National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI)
Promoting Peaceful and Inclusive Political Parties
$400,000
To promote more peaceful and inclusive political parties in Sierra Leone, the Institute will facilitate dialogue among political parties and the public on issues of importance to Sierra Leoneans, such as inclusion, education, the economy, or the COVID-19 pandemic. To further support parties’ abilities to constructively address citizen priorities, the Institute will assist the parties to develop and implement action plans to enhance the meaningful participation of women.
Sierra Leone Association of Journalists
Promoting Professionalism in the Media Sector
$63500
To promote a vibrant and independent media sector in Sierra Leone. The organization will hold five one-day workshops on the code of ethics and mitigating disinformation for journalists and radio station managers to ensure compliance with existing regulations and reduce ethics violations. As a follow-up to the workshops, the organization will appoint five regional monitors to document and help correct ethical violations. The organization will also facilitate the ethics violations disciplinary committee hearings and publish a monthly newsletter with hearing results and recommendations. To ensure that journalists are able to hold the government accountable, the organization will create a media defense network to address threats against journalists and coordinate media reform efforts. Started by a coalition of Sierra Leonean journalists, the organization has fifty years of experience coordinating media sector reform.
SKYY Women’s World Network
Advancing Women’s Participation in Local Governance
$50000
To promote women’s representation in Sierra Leone’s local elections. The organization will host a training of trainers workshop to discuss the electoral process, voter registration, leadership, public speaking, and advocacy techniques. Then, the group will conduct regional capacity building workshops on similar topics to mobilize first-time voters and to encourage women to run for office. The organization will host forums discussing barriers to women’s participation in politics and strategies to confront those challenges as well as their priority issues for the elections. The group will also host radio programs featuring candidates from across the political spectrum and air jingles about the electoral process. Started in 2005 to promote civic education in Sierra Leone’s post-conflict environment, the organization has used storytelling and radio programming to promote women’s inclusion in politics.
Sierra Leone
Media Reform Coordinating Group – Sierra Leone
Enhancing Press Freedom and Media Reforms
$160000
Public Summary: To promote media reform and enhance frameworks for journalists’ safety. The organization will train journalists on existing media regulations, strengthen government accountability mechanisms in the journalism curriculum, document human rights violations against media stakeholders, publish reports on the state of media freedom, and develop a protocol to protect journalist safety and security while working. The organization will also train citizens on media literacy and the role journalists play in advancing government accountability.
Society for Democratic Initiatives
Promoting Freedom of Information
$160000
To promote freedom of information in Sierra Leone. The organization will train civil society and government stakeholders on the purpose of the right to access information act, discuss how FOI requests can promote transparency and improve service delivery, and pursue litigation as required to obtain information. The organization will use FOI requests to monitor COVID 19 expenditures and will document human rights abuses committed during the ongoing national state of emergency.
