Post-prison Support for 300 Women in Sierra Leone

Women who have been in prison face stigma across the world, including in Sierra Leone. In 2020, together with the Vance Center, we interviewed 86% of women in prison in Sierra Leone. 52% of the women interviewed feared for their safety upon release, due to stigma. Many women stated that their families abandoned them after they had been in prison or they returned to find their property had been sold.  

AdvocAid has set up "Go Bifo" groups (meaning "Moving Forward" in Krio) - groups of formerly incarcerated women. These groups are safe spaces for women to meet and provide peer support and income generating opportunities. 

On 8 March 2022, Mbalu* - a member of Go Bifo - participated in the Break the Bias Campaign for International Women's Day, alongside other formerly incarcerated women and organisations working with and for incarcerated women and girls. She shared her story of the stigma she faced and called for the bias to be lifted against incarcerated women and girls. (There is a link to the video below)

This builds on other advocacy work AdvocAid has done. For example, in 2021 we held a workshop with UN Women with 18 women and girls recently released from prison. They shared their stories and views on the impact of COVID-19 on women and gave recommendations for policy reform and access to legal aid services. 

Thanks to your donations on GlobalGiving, we are able to provide small grants to women leaving prison so they can buy essential items and we also try to offer start-up grants for income generating activities where possible. 

It is very challenging to obtain donor funding for this work supporting women after they are released. In 2021, AdvocAid were part of a Women Beyond Walls report - Forgotten by Funders - which looked at the challenges of funding work with and for incarcerated women and girls. The report found that this work is severely underfunded, even by women's rights and human rights funders. In particular, it found there is a key gap in funding work with women and girls post-incarceration.

We are especially grateful for your donations which enable this important work to continue. Thank you for helping us to Break the Bias.OrThiganisations receive insufficient funding to fully implement all their strategies, particularly their work with women and girls post-incarceration.

* Name changed to protect her identity

Links:

• Mbalu's Video for the Breaking the Bias Campaign
• AdvocAid and Vance Center Research Report on Women in Prison
• Forgotten by Funders Report

Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) remains prevalent globally. In Sierra Leone, 45% of women aged 15-49 report having experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner at least once in their lifetime.

AdvocAid's 2020 report - Women Wahala Na Prison - reports that women survivors of SGBV are more likely to come into contact with the law. Our research for the report found that the vast majority of detained women interviewed reported suffering at least one form of violence once in their lifetime. 

This was the case for Amie*, who received constant financial, pschological and physical abuse from her husband. When she caught him with another woman in her home, she reacted, wounding the other woman. Amie was arrested and sentenced to two years in prison. At the time she was three months pregnant. She describes her period in incarceration as "painful" - lacking the services she needed as both a pregnant woman and a new mother.

When she and her then child were released, she could not return home as her husband rejected her and refused to accept the child as his. Amie was homeless and on the streets with her daughter. 

Amie learned about AdvocAid's post-prison support and we were able to give her the care and support she needed. 

This included housing support to pay for rent for a year, and a business start-up grant, which Amie has spent setting up a small business trading "fry fry" - various fried snacks and meals. AdvocAid has also linked her up to the Go Bifo women's group (a support group meaning 'moving forward' in Krio), and one of our social workers meets with her monthly to follow up on her progress, and provide continued mental and emotional support. 

Amie told us: "Life for women in this country is really hard, we suffer a lot at the hands of men. But I will make sure this doesn't define me, as a single mother, through AdvocAid's support."

AdvocAid can only provide this kind of support with the generosity of donors like you. We complement it with longer term interventions that focus on systemic change in Sierra Leone, such as changing law and attitudes. Thank you for continued support. 

*this is a fictional name to protect the woman's identity

Links:

• Woman Wahala Na Prison - AdvocAid's 2020 report