RFSU to strengthen civil society in Liberia
RFSU has signed a contract with the Swedish embassy in Liberia for a project that will strengthen civil society organisations working with SRHR.
– This project has come at the right time. The SRHR context in Liberia is critical. Many women and girls are dying trying to practice unsafe abortion, says Ilot Muthaka, International Programme Manager at RFSU.
RFSU’s first aim is to lessen the gap between civil society organisations working with SRHR in order to increase collaboration. Many national actors are already working with these issues within their communities.
– By providing a platform to meet, their capacity will increase and their impact become larger. Thereby, if one of the SRHR areas is attacked, the whole civil society movement can respond. This is a common fight, a common struggle.
It is not only issues related to abortion that Ilot Muthaka is referring too. LGBTI rights and comprehensive sexuality education are also in focus. RFSU will now initiate and facilitate a network of organisations working with SRHR. But as always our strategy is for the organisations themselves to run the network and make the decisions.
– The leadership of the network and the decision making processes will be in the hands of the members.
RFSU has been working with organisations in Liberia since 2017. One of them, LEGAL, has made great progress in talking with traditional leaders about LGBTI issues.
– They try to communicate peacefully. And we have seen that in some families and communities, LGBTI people are being accepted. There is an increasing tolerance. This is an example of isolated changes that we hope to see at a national level thanks to this new project.
Ilot Muthaka is also hopeful about eventually adress the issue of unsafe abortions. Here, the most important thing is a change in attitudes to decrease the stigma around abortion, since changing the laws would take much longer.
– The legal framework is difficult to change in the four years of the project. But I believe in people. If people are empowered, then we can have leaders who understand what they want. If women are empowered, they will be able to claim their own rights. That’s where our partners are doing a good job and where we need to support them. I’m optimistic that this project will change lives.
Text and photo: Helen Jones