Sierra Leoneans celebrated in the streets last month when 42 days passed without a single new case of Ebola. The mix of mourning and jubilation called to mind the signing of a peace treaty after a war, and the end of Ebola should indeed be greeted as a victory.
Sierra Leone should reconsider its law barring pregnant girls from completing their education, but while the law is in place, alternatives are available
BRAC launched the livestock and poultry program in Sierra Leone in 2008. We have been developing many supporting activities such as disease management, poultry vaccination, dissemination of improved breed of cow through artificial insemination, supply of livestock and poultry feed and milk processing and distribution.
I met Margaret on my most recent trip to West Africa. Margaret is a BRAC Sierra Leone health promoter in Grassfield, south-east of central Freetown. In only three months after joining, she is already very active in health education in her community. “I first learned about many health topics from BRAC – importance of breast feeding, TB, Malaria, personal hygiene, safe drinking water, and more.” She is noticing changes in the level of cleanliness and hygiene maintained by members in the community that she covers.
Sierra Leone is a beautiful country in West Africa. Its vibrant capital city, Freetown, now has half of its population living in the city and surrounding area making traffic a subject of conversation and much frustration for people.
Led by Country Representative Shah Alam (front right) and Tapon Kumar Das (front left), BRAC Sierra Leone has now set up 10 microfinance branches and launched its health, agriculture and livestock programs. I visited the branches in Waterloo and Lunsar on a recent trip. The challenges are enormous in this post-conflict country of roughly 6 million people but the BRAC team is highly motivated to make a difference. A handful of Bangladeshi staff are now working with over 60 staff recruited from Sierra Leone.
Pictured in front of the branch office is the Branch Manager, Isatu Mabel Kanu (center) and two of her colleagues newly hired as Credit Officers, Melvina (tallest) and Aida (in pink t-shirt)
Originally posted on The Center for Financial Inclusion blog. BRAC welcomes the launch of the FI2020 Progress Report. BRAC has been an active supporter in the drive to facilitate universal financial access by 2020, having enabled the financial inclusion of over 6 million people in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Myanmar.
We face tremendous problems keeping girls in school as they transition through adolescence. In Sierra Leone, 30 per cent of reported rapes take place in the school environment, and a recent ruling banned ‘visibly pregnant’ girls from school. When the school itself becomes a hostile setting, it should come as no surprise that dropout rates shoot up.
Friends and supporters have reached out to BRAC with concern and support. In Sierra Leone and Liberia, we have 907 full-time staff, and about as many self-employed community health promoters. Our staff is safe, though sadly, some of our microfinance clients are among the more than 1,000 who have died.
I wrote last week about the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa and what can be done to stop it. Thanks in part to help from supporters in North America, including the actor Jeffrey Wright, BRAC USA has responded with emergency funding to BRAC Sierra Leone to contain the crisis.
Fears are rising in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea that the deadly Ebola virus is spreading out of control. I spoke to Tapan Karmakar, country representative of BRAC Sierra Leone. “People are now afraid,” he told me. Additional funding is needed for community health workers to reach remote areas.