshops. It’s great for us to use this venue because it is situated in the centre of town and very accessible to the public, and the staff has been very helpful to us.’

The feedback from the participants has been excellent, she says.

‘One of them said that it was high time that someone started a workshop like this one because women councillors don’t otherwise get training on lobbying and advocacy. They were given a task to design a campaign and present it to the other participants, giving them an opportunity to mingle with other women and discuss problems they were dealing with.’

For Fofana-Ibrahim, being a part of the 50/50 Group means that she sees results.

‘It means a lot to be part of this project because you see the effects. We now have a lot of women in parliament who are involved in decision-making processes.’

To find out more about the 50/50 Group and the work they are doing in Sierra Leone, please visit their page here. If you want to read more British Council news, please visit our News in Africa section. To find out what events are coming up, please visit our events page. To find out more about the Madeleine K Bright award, visit this page.