Governance workshops February - April 2007

Following on from the November Stakeholders Workshop held in Pujehun, PCSL developed three training manuals to assist with the training of 100 women and youth in the chiefdoms of Barri, Kpanga Kaboude and Futa Pejeh. These manuals covered the following topics:

1. Critical thinking, Political thinking and Information Bias
2. Citizen’s rights, women’s rights and advocacy work
3. Government structures, roles and responsibilities

These manuals will assist PCSL to engage with the local communities and stimulate them to participate meaningfully in the political process. It was with this intention, and armed with t-shirts, badges and manuals that a group of Peace Childers set off at the start of February. Whilst based in Potoru visits were made to a number of villages within the three chiefdoms. During these visits we spoke to the communities about the work of PCSL, the work of WFD and also about the forthcoming workshops. At each village we requested a number of representatives to attend the two workshops we had planned for Futa and Potoru. PCSL was enthusiastically received in all of the communities we visited. Many people remembered the stakeholder’s workshop and were enthusiastic to attend the trainings.

At the first training in Potoru 25 women attended, and at the second in Futa we had 34 participants. The workshops were conducted in Mende, and carried out by a team of local facilitators which included both men and women. At both workshops the women participated fully, and voiced the many concerns they had such s their inheritance rights and domestic violence. Although clearly sidelined politically the women demonstrated the strength and coherence of their opinions and concerns. In the session on advocacy work participants at both workshops identified a number of local women’s advocacy organisations which are clearly active in the district. The participants described these organisations as role models for the participation of women in local governance. The success of the workshops were indicated when a PCSL member witnessed a conversation in the Potoru marketplace about the issues which had been raised within the workshops.

A further workshop has since been carried out in April with 46 participants. This training was attended by both men and women. Unfortunately due to vehicle problems this workshop did not commence until the afternoon. Although many participants had to wait until the vehicle had been repaired, they still responded enthusiastically to the workshop. Due to the late start a meal was served prior to the commencement of the workshop. Re-energised, refuelled and refreshed the workshop kicked off with a song about women’s rights. Using a variety of teaching methods – role-plays, singing, group work and even some dancing the workshop covered the three manuals which had been prepared. The workshop continued into the evening and was followed by a slideshow of photos from the stakeholders workshop and the previous two workshops.

Throughout all three workshops a number of women were identified who will be targeted in the next phase of our project, to train  core group of 50 marginalised women to act as a vanguard for women’s participation in governance. In anticipation of this training a separate and more focused manual has recently been prepared in the PCSL office, and PCSL will be travelling back to Pujehun in the next few weeks to carry out this training.