Save the Children held a national Close out event of the Early and Forced Marriage Project (CEFM) on 20th September, 2023 at the Freetown International Conference Center at Aberdeen in Freetown.

The NGO said the project transformed the lives of over 1,500 Children in Kailahun and the Western Area District.

The Project aimed at addressing the drivers of CEFM by empowering very young adolescent (10- 14 Years) and older adolescent (15-18 Years) girls and to make their own informed decisions about marriage and pregnancy; improving the social environment for adolescent girls to make these decisions.

Save the Children said project also looks at the strengthening of the institutional environment at the national and sub-national level to accelerate action on gender equality and the prevention of CEFM, aligned with the development priorities of Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and its Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP).

In his opening remarks, the Child Rights Adviser for Save the Children based in Canada, Madam Olivia Lecoufle expressed her appreciation for being part- of the Closeout Ceremony. She revealed that she joined their team in Sierra Leone last week adding that the funding for the CEFM Project is from Global Affairs Canada. She revealed that they approached them because they felt that as Save the Children they have an interesting approach and expertise for the successful implementations of the Project.

In her Presentation, Madam Modupe Taiwo, Program Director described the successes of the Project as being positive and confirmed that the focus of the Project was on two districts which are Western Area Rural and Kailahun District amongst the sixteen districts in the country. She affirmed that this is a Pilot Project and they are expecting it to expand to other districts.

Speaking on the Successes of the Project, Madam Taiwo confirmed that Kailahun District is a big win for the Project as no girl below the age of 18 can experience the Female Genital Cutting [Bondo Society] within the districts. She further revealed that religious and traditional leaders have been trained out that religious Leaders have been trained as they can now speak to their Congregations about contraceptives. She further confirmed that the trained religious leaders have also been using their platforms to talk to People about Gender Equality so they can live a collaborative partnership. She pointed out that they also work with Health and Protection Service Organizations , government officials, Institutions which were supported to be able to improve their Services.

Speaking about their aspirations, she admitted that they wanted to ensure that the health and Social Services towards Adolescents becomes very friendly and for Government officials to recognize that they must be accountable to the people through a feedback structure.

“We created some of these opportunities for adolescents to engage with Policy makers and tell them how they feel about their Policies and about their Programmes and I’m hoping that this will continue and the government particularly at the local level will organize occasional opportunities for a feedback mechanism to hear from the different categories of persons within the communities,” She noted.

Patrick Analo , Country Director Save the Children described the close out event as a very big celebration and the CEFM project as a success in terms of the evidence based impact it has created on the children as they can now stay in School. He confirmed that he agreed with a majority of the speakers wishing to see Children in other areas benefiting from similar initiative. He affirmed that the success of the impact is a consequence the collaboration and coordination that has been put into the design of the Project. He justified his statement as he confirmed the presence of the Ministry of Gender, Ministry of Health, Street Child and Other Partners adding that he appreciated the collaboration.

Expressing his determination to consolidate the gains of Save the Children in Kailhahun District, Paramount Chief, Henry H. Taaka Baioon, Pejeh Bougre Chiefdom, Kailahun District assured that they will not disappoint save the Children because they need this programme to succeed and its continuity. He emphasized that they want the Programme to continue in their district as they have 15 Chiefdoms but only 4 has been taken care of as a Start.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paramount Chief, Western Rural District described his District as Heterogeneous Compared to Kailahun which is Homogenous and because of that they are faced with many Challenges. He revealed that despite the Challenges, with the efforts they have made they also succeeded to promote the Child Early Forced Marriage Project in their District. He confirmed that they have 15 Communities which are loaded with facilitators with Safe spaces including religious leaders and Gender and Girls Empowerment Champions.

Save the Children extend their heartfelt gratitude to the Government of Canada for sponsoring such a remarkable project. The also commended the Sierra Leone Government and their partners, including FSU, DHMT, Street Child, and MoRD, without whom, they said, the project could not have succeeded as it did.