By Rebecca Mweru Kabejja | Advocacy Specialist
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
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