Sierra Leone

In SIERRA LEONE Batonga is:

Granting scholarships: 78 girls have been awarded secondary school scholarships to attend Waterloo Junior Secondary School in Waterloo, Sierra Leone.  They are enrolled in various grades, and the same Batonga scholarships are being paid annually until each girl graduates from grade 12. Each scholarship includes a set of school uniforms, a school bag, a pair of school shoes, 7 core text books (including business, grammar, math, and literature studies), a packet of 12 exercise books, a math set including pens, pencils and erasers, school fees, and mentoring activities. In-country NGO partner: Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE Sierra Leone Chapter)

Supporting a vocational school: Funds are being provided for 25 girls to attend a Vocational Training School in Freetown that currently has 48 girls enrolled, all of whom were rescued from brothels. These girls were forced into the sex trade due to devastating poverty and a lack of opportunities for women.  They are currently enrolled in two-year training programs in sewing, photography, carpentry, basket-weaving and pottery, tie dying, tailoring, and soap making.  Batonga also provides “employment kits” to graduates so that they have the tools they need to start their own business. In-country NGO partner: Children Associated with the War (CAW)

Background

For many years the West African country of Sierra Leone has been near the bottom of the annual UN Human Development Report that ranks nations by quality of life. It is currently 158 out the 169 countries surveyed.

It was already amongst the world’s poorest countries when it was hit by a ten year civil war that concluded with the help of a large UN peacekeeping mission in early 2002. The conflict was one of the most brutal ever fought. Some 50,000 people were killed and ten of thousands of people were mutilated. Thousands of vulnerable children were manipulated or forced into fighting. At one point it is estimated that close to one third of the entire population were either internally displaced or refugees in neighboring countries. Women in particular suffered from atrocities including systematic rape and abduction.

Investment in education is seen as key to the continuing efforts to rebuild the country, reduce poverty, and build the foundations for long term peace and development in Sierra Leone. The government has restored many schools after an estimated 70 percent of them were destroyed or occupied by rebel forces during the war. In recent years school fees have been removed in all government-owned and assisted primary schools, and attendance has tripled. This figure, however, represents only 41 percent of the primary-school age group, and conditions in most schools are very grim. Pupils often have to sit on the floor because there is no furniture. More than 40 percent of all teachers have no qualifications or formal training, and they often must have a second job just to survive. Textbooks are scarce, and few families can afford to buy notebooks for their children.

UNICEF estimates that 300,000 children of primary school age in Sierra Leone are still out of school, and 60 percent of these are girls. The gender gap widens considerably for secondary schools, which for the most part are still fee-based.

With or without an education, young women face tremendous challenges when trying to find a job—particularly in light of the 70,000 mostly male former combatants who were disarmed and rehabilitated after the war and who have swollen the ranks of young people seeking employment.