Past Activities

2012

Assessment of the the status of girls in Lofa and Nimba counties.

Since 2008, the Women Peace and Security Network Africa (WIPSEN-Africa) has being working with young girls in secondary schools between ages 17-24. WIPSEN –Africa's engagement with girls in rural community under its' Young Girls Transformative Project specifically; has been centred around Leadership capacity building, mentorship, career development as well as the holistic view on women peace and security looking at the UNHCR 1325. The project has contributed to the enhancement of young girls' leadership potentials, active participation in peer education, community service and political process (voter's education and registration). Moreover, it has also established community and /or school grouping among girls, created girls as student council president and peer educators. It was against this background, that 4 communities in Lofa and Nimba two of each County was selected to carry out the 4th phase of the training. 

 FIELD ASSESSTMENT 25th JANUARY – 02nd FEBURARY, 2012 

To commence the process of engagement, a 7 day filed assessment of girls and schools was conducted in these 4 communities;
  1. Sinequellie and Ganta ,Nimba county
  2. Vionjama and ZorZor, Lofa County
The field assessment which is the first component of the project, contributed a lot of design and tailoring of training needs. The principal objective (s) of the field assessment was to;
  • Identify number of High schools in the city and gather students data from principal or school master office
  • Conduct capacity needs assessment among girls with the use of questionnaires
  • Acquire total number of students per school including girls and boys enrollment for 211-2012 academy year
  • Identify women groups and women to serve as mentors
  • Meet with District Education Officer (DEO) and County Education Officer (CEO) to provide general statistic on schools in county and at district level

YOUNG GIRLS DIALOGUE PROJECT 06TH – 10TH FEBURARY, 2012 

WIPSEN-Africa Girls' project was finally established in Nimba and Lofa Counties for the second phase of the project which is the dialogue with selected participants from field. The team of WIPSEN staff made a 7 day trip to four cities (Sanniquelle, Ganta, Voinjama, and Zorzor) in two counties to conduct a dialogue and a tip on leadership with high school female students in these areas. The training is done to see how well girls can disclose and expose issues or challenges they faced. It is also done as a tool of selecting qualified girls for the third phase of the training which is the actual training session. Based upon the girls' performance, participation and qualifications, they are selected to participate in the next round where there will be interaction among girls from different schools and counties. The below information were gathered during the dialogues.




2011
--Launch/Commissioning of ICT Centre of Excellence set up by WIPSEN-Africa within the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MYS), Liberia.
Date: 7th September 2011
Time: 10:30am
Liberia
Annual 4th West African Women Policy Forum
Theme: "Win with Women: Best Practices in Promoting Women's Quantitative and Qualitative Representation in Decision Making"
Venue: Monrovia
Date: 7-8 September 2011
Liberia

WIPSEN fifth Anniversary Gala Night
Venue: Monrovia City Hall
Date: 8th September 2011
Time-6:00pm
Liberia
 
Board Meeting 
Date: 9th September 2011
Venue: Palm Spring Hotel
Liberia


Young Girls Leadership Seminar and Political participation --January 5The seminar was to engage young women to participate in upcoming national election as a constitutional right and responsibility but not a privilege. The Objective of the seminar was to highlights the important of young women participation in elections. 

Outcomes
·         85 young girls and mentors were able to participate in the program
·         Young voters were encourage to register
·          WIPSEN-Africa souvenirs (T-shirts, handkerchief and flyers) attracted young voters;
·         Young Girls for Positive Change in Cape Mount, Robertsport increased in membership of 7 to 35 person

Assessment in River Gee and Grand Gedeh-- January 20-27
The Young Girl Transformative Leadership Project was extended to the south eastern part of Liberia (Grand Gedeh and River Gee) this year. The project was carried out from 20 - 27 January, 2011. The project engaged youth to become principal agents of change in their communities and it reached out to girls between the ages of 15 – 25 years of age in senior high schools in Liberia. The first part of this project, a field survey was carried out and a total number of hundred girls were selected from five schools namely: Gbeapo Central High, Tweh Jaiklay Junior High, Zwedru Multilateral High, Bishop Juwle Catholic Senior High, Evangelical Lutheran High School, and R.B Richardson Baptist High School in both counties. A questionnaire was designed for the young girls in school to find out their level of understanding of UNSCR1325, Leadership and AIDS.The aim to the field survey was to:1.       Be able to select Schools and have total number of hundred girls who will be able to participate in the leadership transformative change and will also serve as agent of change in their communities.2.      Know the girls understanding of what the project entails and how the project will be implemented based on the outcome.

