Liberian United Youth For Community Safety and Development

School-Related Sexual Exploitation and Abused (SRSEA) and its Consequences on Secondary School Students: Implications for Counseling

School-Related Sexual Exploitation and Abused (SRSEA) is widespread in propose project area/country at all community and economic levels and among all ethnic groups. There is overwhelming evidence that adolescent girls are more affected than boys across the board. Violence against adolescent girls is still regarded by many as a way of life which have prompt this call to action. The project will be in Nimba County covering the nine electoral districts beginning for 24 months with sustainable manageable quality and a professional team who have worked in the field for over 10 years to find a solution to School-Related Sexual Exploitation and Abused (SRSEA) in Nimba County. However, with a sustainable, measurable, monitoring and evaluation team reporting to donors. Over the past years, Liberian United Youth for Community Safety and Development has implemented a small project to understand the level of risk.

Sexual exploitation involving adolescent girls living with vulnerability in attending secondary school within the rural town and villages in the nine electoral districts in which the project was implemented successfully. However, we identified 50 victims and the victims had over 30 dependents who are currently in school supported by LUYCSD. However, some of the perpetrator identified during our implementation over ten persons is in prison in Nimba County. We have provided counseling services to over 50 adolescent girls some of them are currently working with the team while some are in a higher institution sponsored by Liberian United Youth for Community Safety and Development to have their degree up to 10 persons from 2010 to 2021. Today, the issue of School-Related Sexual Exploitation and Abused (SRSEA) is on the increase in institutions of learning, from primary school to the university in Ganta and Siniquelle of Nimba. There is hardly any day that passes by without one, reading through newspapers; headlines about cases of rape, sexual harassment, abortion, or forced marriages in this community. The electronic media is also replete with stories of School-Related Sexual Exploitation and Abused, which range from bullying to gang raping of female students. Efforts by school authorities and the Government appear not to have yielded the desired result and some of the victims have dropped out of school because of the humiliation experience This project will directly focus on both female and male community members in the nine electoral districts of Nimba County. The primary target beneficiaries will be 2,000 adolescent girls who are at risk of violence and about 1000 men within targeted communities. The direct project Partners will include general community leaders, CBOs, Crime Prevention Committees, Children and Protection Units, women and youth associations, Police and Judiciary bodies, Nimba County gender officers, the Ministry of Health, Marketers Association and Cyclist Union, District Education Officers DEO, Schools Principal and Teachers association, local NGOs/local government bodies within the district. There are children residing at various orphanages within Nimba who are vulnerable to sexual exploitation due to a lack of necessities at the orphanages.

School-Related Sexual Exploitation and Abused (SRSEA) is very prevalent and contribute to the reduction of physical and mental health consequences among adolescent girls in schools and community as well, urgent need and prompt actions are needed, if the perpetration of this action is allowed to stay, it could lead to an unsafe and unwelcome learning environment, capable of adversely affecting girls’ educational attainment for some that are victims of Sexual Exploitation and Abused in rural town and villages in Nimba.

This project will provide a specialize skill in the following area below as a means of mitigating the problem along with the collaborating partner when fund is approved for this project as a means of saving life.

• Provide adequate care and support to victims and the child/children of School-Related Sexual Exploitation and Abused (SRSEA) in the targeted localities through medical assistance, psychosocial support and legal assistance;
• Prevent School-Related Sexual Exploitation and Abused (SRSEA) through awareness raising activities and design of a national plan to fight SRSEA; establish a skill training center in three locations in the district. Equipping centers with materials. And supporting victims children in school.
• Collect reliable quantitative and qualitative data on School-Related Sexual Exploitation and Abused (SRSEA) through the DEO, GBV/Gender Officer, Police, Children Protection unit LUYCSD team and all other governmental regulatory bodies as well as collaborating partners.

