Profile for Panache Award 2021

By Janet Bockarie

When we talk of women empowerment it’s not just by what we hear, read about but also by what we see on an everyday woman’s life. Our cover girl – Janet Bockarie, is a classic exam-ple of that everyday woman who role models everywhere she puts her feet and hands on. She is elegant, beautiful and yet the humblest woman you will ever interact with. It’s no wonder she was nominated for the Panache Award earlier in the year – a well-deserved award. Below is what led to Janet’s nomination – very empowering. Mrs Janet Regina Bockarie has dedicated the last 12 months to combating misinformation about COVID-19, building unique communication skills to teach the public in her own home country- Sierra Leone about Covid-19 prevention approaches, and advocating for Psychoso-cial Frist Aid (PFA) and Infection Prevention Control (IPC) measures to address the pandem-ic. Janet went to Sierra Leone just before the COVID-19 onset in the UK. On arrival in Sierra Leone, she volunteered to work with the National COVID-19 Emergency Recovery Centre (NaCOVERC) Team based in the capital city. She was allocated to work with one of the Dis-trict COVID-19 Emergency Recovery Centre (DiCOVERC). Although she has been an indi-gen of Bo/ Bonthe District, she opted to extend her volunteering services with the Bo Di-COVERC. She worked with (Number) chiefdoms across the district to aid in Covid-19 IPC and PFA and identifying and training on risk mitigation approaches. She has also utilized platforms such as social media with local radio stations and traditional media to share public health prevention messages and translate IPC and PFA into language understandable by the masses. Her thought-provoking and communication messages on COVID-19 challenged narratives being pushed by the local media that COVID-19 was a white man`s and rich person`s sick who intentionally misled the public about the risk associated with in-person learning during the pandemic. She breaks the barrier of most international volunteers who will choose the ex-tent of their involvement in pandemics. She was one of the most responsive experts for COVID-19 information at the Command Centre.

Since her return to the UK this year, Janet has helped so many zoom meetings with local communities on reflections “in” & “on” COVID-19 pandemic to empower other women from different ethnic backgrounds. She has now started looking into empowering women to start planning for RETIREMENT to combat fears, worries, and concerns. Besides that, Janet con-tinues to fight the case for women and girls especially on FGM, Domestic Abuse and others.

A few words from those who nominated Mrs Janet Regina Bockarie:

“Mrs Bockarie may be the most courageous woman I’ve encountered during the COVID-19 pandemic at the BO Discover. She unabashedly challenges misinfor-mation confidently and assertively that doesn’t come out as talking down to peo-ple.”