Published: April 8, 2026
TUBMANBURG, Bomi County — Eighteen women farmers, including women living with disabilities, left a one-day legal awareness training here with a sharper understanding of their rights to land ownership and access to justice, and a pointed message for the government and donor community: awareness alone is not enough.
The session, held April 2 under the theme “Enhancing the Capacity of Women Farmers by Providing Knowledge on the Legal Rights of Women with Disabilities,” was organized by the Platform for Dialogue and Peace and supported by the Women Peace and Humanitarian Fund as part of a broader initiative targeting women farmers in Bomi, Montserrado, Grand Bassa and Grand Gedeh counties.
Project Officer Varbah Beyan said prior assessments of women’s groups in the project’s target areas revealed alarming gaps in legal literacy. Between 50 and 75 percent of women farmers reached by the project have limited knowledge of their legal rights, she said, particularly around land ownership, one of the most contested and consequential issues facing rural women in Liberia.
Prince Fromoyan, Executive Director of TeTRAP, who facilitated the session, urged participants to move from awareness to action. He told the women to stand firm when faced with violations of their rights, particularly on matters of land and access to justice, and directed a pointed challenge at those with power to act.
“The Government of Liberia and donor partners must move beyond policy-level awareness and prioritize concrete actions that deliver tangible improvements in the lives of women,” Fromoyan said.
Speaking on behalf of women living with disabilities, Zinnah Powell described the continued exclusion of persons with disabilities from national development programs as one of the most persistent injustices facing her community. She called on donor partners to expand support and design more inclusive programming that reaches women who are too often left at the margins of both agricultural development and legal protection efforts.
Despite her frustration, Powell pledged to carry the knowledge gained back to her community. “I will share what I have learned with other women and apply these lessons to strengthen our local farming groups,” she said.
Participants described the training as both timely and practically valuable, and expressed appreciation to P4DP and its partners for creating what many said was a rare opportunity to engage directly with legal concepts that affect their daily lives.
At the close of the session, each participant received a set of basic farming tools — shovels, rakes and cutlasses — as part of a skills support package intended to complement the legal training with immediate, practical assistance for their agricultural work.
The initiative is being implemented across four counties as part of the “Project for Women Socio-Economic Leadership and Resilience,” which seeks to strengthen the legal, social and economic standing of women farmers, with particular attention to those living with disabilities.
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