AdvocAid

AdvocAid works with girls and women caught up in Sierra Leone’s often unjust legal system. They are the only organisation in West Africa providing holistic access to justice via free legal representation, education empowerment, detainee support and a moving forward programme, ensuring detainees leave as stronger women with brighter prospects. Poverty and imprisonment frequently go hand-in-hand, both as the reason for women’s offences and because women can rarely afford legal services, fines or bail. Alongside this, poor education means too many women don’t know or understand their legal rights, resulting in admission to crimes they did not commit and no knowledge of their rights when arrested. AdvocAid was founded in 2006 and has celebrated its 10 year anniversary in 2016. Read their blog to learn more about their achievements over the past decade and how they celebrate 10 years! Today, they work in several towns across Sierra Leone to ensure these women and their children receive fair legal representation, are educated on their legal rights and offered rehabilitation support upon release. As well as providing these short term interventions, they deliver advocacy and law reform projects focused on wider issues impacting women in the justice system, ensuring they are changing women’s future prospects in the long term.