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The Orange Day celebration in Sierra Leone's Parliament, highlighted the commitment to gender equality and democracy, marked by significant support for women's rights and political participation.
The first-ever seminar for female MPs in Sierra Leone, facilitated by Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), united women from different political parties to address national issues impacting women, marking a significant move towards inclusivity and collaborative governance.
Sierra Leone is on a transformative path toward greater transparency, accountability, and citizen participation in parliamentary affairs. WFD plays a key supporting role, actively engaging in efforts to strengthen parliamentary oversight and representation.
To support post-legislative scrutiny (PLS) within the Parliament of Sierra Leone, WFD in partnership with Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALTs) University of London trained parliamentary staff and civil society representatives on innovative post-legislative scrutiny.
General elections in Sierra Leone will be held mid-2023. However, there still exists deep gender imbalances in the country’s political context. From prejudices against women’s leadership to political and traditional barriers that continue to threaten women’s political participation and inclusion.
WFD has been partnering with the Parliament of Sierra Leone to strengthen its capacity in different areas around the Open Government Parliament. The institution’s efforts to promote openness, accountability, and participation were recognised in the maiden Africa Open Parliament Index (OPI) report, as the institution ranked among the top in West Africa.
In Sierra Leone, we have helped make sure citizens can access parliament and understand its work, through initiatives from open days to apps. During the Parliament’s recent Open Day, WFD gave access to several people to learn about the work of WFD and Parliament. It was a chance for advocates to meet the Speaker
To support the Parliament of Sierra Leone in its commitment towards providing the best parliamentary services to its citizens, WFD partnered with the legislature of the West African state in developing and unveiling the institution’s service charter.
As democratic representatives of the people, parliaments have the key responsibility of examining policies and their impact on citizens. This is essential in times of a crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In July 2020, WFD launched a project focused on supporting the Parliament of Sierra Leone by improving its access to crucial gender–sensitive data during the pandemic.
WFD held a two-day virtual study tour in December 2020 in support of Sierra Leone's parliament to become more open and transparent to its citizens and effectively collaborate with other actors.
WFD and the Ministry of Information and Communication in Sierra Leone supported the Parliament in holding its first virtual State opening in May 2020.
WFD joined a National Conference in Sierra Leone focused on discussing strategies that will urge all political parties and the government to tone down unhelpful rhetoric, utterances, and actions.
In January 2020, WFD worked with the University of Makeni in Sierra Leone to organise a panel discussion about citizen participation in enhancing inclusive and accountable politics.
With support from UK Aid through the Standing Together for Democracy Consortium, WFD and the Sierra Leone Union on Disability Issues (SLUDI) partnered up to reach the PWDs community across Sierra Leone.
WFD supported the development of a free mobile app which improves the openness and transparency of the Sierra Leone Parliament. The app enables citizens to follow what the parliament is doing and get more involved in politics.
