USAID/Sierra Leone: USAID Helps Meet Community Needs in Rural Koinadugu

MARCH 24, 2004

USAID Helps Meet Community Needs in Rural Koinadugu

USAID, through Christian Children's Fund, is giving grass roots support to village communities in the remote northern district of Koinadugu, in Sierra Leone, through a variety of interventions designed to help residents rebuild, reunite, and find viable ways to make ends meet.

community members in Yataya village hold up bricks

Before...villagers proudly hold up the bricks they will use to construct their new multi-purpose building...

Isatu Koroma, a resident of Yataya village in rural Koinadugu District, has recently paid back a microcredit loan given to her by Christian Children"s Fund (CCF), a non-governmental organization funded by USAID to work on community-level development projects in the remote northern and eastern Districts of Sierra Leone. The modest $50.00 loan helped Koroma buy food and condiments, which she sold in the local market. Koroma, who has six children in school, used the profits from her successful small commerce to pay for school uniforms and supplies. Says Koroma, "Since CCF has come here to help us, we say thanks to God. We are all now strong and we can stand on our own. CCF has helped us enormously."


...and after...the new center is now used for meetings, court hearings, the weekly market, and youth events.

CCF has put into a place a number of complementary interventions at the village level in the remote northern and eastern Districts of Koinadugu, Koidu and Kailahun Districts in Sierra Leone that are helping people get back on their feet financially after a decade of war, and ensuring that people in the far north and east of Sierra Leone -- those areas hardest hit during the war -- are able to restart income generating activities, and live together peacefully. In Yataya, for example, CCF and local villagers have jointly rehabilitated a public well and constructed a health clinic, in addition to putting up a "multi-purpose building" that is used for meetings, workshops, the weekly market, as well as for youth events and dances.

portrait of Alusine Kamara, youth leader of Yataya village

Youth leader Kamara: "When there is joy in a place, then development will come."

Alusine Kamara, Yataya village Youth Chairman, says that the multi-purpose structure was used the day before for a government-sponsored workshop for women in the community to learn more about good child care and hygiene practices. The building also serves as the general meeting place for seven villages in the area, as well as being used as a legal court to try local cases. Says Kamara, "We used to meet under that mango tree," he says, indicating a large tree across the road. "Now we have a place where we all can gather to speak out about our problems, or to hold meetings. We are very happy about that."

In addition, the structure is made available to local youth, who have used it to hold dances. "Even last night we young people had a dance here," says Kamara. "I came today to speak for the youth--when there is joy in a place, then development will come. But fighting cannot bring development. In this way, CCF has really helped us out."

Story and photos by Laura Lartigue