Sierra Leone News: UN Women & Africell Sign MOU to Promote Gender Equality and Women’s empowerment
By Desmond Tunde Coker
UN Women and Africell Sierra Leone on Tuesday October 15, 2019, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to support of gender equality and the empowerment of women.
In her statement before the signing of the MOU in Freetown, the UN Women Country Director Dr. Mary Okumu said that “one thing that is nice about this partnership is that UN Women will have a hotline which will be addressing the number one national priority in ending rape against women, children and girls.”
Dr. Okumu said, “This is an presidential initiative which we the UN Women has taken very seriously in ensuring that great penalty are levied against perpetrators of gender based violence and particularly sexual violence and rape which diminishes the dignity of women and girls.”
She said that the hotline all over the country is going to increase accountability and reporting.
She mentioned that the President Julius Maada Bio is an HE FOR SHE champion for UN Women and a defender of the rights of everybody. She thanked Africell for joining these advocacy campaign UN women is part of.
The Chief Corporate Officer of Africell, Joe Abass Bangura said that Africell is very pleased to join UN Women in signing an MOU, adding that both organizations have agreed to cooperate in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment.
He said that the MOU covers three areas of cooperation which include advocacy action on ending violence against women and girls; advocacy in getting the males to be involved in driving this advocacy; and institutional capacity strengthen on gender equality and the empowerment of women.
He said that Africell interventions covered by the MOU include: the establishment of nationwide toll free line to report sexual and gender based violence cases; the housing of billboards carrying ‘end violence against women and girls’ messages; the use of Afriradio for media engagement during the 16 days of activism against gender based violence and beyond, production of joint campaign messages in ending violence against women and girls; and using other multi-media communication initiatives to campaign on ending violence against women and girls.
He said that Africell is the leading sponsor of all women in the country from the signature program of our First Lady Fatima Bio “hands of our girl campaign” to the Well Women Clinic, the annual Brest Cancer Campaign, Annual Women Mean Business Awards, Power Women 232 Annual Network Board, Rozzy Education through entertainment project, Miss Sierra Leone Beauty Pageant in which Africell pay a very key role to show not just a beauty of a Sierra Leonean women but also to be able to see how much brains they have and create a platform for them to be able to channel those things they are passionate about.
