Dear Friend,

This January will be the month that AdvocAid starts a new chapter with a new Chair of the Board of Directors. I have served on AdvocAid’s Board for eight years now, which is our maximum term limit, and so comes the time when I need to stand down and wave in a new chapter for AdvocAid. 

If someone would have told me back in 2006, that our small group of women carrying out prison monitoring would today be a 20 strong team of passionate and committed advocates that have provided legal support to over 15,000 women and changed Sierra Leone’s laws, I wouldn’t have believed you. 

What I would have believed though, is being told that what it took to achieve that was fierce feminist principles, working with compassion and love, some difficult conversations, some even harder times, and a strong vision that every woman and girl in Sierra Leone deserves the fundamental human right of access to justice. 

I may have been one of AdvocAid’s leaders throughout its 17 year history, but a leader is only as capable as their team, and I am proud to have worked alongside the powerful women and feminist men of Sierra Leone. 

What does stepping down as Chair look like for AdvocAid? We have prepared for this for a long time now, and while there are some things out of my control that we have not been able to put in place, the organisation is in a strong position to start its new chapter. This will be ably supported by our Senior Management Team, and one of our treasurers Josephine Dauda, who will be acting up as Chair until we have a permanent Chair in post. Josephine will be supported by the other Board members in a co-leadership model. Josephine is a passionate women’s rights activist and accomplished accountant, bringing together two important skills to see AdvocAid through its current Uman Get Rayt strategy – helping us to focus on internal strengthening as well as external impact. 

I will always proudly be AdvocAid’s co-founder, and by stepping back from being Chair I will have the space and time to focus on other projects, some of which I hope will continue to raise awareness about the importance of work with and for incarcerated women and girls. I will always champion the work of this small but powerful organisation, and will always campaign for funders to support the difficult and life changing work that women’s rights organisations carry. We do so out of passion, and a fervent belief in what is right. But with that comes an impact, not least on the mental health of those passionate advocates. I look forward to seeing the day when the international funding community recognises this. 

Whether you’re a member of Sierra Leone’s great legal system, a formerly incarcerated woman, an old colleague, a partner, a funder, a supporter, an advisor, or a friend, I thank you for your support of this great organisation. I look forward to staying in touch with you all, and will always remain a proud member of the AdvocAid fambul. 

So it’s not goodbye, but “wi go see bak” (see you soon in Krio). 

Sabrina

Co-founder of AdvocAid and former Chair