INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY CELEBRATION AT GOLLU COMMUNITY BAOMA CHIEFDOM BO DISTRICT

 

In celebration of International Women’s Day （IWD-2026） at Gollu Community, Baoma Chiefdom, Bo District.

As mentioned above, WAVES-SL in partnership with the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs （MoGCA） with support from Irish Aid engaged Chiefdom stakeholders and community people at Gollu.

On behalf of Gollu Community, Alie Sumalia （Town Chief） welcomed everybody, and proceeded to appreciating WAVES-SL and its partners; and all the Women and Girls for attending such a global event specifically recognizing the successes and challenges of women. He concluded by saying they as Gollu Community will continue to support WAVES-SL and its partners as long is for their women and girls in and around their community.

The Chairperson for the celebration: Madam Matta Feika Idriss, Deputy Director (MoGCA-Bo) started off by throwing light on the origin/history of IWD. She explained to the people that IWD was borne out of series of challenges faced by women in the western world.

 

Madam Feika said that IWD is a day to recognize how far we’ve come towards gender equality, women’s empowerment, and the strategies needed to overcome the current challenges. Deepening on her statement, she illustrated that women and girls are like hoes-where they bring into the home, whiles men and boys are like shovels-where they take from the home to outside.  She encouraged parents to strongly look over their girls for their comprehensive wellbeing and concluded by highlighting and explaining the Prohibition of Early Marriage and other related national laws and policies, and their legal penalties.

Speaking on behalf of the Paramount Chief （Baoma Chiefdom）, Mohamed Foday Kallon （Chiefdom Speaker） formally extended his heartfelt gratitude towards the work WAVES-SL is doing in their Chiefdom. He went ahead to highlights the importance of partnerships in promoting women’s empowerment and equality, and he strongly believes that WAVES-SL work in Gollu community is making a positive impact on our girls and women, hence WAVES-SL is complementing government efforts in this direction.

He furthered by decently encouraging women and girls to support WAVES-SL current project in their Chiefdom, and most especially drawing the attention of parents/guardians to prioritize things that will promote the wellbeing of their girls in order for them to reach their fullest potential in life; and committed to continue supporting the work of WAVES-SL and partners in his Chiefdom.

The Chiefdom Speaker concluded his statement by asking WAVES-SL through the Executive Director to continue working with their women and girls in the Chiefdom, as they will be sustainably empowered.

Speaking on behalf of all the Women, Kadiatu Sesay congratulated all the women and girls for such a global event, and personally extended her thanks and appreciation to WAVES-SL and partners for raising their awareness on their rights and responsibilities.

During her keynote address, Madam Hannah Fatmata Yambasu （Executive Director） of Women Against Violence and Exploitation in Society-Sierra Leone (WAVES-SL) emphasized the importance of changing the narrative around gender equality, stating, what women can do, men can do and what men can do, women can do. She highlighted the need for inclusiveness, education, and technology to promote gender equality, especially in governance and innovation. Hannah further highlighted the importance of women’s empowerment and leadership, citing examples of women who have overcome challenges to achieve greatness.

She explained about property rights as per the Devolution of Estate Act-2007 that every child （irrespective of sex） has full rights to parental property（ies）. She spoke on marital domestic violence—where a lot of women （wives） have lost their lives. On Customary Marriage, she encouraged both men and women to register their marriages, as that will help especially women for the law to recognized and protect them to own properties.

She encouraged parents to prioritize their daughters’ education and well-being, as against traditional and other culturally related harmful practices, as the latter has no positive impact for girls to reach their fullest potential in society-generally; and to stop swearing their girls.  She concluded by personally encouraging all the girls present （both in and out of school） to firmly protect their rights by raising their voices against abuse and violations-irrespective of the place of occurrence, and also value and promote their bodily integrity and autonomy.

The program was climaxed with quiz and football match. The quiz competition was between the younger adolescent’s girls and the older adolescent girls. The younger adolescent girls emerged victorious over the older adolescent girls. The best quizzer goes to Zainab Kabbia.

The football match was between the Older Women Action Group （WAG） and the Younger Women Action Group （WAG）, The older group emerged victorious over the younger group by one goal to Neel.