OVERVIEWThe placement with this indigenous Sierra Leonean NGO was arranged through NGOabroad. The organisation's mission is to promote awareness, build the skills and experience of the disadvantaged young people to make effective positive social changes.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS2006 was an exciting year of grassroots development for this organization. We saw growth and change in our partner villages as opportunities were created for self-sufficiency, education and healthcare.
Although its difficult to list all the remarkable things from the past year, the following is a list of notable highlights from 2006:
In the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone, 5 youth group, composed of leaders from our partner village organisations met for the first time over a full day to develop ways for collaborating to create sustainable change in their communities ; trained women and youth groups for empowerment in poor communities in the formation of groups, imparting skills in managingmicro-credit, imparting skills in small-scale entrepreneurship. Women were motivated to join the training programs through meetings with individual women. Training was given in developing various skills, e.g., sewing, soapmaking, gara cloth making, batik-making, making of smokeless stoves, construction of pit latrines, poultry farming, planting kitchen gardens and vegetable farms.
The staff helped with the women to form groups and assist the groups in the villages to plan various activities. Several awareness programmes in the villages were held with the help ofthe participants. Non-formal education (literacy) centers were conducted for women and girls. Our involvement with a Youth Community Training Project has helped to provide youth the necessary training and business opportunities to urban youth. We have developed self-reliance for the poor youth by developing income generating activities; improved child and familynutrition, promoted community responsibility and solidarity, and created employment in two rural communities of our operation.
In addition, we successfully secured in-kind gifts which made differences in young people's day to day lives. These included medical equipment and school supplies procured by volunteers and donated to eight partner organisations; soccer equipments to youth in two villages; 100pairs of flip-flops so children would have shoes to wear to school; benches and desks built for two primary schools.
COMMUNITY SELF HELPBecause we are currently restructuring our country programme, we are in the process of developing a strategic programme plan for the next three years. We will assign volunteers directly to communities. These volunteers will have practical experience of community self-help. The assignment is undertaken on the request of our partner communities who have startedtheir own self-help activities and need a resource person to improve their activities. They live and work within a community, assisting the people in making local ideas and initiatives become viable programmes and projects. They help to upgrade community action skills , such as organising meetings discussing problems, finding solutions , planning and evaluating. When people undertake income - generating activities , the volunteers train them in informal day - to - day working situations in project management and technical skills. The volunteers role is also to link the community with existing training facilities and help in tailoring training that best meetsthe particular needs. The principle of sustained development is to rely on local resources and skills and to start the work with what is within people's possibilities.
The volunteer helps the community to seek technical advice from extension services , NGO's , and other institutions. Outside funding is called upon when local resources are not sufficient. When working with outside funding, people acquire management skills assisted by the volunteer.
The approach provides an enabling environment within which local community groups can harness their own potential - i.e. knowledge of the local environment, resources in terms of labour, land , and capital saving capacity etc. - to improve the well - being of of their communitiesthrough a range of activities.
MICRO-LOANSA revolving fund will be operated to provide credits to self – help groups for embarking on or expanding income generating activities and for establishing small - scale village enterprises. Reimbursement of credit will be made to local Fund Committees and the utilisation of the financeswill be monitored by the volunteers.
The National Coordinator will monitor the programme activities and carry out an advocacy function for grassroots work and will involve national institutions , NGO's , and international donors in supporting community activities with which volunteers are involved. Together with the organization, volunteers, and partner organisations, the Coordinator will organize community development workshops in villages.
Training exchange programmes for group leaders and community representatives will be organised with communities which have succeeded in their action. Training workshops on participatory development action for community representatives and development workers of NGO's will be organised at district and provincial level.
CAPACITY BUILDINGRegarding capacity building, we aim to improve the quality of capacity building support to community-based organisations. We also aim to improve our understanding and practice by facilitating discussions and sharing of knowledge and experiences. We seek to cooperate with other organizations and networks.
The organization acts as a knowledge broker and makes existing expertise in the field of capacity building more widely available. It also promotes learning and tries to develop new tools and methods to facilitate capacity building process. We organise expert meetings, workshops and training sessions, and initiate communities of practice in key issues of capacity building.
VOCATIONAL/JOB TRAININGAbout help with vocational training/job, this should be directed towards young people in experiential farming programmes to expand extension services to maintain improvements in agricultural production and marketing and skill training for income- generation. We would like to see training programmes developed for youth which will improve methods of agriculturalproduction and marketing. Training should be based on rural economic needs and the need to train young people in rural areas in techniques of food production and the achievement of food security. Attention should be given in such programmes to young women, youth retention in rural areas, youth returning to rural areas from towns and cities, young people with disabilities, street children, etc.
Because we want to reduce food shortages and losses among our partner groups from defective systems of food storage and transport to markets, we will need training of trainers for direct - marketing groups, including production and distribution cooperatives, to improve their currentmarketing systems and to ensure that young farmers have access to them.
TRAININGThere is also a growing need for management training and training in entrepreneurial techniques and marketing; income generation and community development projects which enhance and utilise women's educational ,vocational , and leadership skills ; assist the unemployed in learning new skills and those who want to start their own businesses ; training in financial budgeting , family planning and nutrition ; conduct literacy classes and vocational training for women to eradicate illiteracy through education and to provide vocational training for women in sewing,embroidery, etc.
This organization is recognised as a leader in the field of international volunteering. We are committed to ensuring the safety, flexibility, professionalism, transparency and excellence of our programmes. Ensuring the highest quality of programming is an ongoing process, which is why our programme sites undergo a comprehensive review process each six months to asses their performance in the following areas: programme quality , overall volunteer satisfaction , adherence to staff policies, medical procedure training , and security guidelines. We are dedicated tomonitoring and continually improving the volunteer experience on a daily basis.