Vertical penetration is guaranteed by having on board the local authority which collaborates with the implementation team to perform administrative duties and is the custodian of development within Nimba. LUYCSD has already established a strong working relationship with the local authorities which have resulted into a fruitful coordination from our past project to understand the level of risk involving the adolescent girls living with vulnerability in attending secondary school within the rural town and villages in the nine electoral districts to which project was implemented successfully as we identify 50 victims and the victims had over 30 dependence who are currently in school supported by LUYCSD. However, some of the perpetrator identified during our implementation over 10 persons is in prison in Nimba County. We have provided counseling 

LUYCSD has already established a strong working relationship with the local authorities which have resulted into a fruitful coordination from our past project to understand the level of risk involving the adolescent girls living with vulnerability in attending secondary school within the rural town and villages in the nine electoral districts to which project was implemented successfully as we identify 50 victims and the victims had over 30 dependence who are currently in school supported by LUYCSD. However, some of the perpetrator identified during our implementation over 10 persons is in prison in Nimba County. We have provided counseling services to over 50 adolescent girls which some of them are currently working with the team while some are in a higher institution sponsor by Liberian United Youth for Community Safety and Development to have their degree up to 10 persons since 2010 to 2021. Horizontal penetration on the other hand is guaranteed through partnership CBOs, Crime Prevention Committees, Children and Protection Units, women and youth associations, Police and Judiciary bodies, Nimba County gender officer, Ministry of health, Marketers Association and Cyclist Union, District Education Officers DEO, Schools Principal and Teachers association, local NGOs/local government bodies within the district in order to ensure a wider coverage and community outreach. In its capacity, LUYCSD acts as the focal point in coordinating information exchange with all working group members, supporting efforts to strengthen the capacity of community and schools and promoting close collaborations among different agencies.

For secondary school students (grades 3–12), there is an inadequate family, all of which limit access to education.

At the school level in Nimba rural towns and villages, male and female teachers tend to inflict corporal punishment on students as a way of demonstrating that they have power over them. In support of this, UNESCO and the UN (2016), stated that at the school level, there are indications that male and female teachers are more powerful than students. According to the United Nations Regional Information Centre (UNRIC) (2019), over 700 million schools – aged children reside in countries where they are not protected by law from corporal punishment in schools. This is currently affecting the adolescent girls in Nimba County. UNESCO and the UN (2016), reported that disadvantaged groups are also victims of SRGBV. Currently, the Nimba educational system and school proprietor, especially some of the rural private and public schools are in support of SRSEA against the will of the student. It has been stressed that more than 100 school children from Nimba out of which 60 percent are girls between 5 – 30 years old suffering from disabilities were victims of sexual violence.

In Nimba: according to

• The New Dawn Report (Jan 18, 2019) 11-year-old girl was gang raped to death in Bweh Town, Electoral District#7. The victim was a first grader at the Johnny Vokar Public School in Saclepea but had gone for a weekend in Bweh, her home town when she was allegedly gang raped by a group of men. This has been the normal habit that is spreading all over Liberia that needs immediate attention due to the illiteracy rate in the various counties and the lack of support from the government to address this deadly action.
• Nimba Blogger (Sept 1, 2020) this time around a 3-year-old girl was raped by a 25-year-old man in Margibi. The incident took place in the smell No Taste Community and the perpetrator is currently in Police custody.
• By: Nathaniel Tokpah (Nimba County Correspondent Oct 21, 2020, KMTV Liberia) reported that Samuel Roland age 26 raped a 13-year-old girl in Ganta on Tuesday, 13 October in the Palm Farm Community.
• By Lennart Dodoo (Apr 15, 2020) Daniel K. Wuo, a resident of Zuluyee Town in District #2, allegedly raped a 9-year-old girl while on their farm.
• By Franklin Doloquee (April 6, 2016, The New Dawn) County Coordinator Joe Mendin, claims he witnessed an instant at both the police station and the magisterial court in Tappita when the police and court officials received 1,500 Liberian Dollars from rape suspects and released them.

 For instance, according to Public Trust Media Group (On October 16, 2019) Joshua Karnue

Reports from Liberia's northeastern Nimba County say the remains of an 11-year-old girl who was allegedly raped and murdered last January as she was leaving from school to her hometown have been abandoned by the Ministry of Justice at a local funeral home known as Heaven Give in Scalepea.  The school environment and the community in towns and villages are supposed to be, a safe place for teachers, non–teaching staff, and students physically and psychologically. But if the authority of the school is inefficient, then, sexual exploitation and bullying may be the order of the day. The problems faced by victims of gender-based violence are compounded for women living in rural areas, as they do not have access to the various forms of assistance available to victims/survivors in cities. However there is an urgent need, therefore, for LUYCSD to be able to carry out the work described above. Because of this situation, prompt actions are needed to save the life of the adolescent girls in schools who are fixed with the situation and bring the perpetrator to justice.

