Multiplying our Impact
We know that strengthening Sierra Leone’s justice system to be gender-responsive is far bigger than just us; there are a number of ways that we can be working to multiply our impact beyond our direct sphere of control and influence. We work to multiply our impact at an individual level for the women we directly work with; impact at a societal level through the laws we have advocated for; impact at an organisational level for the civil society organisations we partner with; and impact at an institutional level for the government departments and ministries we support.
Building and nourishing partnerships
We are stronger together. AdvocAid recognises the value and expertise our current and potential partners bring to our work. We have extremely positive and impactful relationships with a number of key partners within Sierra Leone and internationally. We work together to advocate for the rights and ensure the needs of women and girls are met. This not only enables us to strengthen women’s voices and our legal and advocacy work but also work on meeting practical welfare and socio-economic needs without spreading ourselves too thin and outside our core areas of expertise.
Challenging cultural and social norms
AdvocAid works in partnership with communities, groups, civil society and institutions to challenge and change the cultural and social norms which perpetuate the marginalisation and discrimination of women.
Many of the issues that women and girls tackle on a daily basis are ingrained in cultural and social norms that are inherently patriarchal. Individual female empowerment has limitations within a larger community and legal system, so we work strategically, via partnerships and approaches that embrace our feminist, rights based, and gender responsive approach.
This will include continuing to use art and creativity as ways to challenge gender and post-incarceration stereotypes, highlight the negative impact of incarceration on women and girls and demonstrate alternatives and target the roots of gender inequality and pathways to imprisonment.
Strengthening Sierra Leone’s Legal Base
There are approximately 500 lawyers in Sierra Leone, for a population of 7.5 million. A small proportion of these lawyers are women and most are based in the capital, Freetown. We believe that a stronger pool of female lawyers and paralegals would contribute greatly to our overall vision of a more gender-responsive justice system. We are working with our network of legal providers, government, civil society and donors to establish a scholarship scheme that embraces feminist legal training, recognising that finance is a key barrier to women progressing through higher education. Funding is hard to come by for scholarships, so we know this will not be an easy outcome to achieve, but one we will pursue, not least for the career progression of our own paralegals.