The Irish Working Group on Gender Based Violence in Sierra Leone (IWGGBV-SL) formed in 2016 and is made up of ActionAid, ChildFund, Concern, Christian Aid, GOAL, Irish Aid, International Rescue Committee, Plan International, Save the Children, Trócaire, and World Vision.

In 2016 Member Organisations of the IWGGBV-SL mobilised around 16 Days of Activism, a global advocacy campaign seeking to raise awareness on issues of gender based violence. In 2016, the IWGGBV-SL fundraised and donated much needed items to the 3 Rainbo Centres, the only providers of free medical and psychosocial care for survivors of GBV in Sierra Leone as they were on the brink of closing down due to lack of funds/support. The IWGGBV-SL also held an experience-sharing event in 2017 to reflect on programming on GBV around the time of 16 Days of Activism.

In 2017 and 2018, the IWGGBV-SL commissioned a piece of research looking at how three Gender Acts in Sierra Leone (the Domestic Violence Act, the Devolution of Estates Act and the Registration of Customary Marriage and Divorce Act) have improved the protection of women and girls, 10 years on from implementation into law.  You can find the Impact Assessment here.

The final outputs from this piece of research included a report looking at the effect of these laws across all regions of Sierra Leone and an advocacy brief outlining additional work to be done and key stakeholders. The IWGGBV-SL presented the report in a High Level Advocacy meeting in Freetown. Plans are underway to disseminate the findings of the research at regional and district level.