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SEND Sierra Leone – Eastern Women’s Conference:

29 April 2021
Madam Chairlady The Board Chair of SEND Sierra Leone The Irish Ambassador to Sierra Leone UN Representatives The Country Directors of NGOs Traditional Authorities The Resident Minister, East Members of Parliament Women groups CSOs The media Ladies and gentlemen.

On behalf of SEND Sierra Leone and the women groups from the Eastern Province, I will like to thank Irish Aid for the support towards women's empowerment and participation in leadership. The people of Ireland significantly funded this Conference.

We extend the same appreciation to Christian Aid and DFID, our long-term partners that supported the Kailahun Women in Governance Network that made history in this Country. WHH has been our pillar in the last four years, and we remain grateful to them. We express the same appreciation to Trocaire for the support for women's empowerment in the western and northern parts of this Country.

To all the men and women here today, thank you very much for coming. Thank you very much for leaving your busy schedules behind to be here today. I want to share a story with you.

The story of the Chicken and the Farmer

A chicken is fed for many days and years by a local farmer. Every day confirms that the farmer loves the chicken with increased confidence from the chicken that it has love, and love endures forever because it has been fed every day. It eats what it wants and sleeps when it wishes. The farmer keeps feeding the chicken until the farmer is ready for action. Then comes that day where it is not good to be a chicken. It is the day of Christmas, thanksgiving, or the day for a traditional sacrifice. With the farmer surprising it, the chicken will have revised belief that the love has changed, is different and has stopped.

Sometimes, we are on our own, and we need to stand up for ourselves. The people who love us are sometimes the ones who can hurt us the most. Sometimes, the enemy is never the target. We are sometimes the determinants of our situations, and what we do will either make us more vulnerable or build us up. Life is like a black swan event. You have to figure out how not to be a chicken or to be a chicken in reverse. It is crucial to figure out the difference between actual and manufactured stability. Success is a product of hard work and determination. Why do you wait for others?

Across the world, hunger is the bedrock of progress. If we are not hungry, we will not care to find food. If we have it in abundance, we will not manage to add value. It is in the difficulty of things that wake up the creativity and innovation in us. Women, your lives are in your hands. It is essential to work to empower yourselves and to make the necessary investments in your lives. Don't wait for others to direct lives for you.

The Purpose of the Conference

The title of the Conference is, 'Building women's collective resilience towards self-reliance and empowerment. The Conference seeks to demonstrate the importance of women relying on themselves by using their internal resources. More than 45,322 women from 4,369 Village Saving and Loans Associations groups, gender transformative family groups, and women petty traders from three provinces in Sierra Leone have mobilised $226,357 as financial resources independently over a year. They have used the resources to grow their businesses by themselves through mentorship and coaching. Other women groups have used the resources they have mobilised to invest in water and sanitation. Many women use the VSLA as a collective resource mobilisation approach to provide community health insurance for community members needing medical care.

All activities aim to empower Sierra Leonean women to work collectively to increase their representation in decision-making, governance and politics. The vision of SEND is to see a Sierra Leone where people's rights and wellbeing are guaranteed. We contribute to this vision by promoting good governance, voice, accountable essential services, and equality for men and women. Our intervention's root cause is because culture and tradition have marginalised women. It contributed to women's discrimination, low education, poor access to health facilities, and increased violence and victimisation. Such practices have made women lack the capacity and access, so they fear taking up leadership positions.

Today, I am here to challenge a narrative. A narrative that culture and traditions have marginalised women, that women are not educated, and that women are not interested in leadership. There is also a notion that women must be the servants of men. The truth is that women are strong. Women contribute hugely to society and family life. Women find solutions to development problems if there is a conducive environment for them to thrive. The human mind is creative. Women always add value to life. I call and challenge all women to live inner-directed lives. A woman is her own star. She can either follow the existing star or create one.

Stories of strong women are often not shared – but their strength has always existed. We often overlook the important role women have played in shaping the life, community and society we live in today. Women must be self-reliant in all their actions. You must grow yourself from the resources available to you or learn to create the help you need. Self-reliance is the quality of depending on oneself for things instead of relying on others. It is about the understanding of self-worth, self-expression, self-knowledge, resilience, and self-acceptance.

Progress is possible when men and women rely on their efforts and abilities to act on their challenges and consistently find solutions. Poverty is human-made. Ignorance and marginalisation are human-made. The cultural practices that affect women and the perception that they have about themselves are human-made.

It is essential to challenge and change these perceptions for women and men. Yet, whatever is created by humans can be changed by humans. We can always think independently, and no one can stop us from doing this. We can always sacrifice a bit for today to make the changes we want. It is not too late for us to embrace our individuality. We can avoid the things imposed on us and create the things that make us happy and progressive. We must learn to walk alone when we have to do what is essential and for the collective good. We must not always follow the paths that our elders or others have created.

Man must reflect, and when something doesn't make sense to us, we must always learn to change for the better. There are times when what we want is not available. When it is not available, we must create, and we must learn to be better. No man comes near us without our permission. No one gains approval to condition our lives if we don't allow them. There are always options, and let me tell you, you are full of possibilities. You have the power to chart own your path. Don't allow others to dictate to you what you need and what you should do. No one knows you better than yourselves. If any man cannot allow you to develop based on your measured standards, that man is not fit to be part of your growth process. Every one of you has power and liberties.

If your life depends on what you have studied from the minds of other people, their sayings, and their documented evidence, you will never learn to stand on your own.

Why have we refused to look for help within ourselves? Why do we always think other people have the solutions to our problems? Sometimes, the answer is from us. We must learn to find it within us. It is always good to cultivate your garden because one day, others may not share what they produce from their gardens, but with your garden, you can eat and share. Everything that has life is antifragile. The secret of life is antifragility. The human being self-repair and eventually wear out through death or self-destruction.

If you are broken, do not worry. There is always space to recreate yourself. It is in your hands to act to be who you want to be. My dear ladies, most of you will fail, be disrespected, impoverished due to social exclusion and marginalisation. Still, we are grateful for the risks you are taking and the sacrifices you are making for the sake of economic, social, and political improvement of your localities, pulling yourselves and others out of poverty. You are the source of the antifragility that we seek to be as a society. In the face of injustice, poverty, corruption, and other forms of governance challenges, you thrive and become antifragile.

As an organisation, we respect your ability to carry one another. Keep on making progress and never give up. Change is likely only to those who learn to defer instant gratification to build what they need in the future. It is not only okay but good to be a woman. You are who you are, and no one can change that without your permission. Your wellbeing is dependent on you. Don't sit outside looking in. You built this society. You own it. Don't let anyone tell you; it isn't possible.