In her contribution, First lady of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Sia Nyama Koroma, intimated her audience that despite policies that stipulate the age for child marriage at 18, the practice was still common in various parts of the country, especially in rural communities.

She said UNICEF’s 2013 state of the world children’s report said Sierra Leone was one of the countries with the highest prevalence of child marriage, with 44 per cent of girls being married under 18.

Power Play Africa was founded in 2015 by the president of the Sierra Leone Football Association, Isha Johansen, and Communication Specialist, Memuna Forna. The initiative seeks to provide a platform for secondary school girls, to access information about empowering opportunities, choices and absorb new skills and information about themselves, and the world around them. 

According to the  SLFA prexy, the project  was  another way of bringing  together organisations, businesses and agencies with an interest in girls’ empowerment in one place, so school girls could get information to  intellectually, professionally and physically empower themselves in a fun and informal way.

The girls’ empowerment football festival and exhibition is one of the country’s first for FA.