The Foundation for Community Initiatives (FCI) has called for more women in Liberia to participate in forest governance following years of development and engagements in the forest sector.
Speaking in an interview in Monrovia, the Executive Director of the Foundation, Madam Loretta Alethea Pope Kai, emphasized the need for women to think more towards forest governance as the biggest successes of the organization in the past five to six years has been increased women’s participation. She explained that at the level of the Community Forest Development Committee (CFDC) from 2015 to now, FCI has observed acceleration or interest of women growing by the day as there is a noticeable increase in participation due to numerous training over the years.
“So, one of the successes we can give is that women are not just sitting around the palaver hut and just observing men making decisions about their natural resources. We now have women who are participating in elections in the community, and we have women who are serving some positions, even though not enough. But at least we can say that there are lots of women in decision-making positions in the forest sector to ensure how our resources are governed and managed. We now have women like Vice President for Operations at community assemblies” she said.
Madam Pope Kai pointed out certain challenges hindering women’s participation in forest governance as in some community’s cultural beliefs place a taboo on such activities requiring women to make decisions.
In a bid to addressing this, the FCI boss disclosed that the organization has embarked on educating traditional leaders and men to change their mindset. She noted that it was happening because they don’t have the right information, and the FCI is working towards readjusting their thoughts from such understanding.
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