-WONGOSOL Executive Director rallies support to tackle SGBV Issues in Liberia
By Jerromie S. Walters
Women-led organizations (Gender sensitive CSOs) are apt in tackling violence against women, advocating for gender equality, and promoting women’s rights. Undoubtedly, a lot, including moral, and financial support is intrinsic to getting the work done.
However, this is the opposite in the case of women’s human rights defenders, or CSOs, especially WONGOSOL, the mother body of women-led Civil Society organizations in Liberia.
Mid-Thursday, June 13, 2024, Madam Esther Davis Yango, the Executive Director of Women NGOs Secretariat of Liberia-WONGOSOL, cried out the entity’s financial and operational challenges in fully addressing sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) issues in Liberia. WONGOSOL, the mother body of all women’s NGOs in the country, coordinates efforts to support women and children but faces limitations in funding and resources.
Speaking at the 9th Women’s Movement Building Consultative Conference in Ganta, Nimba County, Madam Davis Yango highlighted that funding received by WONGOSOL is often restricted to implementation due to its minimum quantity, with less support for administrative costs.
Madam Davis Yango: “We are there to coordinate the issues of the Women and children of Liberia but most often the funding that comes to us is mostly restricted to implementation. I’m talking about activity-based when it comes to
administrative costs. The administrative cost is very minimal to run the secretariat
before I talk about responding to the needs of
our members. We don’t even have vehicles to move in the counties to respond to issues.”
“Just imagine we at the national level are
constrained what more about the organizations that are down there who are responding to issues in their communities?“She said at some point women in the communities use their personal resources to respond to SGBV issues,” she stressed.
The human rights defender said this hinders the secretariat’s ability to effectively respond to the needs of its members and address SGBV issues nationwide. According to Madam Davis, the lack of resources, including vehicles for fieldwork in the counties, further impedes their efforts in supporting communities and county coordinators when the need for responding to SGBV arises.
Madam Davis Yango called on international partners and donors to consider the developmental needs of organizations like WONGOSOL and emphasized the importance of strengthening their capacity beyond just implementation. She commended partners like UN Women and Kvinna till Kvinn for their support but emphasized the need for a more comprehensive approach to addressing the constraints faced by women’s NGOs in Liberia.
“Consider us in the development of your programs. We shouldn’t just be implementors. We need to be strengthened,” WONGOSOL Executive Director called on ingots. She added, “We must commend our international partners. The UN Women, Kvinna till Kvinn, and other institutions but how do you function effectively? we want you to consider that there are a lot of other constraints,” she said.
In addition, she highlighted the need for increased protection for human rights defenders, including those working on SGBV issues. She emphasized the importance of creating an enabling environment for defenders to speak out without fear of reprisal, calling on international partners and the government to prioritize their safety and support their advocacy efforts.
Her words, “Sometimes we are really afraid to speak out because there is no protection for us. Our government looks up to you [the international partners], they listen to you more. Yes, we work with them but they may not listen to us and they listen to you because they depend on you to fund their initiatives so we are calling on you to ensure that the government creates an enabling
environment for human rights defenders so that we can be able to speak out without looking behind.”
Furthermore, the Executive Director of WONGOSOL urged President Joseph Nyuma Boakai to prioritize the election of more women in leadership positions, refuting claims of disunity among women in Liberia. She emphasized the importance of women’s representation in decision-making processes and called for greater support for women’s empowerment initiatives in the country.
Women NGOs are at the forefront of addressing the root causes of violence against women, providing support services to survivors, and driving policy changes to create a more equitable society. They bring unique perspectives, experiences, and approaches to addressing gender-based violence.
These organizations are often involved with offering counseling, legal assistance, shelter, and other essential services to survivors, and help them to heal and rebuild their lives. They ensure that their responses to violence are survivor-centered and trauma-informed.
Moreover, women-led organizations are crucial in raising awareness about the prevalence and impact of violence against women in communities and advocating for systemic change. They work to challenge harmful gender norms, promote gender equality, and hold perpetrators and institutions accountable for their actions.
WONGOSOL was established as an organ for coordinating the activities of women’s organizations in Liberia since 1998. WONGOSOL is an organization that has worked immensely in the area of women empowerment, gender sensitivity, tolerance, and equality and has empowered many women and youths to advocate for their rights and justice in every fabric of life especially those in rural communities.
It has coordinated the
activities of women’s organizations in Liberia and brought women together to formulate and present their independent views on government issues directly affecting the women of Liberia. WONGOSOL has a membership of more than 100 network organizations in the 15 political
subdivisions of Liberia.