Liberia National Girls Leadership Conference- April 29
The conference was organized to bring together seventy-five (75) girls and young women form the 5 region in the to deliberate on issues serving as obstacles to their active participation in leadership in the country under the theme;

Convening Liberia's Future Women Leaders The main goal of the conference was to enhance experience sharing among young girls and developed of a national strategic plan on their involvement in leadership and decision-making for the promotion of peace and security in Liberia

Inter-Generational Dialogue in commemoration of the International Women's Day in Ghana-- March 8.The dialogue was to address the intergenerational gap in the African Feminist Movement. The Women Peace and Security Network Africa worked with young girls to strengthen their capacities by introducing to them the movement and equipping them with leadership skills. The March 8 dialogue also provided the space to enhance interaction between young girls from different Junior and Senior High Schools in Ghana and women feminist to mark the 100 years since the celebration of women and their achievements worldwide was established. The programme brought together a total of hundred (100) participants among which 75 girls from Junior and Senior High Schools, ten (10) renowned women activists from different background in Ghana.

Women Civic and Political ParticipationIn February 2011, the women and election training manual designed to strengthen African women's civic and political participation was reviewed by a WIPSEN-Africa's team to relate it to the daily reality of their context. The training manual seeks to serve as a model for an initial discussion on women's role in electoral processes and leadership. It encourages women to learn new skills and theories about elections and advocacy. An assessment on Women's Political Participation will be conducted in five (5) West African countries and a training of trainers will be done in Liberia since the country's presidential elections is scheduled for  October 2011.

 2010

WIPSEN-Africa holds 3rd West African Women's Policy Forum in Abuja, Nigeria--6th to 7th December 2010.  Theme: Increasing Women'sVisibility in Political Processes in West Africa in 2011 and 2012


Annual Strategic Staff Retreat  (16-20 November 2010)
A three-day strategic seminar was held for all staff at the Golden Elmina Beach Resort. The objective of the retreat was to establish a higher level of relating to one another, enhance a collective vision or mission for all staff, review 2010 activities and plan for 2011.

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Consultative meetings and Gender Training for Provincial/District Security (PROSECs and DISECs) in Sierra Leone.


Validation Workshop in Cote d'Ivoire: The Women Peace and Security Network Africa (WIPSEN-Africa) and the United Nations Development Program Country Office in Cote d'Ivoire (UNDP) collaborated to conduct a Gender Assessment of Security Sector Institutions in Cote d'Ivoire. Six sector institutions were targeted for the assessment, namely the Police, Gendarmerie, Armed Forces, Justice Sector, Prisons Service and Private Security Companies with the primary aim to identify and document information on existing mechanisms for gender mainstreaming; as to provide a baseline for analysis to inform potential programming.

Policy Series on UNSCR 1325: This was to identify women specific needs, gaps and challenges relating to issues addressed by the UNSCR 1325.  The round sessions was held accordingly with the following institutions:
1st round table with the Ghana Police
2nd with the Ghana Immigration Services
3rd the Customs Exercise and Preventive Services (CEPS)
4th the Drug Enforcement Agency
5th Ghana Prisons
6th Ghana National Fire Services
7th with Private Security Companies
8th with the Armed Forces
9th Parliamentarians

National Conference on UNSCR 1325: Moving beyond Rhetoric to Accountable Implementation in Ghana Security Sector: WIPSEN–Africa  and the Canadian High Commission of Ghana with the support of African Security Dialogue and Research (ASDR), the Africa Security Sector Network (ASSN) and the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs (MoWAC) collaborated and organised a One-day National Conference on the above theme.

Training of Trainers for young girls in four different counties in Liberia:  this training brought together young girls from Bomi, Cape Mount, Gbarpolu etc to participate in the young girls' leadership training in Liberia

Consultative Meetings with FLY and LINSU: WIPSEN-Africa and Ministry of Youth and Sports (MoYS) in Liberia intervene in settling a dispute between the Federation of Liberian Youths (FLY) which is the umbrella institution for all youth groups in Liberia and the Liberia National Students Union (LINSU) composition of all school going youths in Liberia.

Presidential Women's Retreat: WIPSEN-Africa in conjunction with the Office of the President of the Republic of Liberia organized a one-day Liberian Women's Retreat in response to the growing concern from women leaders that there was a need for a reflective space.

People-Centered Security Governance: Special Initiative to promote Community Women's Participation in Security Sector Reform In Sierra Leone.

WIPSEN-Africa and the Gender division of the Sierra Leone Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Children's Affairs entered in a partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Sierra Leone in July 2009 to implement a one-year project that was aimed at "strengthening the integration of Gender and women's issues into Security Sector Reform processes at the local community level in Sierra Leone.

2009

  1. Presentation of 20 girls of the Young Girls' Leadership Dialogue Project at the International Colloquium.
  2. Third Young Girls' Leadership Dialogue, Monrovia - Liberia, 10th-13th February, 2009.
  3. First Sub-Regional Conference for Young Girls, Monrovia - Liberia, 16th-17th February, 2009.
  4. Workshop on Gender Mainstreaming in Multidimensional Peace Support Operations in West Africa, KAIPTC, Accra - Ghana. 31st March - 3rd April, 2009
  5. Leadership and Organisational Management Training for LIFLEA and WISS-SL, Accra - Ghana. 25th - 28th May, 2009.