BRAC Sierra Leone commemorating the 16 days of Activism Campaign

31Dec

Violence against women and girls is one of the most prevalent human rights violations in the world; research shows that 1 in 3 woman has experienced physical or sexual abuse in their lifetime. BRAC Sierra Leone being a women focused development organization, deemed it necessary for a robust community engagement and awareness-raising campaign on Sexual and Gender based Violence to observe the 16 days of Activism Campaign, this year the theme was Orange The World: #HearMeToo.

BRAC Sierra Leone is one of the leading international development organizations in the country, with operational presence in 13 districts through 30 branch offices, reaching around 2.5 million Sierra Leoneans.

The Ministry of Social Welfare Gender & Children’s Affairs (MSWGCA) organized a high-level policy meeting on December 03, 2018, at Brook fields, Freetown, focusing on the “16 Days of Activism”. The agenda of the meeting was to encourage authorities, national and international stakeholders, including the First Lady of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Madam Fatima Bio, for cascading key messages and commitments to ensure adequate understanding of Sexual & Gender Based Violence (SGBV) by promoting the importance of “Speak-up Culture”, especially amongst victims, and through implementing bye-laws at chiefdom and community levels.

BRAC Sierra Leone conducted a campaign from December 3rd to the 6th at Bo, Moyamba, Port Loko, and Kambia districts, involving community engagements and sensitization meetings, which attracted many chiefdom stakeholders and community members. The campaign involved drama presentations, parades, and football matches; including participants from the Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Children’s Affairs (MSWGCA), INGOs, representatives from the disabled committees within the districts, ELA beneficiaries, and staff members of BRAC Sierra Leone.

The intervention is a quest to minimize all forms of violence against women and girls, and reaffirming BRAC Sierra Leone’s commitment towards the country’s overall development.

BRAC Afghanistan on 16 Days of Activism: Real Men Stand for Women

24DecDecember 24, 2018

BRAC Afghanistan observed 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence by organising an event titled ‘Stop Violence against Women and Girls’. To resonate with this universal campaign, BRAC Afghanistan conducted a staff engagement session aiming to create awareness on ‘Real Men Stand for Women’.

The interactive event engaged participants to share their understanding on gender-based violence. The Country Representative of BRAC Afghanistan shared some of the important mandates of Sexual Harassment Elimination Policy and Gender Policy of BRAC; he reiterated BRAC’s Zero Tolerance on sexual harassment. Gender and Child Protection Advisor of BRAC Afghanistan briefed on the background of the event, and exemplified the rising trend of Afghan women taking up leadership positions. Communications and Compliance Manager showed a video encouraging participants to raise their voice to stop any form of sexual harassment. Furthermore, In-charge of Capacity Development Programme discussed what Gender Equality and Equity means.

The last session of the event was an open-ended discussion on standing against gender-based violence; the participants shared stories on how they stood up for women and girls within and outside the workplace. Subsequently, the female staff were applauded for their contribution in gearing up the organisation.

The event concluded with an activity asking the participants to write about their commitment to end gender-based violence on a white-board.

BRAC Sierra Leone receives 2018’s “Most Outstanding NGO Award”

17Dec

BRAC Sierra Leone has been awarded “The Most Outstanding NGO of the year – 2018,” by a consortium of national and international organisations (Council of Chief Executives in Sierra Leone, EcoMedia Corporation, Africa Media Corporation, Institute for Public Affairs and Good Governance, and the African Consulting group).

Since its inception in 2008, BRAC Sierra Leone has proved to be one of the leading international development organisations operating in Sierra Leone. The award comes in recognition of of the organisation’s demonstrated support and commitment through professional services, best practices, dynamic programmatic interventions, innovation, effectiveness, and sound principles.

Rakibul Bari Khan, Country Representative of BRAC Sierra Leone, described the award as a great honour and recognition of BRAC’s support towards the development of Sierra Leone. “The recognition is a reminder of what we are, and as an organisation, I must say, this is very overwhelming, timely, and useful. We intend to use this award to reaffirm our commitments to the government and the people of Sierra Leone,” he said.

Peter Sasellu, Chairman of the Council of Executives, described BRAC as an organisation that has presence and significant impact in most, if not all the districts in Sierra Leone. “I came to know about BRAC when I was in Liberia. BRAC has impacted the lives of millions of people in the African and Asian continent. It is one of the NGOs that I’m really proud of; their impact in the lives of our community’s people is very outstanding,” he added.