We are excited to announce the official launch of “Advancing Gender-Inclusive Governance in the Republic of Sierra Leone,” a two-year project (August 2026 – July 2028) supported by the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF). The launch follows confirmation of our first funding tranche and comes alongside an inception meeting between MAGE-SL and UNDEF to formally kick off the partnership.
Over the next two years, this project will bring together 125 male district councillors and political leaders with 125 women councillors and aspiring candidates across five districts — Western Area Rural, Port Loko, Bombali, Tonkolili and Moyamba — to tackle the barriers that continue to keep women out of local political leadership.
Sierra Leone’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) Act has opened important doors, but women still hold just over a third of elected local council seats, and an even smaller share of leadership positions within political parties. Discriminatory social norms, limited access to political networks, and a lack of collaboration between male and female leaders continue to hold back meaningful progress.
We believe this can’t be solved by women alone. It requires men who already hold positions of influence to become active partners in change.
Grounded in MAGE-SL’s Men, Power and Politics model, the project will deliver:
In the coming weeks, MAGE-SL will begin the first project activities: district-level inception meetings with local stakeholders — including chiefs, council leaders, and religious and traditional authorities — across all five target districts, alongside our first round of gender training sessions. We’ll share updates here on the website and across our social media channels as the project rolls out.
We are grateful to the United Nations Democracy Fund for its support, and we look forward to working closely with district authorities, political parties, civil society organizations, and community leaders throughout implementation.
This project is funded by the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF). The views expressed here are those of MAGE-SL and do not necessarily reflect the views of UNDEF or the United Nations.
