The Women Peace Hut intervention has been one of the flag shipped projects supporting women’s participation in peace building, conflict resolution and mediation in Liberia. At least nine peace huts were established in total around the country to facilitate this mediation role. Based on the excellent work of the Women in the Peace Hut, Plan International Liberia, with support from the Spotlight Initiative through UNFPA, engaged the peace hut women on the possibility of supporting SGBV case identification, reporting, follow up and awareness at community level as part of the integrated multi sectorial approach to combating SGBV and other harmful practices against women and girls.
In an effort to contribute to the current Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (24% LDHS 2019), the peace hut women from the “Spotlight Initiative” supported counties were trained as Family Planning Community-Based Distributors. Community-based family planning (CBFP), commonly known as community-based distribution (CBD), refers to programs that use community organizations, structures, resources and institutions to promote and distribute the use of safe contraceptives. This approach ensures services are brought closer to clients at the community level.
About 40 members, mainly women representing nine community peace huts supported by UNFPA through funding from the Spotlight Initiative, received capacity building training to enhance understanding of their key roles in combating the prevalence of sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) and other forms of violence and harmful practices against women and girls in Liberia.
The women, drawn from five Spotlight Counties, Nimba, Lofa, Grand Gedeh, Grand Cape Mount and Montserrado, learned about community based family planning distribution: referral of clients to the nearest health facilities for family planning commodities, SGBV prevention awareness creation and community mobilization. They also learned about collaborating with other accountability structures, including community health assistants (CHAs) in the effort to promote sexual reproductive health rights (SRHR) and prevention of SGBV in their individual communities.
Plan International Liberia and UNFPA, through a collaborative implementation of the Spotlight Initiative project since 2019, brought the women together in Ganta, Nimba County, for the training, which lasted for about a week.
Based on the intervention, the trainees are expected to demonstrate effective information dissemination and persuasion skills while maintaining good rapport and coordination with other community structures in the execution of their duties to promote SRHR and fight SGBV at community levels.
