The Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL) and the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) Lessons Learned Outcome at the Land Rights Act and Inheritance Law confirmed the development in girls’ rights in Lofa and Grand Gedeh counties, a release has said.
It may be recalled that AFELL, with funding from AWDF in February 2019, carried out education of running shoes’ (ToTs) workshops in Zorzor and Salayea Districts, Lofa County and Putu/Tiama and Zai Town, Grand Gedeh County for 120 members at the Land Rights Act and Inheritance Law.
As a follow-up, in line with the release, experience sharing, and lessons learned, conferences were held in Salayea and Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County from June 1-5, 2019, which added collectively over 80 contributors comprising conventional, religious, ladies and children leaders, in addition to neighborhood government, network-primarily based businesses (CBOs), and the Justice and Rule of Law actors.
Simultaneously, contributors narrated numerous effective consequences, which they noticed as direct derivatives of the TOT Workshop amongst different high-quality outcomes.
Participants additionally discovered: “Traditional leaders at the moment are conscious that widows have the right to inherit and administer their deceased husband’s belongings without the interference of in-laws. Therefore, in settling the dispute, the problem will be considered. The practice for ladies to be followed through men to gather land or use farmland is being addressed via the conventional leaders in Zorro and Salayea, Lofa County. A single girl is given the right to discuss with her leader regarding network land for farming without a male accompanying her.”
They delivered: “The issue of refunding dowry is being practiced in Zorzor and Salayea, respectively.”
The ladies said the worry and threat of refunding dowry had saved some of them in abusive marriages. On the order hand, the conventional leaders said they had understood the law on divorce as it relates to standard marriage. They consequently promised to abolish the exercise of refunding dowry throughout the divorce. Before the Land Rights Act, a married girl in some other network could not be automatically accepted as a community member until positive traditional rituals or needs are met. For example, joining the Sande (Women’s secret) society.
The ladies who locate themselves in such class are excited about the land rights regulation, which offers an automated right to a lady to grow to be a community member upon marriage.
The conferences ended with numerous guidelines, such as the want for AFELL to establish sub-offices in a few districts and to scale up the inheritance and land rights training in other districts.
AFELL is a non-profit, non-governmental, non-political enterprise birthed on February 24, 1994, beneath the ravages of the country’s brutal civil battle with the mandate to recommend for the merchandising, protection, and advancement of girls’ rights, children, and indigent humans.
In October 2018, the African Women’s Development Fund accepted a provision of US$20,000 for 9 months to AFELL to sell ladies’ rights to very own belongings via building the capability of women.
AFL’s implementation of the venture comprised series of schooling-of-running shoe workshops with contributors from 29 groups in Salayea, Zorzor, Putu/Tiama, and Zai.