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The Board of Trusties of the American International University West Africa, have approved the recommendation on awarding Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters (DHumLitt) to Her Excellency Fatima Maada Bio, the First Lady of the Republic of Sierra Leone. The degree is scheduled to be conferred at the international convocation ceremony on the 28th of May in The Gambia.
The Board of Trusties said Degree is in recognition of her hands on approach to humanitarian work internationally. They emphasised the work of the First Lady of Sierra Leone produces tangible results.
First Lady Maada Bio, has been involved in Charity / advocacy since her teenage years. She got international recognition when she spearheaded the Hands-Off-our- Girls campaign launched by His Excellency Dr. Julius Maada Bio in 2018. The initiative was also launched internationally on the Margins of the United Nations in the United States , with top dignitaries in support . Among the various thematic areas the initiative is designed to tackle, more emphasis is placed on Gender and sexual based violence and child marriage.
First Lady Maada-Bio , made food donations to the needy an integral part of her office . This was brought to the fore at the height of the Covid crises, where she launched the National Food Basket , and donated much needed food condiments nationally.
Her Excellency’s is directly involved in a full array of humanitarian activities which includes but not limited to : providing safe drinking water in communities , refurbishing and building hospitals, donating drugs to hospitals, visiting hospitals severally to meet with patients and more importantly give kudos to health workers. The Menstrual hygiene initiative included donating sanitary pads to school girls and physically going from province to province to have face to face interaction with female school children on menstrual hygiene and demystifying the stigma associated with menstruation.
The greatest achievement so far amongst other things is inspiring both government and non-government organisation to do more. The Office of the First Lady also coordinated different groups to come together to have a unified strategy in fighting the scourge of SGBV.
The list of Her Excellency’s achievements goes on, but she personally believes she has an obligation to women and children, with a divine mandate to do something positive to make the change happen . His Excellency the President is passionate about uplifting women and gives His wife all the support and motivation required .
As we congratulate our First Lady for a well deserved conferment , analysts are in agreement, that she is on track to do so much more on both national and international fronts.
