WRF in Sierra Leone

Background
Based on its expertise in community-based rehabilitation, WRF was asked by UNDP in 1999 to focus on the reintegration and rehabilitation of war-affected women in Sierra Leone.  For the past six years (1999-2005), WRF’s vast experiences, especially in its established roles in the socio-economic reintegration of people with landmine disabilities in Cambodia, Mozambique and Lebanon (starting with a three-year global partnership with UNDP), as well as its current reintegration programs in Sierra Leone, attest to WRF’s unique qualifications in tested competencies for the program expansion in Sierra Leone now proposed in this paper.

The National Commission for Social Action (NACSA), formerly the National Committee for Reconstruction, Reconciliation and Reintegration (NCRRR), which oversees all NGO activity in Sierra Leone, and the Sierra Leone Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (SLONGO) found that most rehabilitative interventions focus on amputees and male ex-combatants, neglecting the circumstances of female ex-combatants and women who have been subjected to sexual abuse and/or slavery.  As a result of this national assessment, and in collaboration with two well-established, local NGOs, the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) and Children Associated with the War (CAW), the Sierra Leonean community defined WRF’s role early in 2000  requesting that WRF design a pilot program to address the psychological and socio-economic needs of traumatized women.

Thereupon, during the period from October 2000 to December 2002, WRF conducted a community-based intervention to provide support to physically and emotionally abused women in Sierra Leone.  The project was funded by the Government of Sweden (Sida) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and directed at culturally-attuned psychosocial counseling directly coupled with vocational training and microenterprise development in child care and crèche management; fish salting/smoking and marketing; and tailoring and needle work.

340 war-affected women in Freetown, Bo, Bonthe and Pujehun were involved and 270 of the 340 beneficiaries who graduated from vocational training phase received microenterprise grants in the form of “Business Kits”.  Other resources and materials necessary for the creation of small businesses were based on the knowledge and skills gained through WRF’s vocational training programs. 

In September 2002, President Ahmed Kabbah of Sierra Leone met in New York with WRF officials and consultants during his visit to the United Nations.  At that time and place, he commended WRF for its work and urged them to intervene in the Northern Districts.  We now elect to do that beyond Bombali District where we have currently developed microenterprise programs.

Beginning in November 2002, American Jewish World Service (AJWS) gave WRF a succession of 3 supplemental grants totaling $38,700 to further support the on-going WRF microenterprise development activities.  At that time these funds were used to access business start-up kits, hire specialized microenterprise – experienced personnel, and integrate business training with the terminations of vocational training and the start-up of enterprises. 

WRF also participated in the World Bank Development Market Place competition in late 2003 and later received a grant of $126,020, to establish a program of socio-economic rehabilitation for additional war-affected women.  This intervention targeting another District, effectively expanded its successful programs in Freetown, Bo, Bonthe and Pujehun to Makeni in Bombali District, where 250 more young women and girls are now being counseled and vocationally trained in a larger number of skills areas than the earlier programs.  CARITAS, a local NGO, was on contract to WRF/SL to manage many of the interventions.

WRF plans to bring, especially to the Northern Districts, the very valuable lessons learned not only in Sierra Leone in the early stages of current programs but also from the successful achievements of WRF’s global experiences, mainly those in Cambodia and Lebanon.  In particular, Lebanon gave us enormous opportunities to assist victims of landmines and war with psychosocial and physical disability problems in an economically – deprived setting.  Ongoing economic integration programs (15 years so far) have provided broad-spectrum interventions to develop community enterprises and associated skills training, including business management indoctrinations.