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SIERRA LEONE
Country Snapshot
More than two years after the Government of Sierra Leone (GOSL) and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) signed the Lome Peace Accord in July 1999, Sierra Leone’s decade-long brutal civil war ended in January 2002. The conflict, marked by systematic killings, torture, abduction, forced conscription of children, amputations and sexual violence, began in 1991 when multiple factors including poor governance, pervasive poverty and the quest for control of Sierra Leone’s diamond mines culminated in war. Ultimately, 20,000 people were killed, thousands were maimed, young girls and women were raped and over 2 million people were displaced. Physicians for Human Rights estimated that 50,000 to 65,000 women suffered war-related sexual violence (i.e., rape, gang rape, sexual slavery) and psychological trauma during the conflict.
According to the United Nations Human Development Index 2006, Sierra Leone is second only to Niger as the least developed country in the world, with a life expectancy of 41 years and an infant mortality rate 165 per 1,000. Moreover, 74.5% of the population lives on less than $2 a day and 65% of adults are illiterate, with rates escalating in rural areas.
The war severely limited access to education and economic opportunities, particularly for war-affected women. Now, women not only face extreme barriers in returning to formal learning environments, but they also bear the social burden and trauma of their sexual abuse. Extreme poverty, lack of vocational skills and depression further complicate their efforts.
Program Overview
Starting in late 2000, WRF initiated a psychosocial rehabilitation and vocational training program to respond specifically to the acute gaps in services for war impacted-girls and women. Many had been child soldiers—conscripted against their will. Over the course of 5 years, by partnering with local organizations, communities, government ministries, international donors, and the girls and young women themselves, WRF created a model that is effective, dynamic, and making a difference throughout the country. The program focused/s on culturally-attuned psychosocial counseling directly coupled with vocational training and microenterprise development in areas such as:
This initiative has directly helped a total of 1,064 young women launch their own small businesses or gain employment in the formal sector and indirectly impacted thousands more. Most importantly the long-term impact of this program large percentage of the young women are mothers as a result of rape and through counseling, training, and education became empowered to provide better opportunities for themselves and their children, thus breaking the cycle of poverty in which they would otherwise be trapped.