7% of community discussion leaders trained on the discussion curriculum.

8% of sensitized people that subsequently have adopted favorable attitudes for the Protection of children and adolescence girls against sexual violence; their discussions facilitated in the community have increased.

9% of organizations in the referral pathway fighting against sexual violence;

10% Activity reports, photos will be submitted to donor showing clear picture of the work.

Electronic Media, Radio programs, Facebook, website and etc.

Our solution is estimated to serve over 60000 girls and boys in 160 communities by next year

• Inadequate care
• Judiciary weakness to persecute perpetuators
• School administration, Principal and teachers unwillingness to join the campaign in spreading the message on prevention.
• Inadequate awareness and dissemination of information to project beneficiary and community inhabitant.
• Stick holder and regulatory authority inadequate corporation during implementation, locating perpetuator and taking brave for compromising of issues.
• The persistence of strong socio-cultural harmful attitudes and practices where school related sexual exploitation and abuse is not understood in its entire gravity.

Risk Mitigation

• The implementation team will establish full cooperation and inclusion with stick holders and community members along with schools that prioritize the interest of School Related Sexual Exploitation and Abused (SRSEA) prevention within their offices and work areas.
• We will establish a strong resilience team with the inclusion of collaborating parties in implementation, awareness, workshop, training, and other activities that will serve as means of resolving any unforeseen risks that may occur for a long and sustainable implementation term of the activities.

over 150 youth groups and community activists in private and government schools in Nimba County.

Prevention strategies: Objectives 1:

DEOs and principal along with LUYCSD team in secondary schools are to organize parents’ conferences for uneducated parents in order to counsel them on the value of education and the consequences of forcing their daughters into early marriage 

Prevention strategies: Objective 2:

Create knowledge and awareness of community members and leaders on the harmful effects of School-Related Sexual Exploitation and Abused (SRSEA)

Prevention strategies: Objective 3:

Create awareness and workshop for Religious leaders to discourage SRSEA in their sermons and public speeches- Incorporate 10 religious leaders (male) and 10 female with good knowledge on Islamic studies to assist us during the implementation of the project.

Prevention strategies: Objective 4:

Provide adequate care and support to victims of sexual exploitation in the targeted localities through medical assistance, psychosocial support and legal assistance and awareness raising activities and design of a national plan to fight SRSEA

Response: Objective 5:

10 health workers will be recruited to work along with the LUYCSD team in identifying victims and medical care, legal and psychological, respond to the survivors of school-related sexual exploitation (SRSEA)

Response: Objective 6:

Establish a skill training center in three locations in the district where victims will feel comfortable to learn skills for living and be able to compute with other female from around the world in sharing their story and their experiences.

• Equipping centers with materials such as computers, tailoring machines, baking materials and Art & Craft materials for training of victims as they will also train other victims to continue the service

The activities above will be manage for the second stage of the project and modified as it is being indicated in the plan of action in the budget which will focus on training of all project beneficiaries in a special way that they can be productive to manage and take control of their families especially in reporting cases freely without any harassment.

The activities in the second year will focus on training of the less privileges project beneficiaries and awareness and sensitization locating project beneficiaries in the very towns and villages. However, particularly supporting counselor to bring perpetrator to justice

This will include medical assistance, psychosocial support offered by social workers and specialized educators as well as legal assistance to victims who wish to seek justice through court action.

The project will focus on both prevention and response strategies that will include:- Prevention of School- Related Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SRSEA) against adolescence girls.

· Development of curriculum for facilitation during community discussions

• Integration - of SRSEA project with Reproductive Health and the HIV and AIDS projects implemented in the project area – as the three issues are interrelated, working in an integrated manner helps to enhance effectiveness. Mainstreaming of Gender, Equality and HIV and AIDS at all level of in this project will be one approach.