WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2010-06-09 Time: 14:00:03 Posted By: News Poster
By Mohamed Massaquoi
Freetown – The European Union (EU) through its implementing partners in Sierra Leone has engaged residents of Kamboya and Bagba chiefdoms in the Bo district to promote agriculture, water and sanitation, good governance and trading activities, among others.
A team from the EU headquarters in Freetown recently embarked on an on-the-spot check to the provinces to get firsthand information about the impact of these projects on the lives of the people, as the scheme was basically designed to address the social and economic needs of grassroots communities.
Giving an overview of the project, EU project officer Ritchie Johns said the welfare of people at grassroots communities was seriously considered while implementing the project, and that increase in agricultural productivity for food self-sufficiency and grassroots empowerment were significant to the project.
He encouraged farmers to embark on inland valley farming activities, stating that Nerica – a higher yield, shorter growth duration, resistance to local stress and higher protein rice – was given to farmers to be multiplied.
Johns noted that farmers now have enough seeds and seedlings for their farming activities, adding that water and sanitation programmes were included in the project for proper hygiene and environmental sanitation.
“EU is spending 800,000 Euro in this project; it is very important that community people actually benefit from it because it was developed to ease some of the problems faced at grass root levels,” he said.
Dirk Harsdorf is the project manager for Welthungerhilfe (German agro action), one of the implementing partners of the governance and agricultural projects in that part of the country. He said various committees were being set up to encourage full community participation and that a lot of success stories were being recorded, especially on agriculture and governance issues.
Harsdorf further noted that people from other areas were now purchasing seeds and seedlings from farmers who benefited from these projects.
It could be recalled that shortly after the decade civil conflict in the country, one of the major challenges faced by local communities, especially women, were sustainable livelihoods and infrastructural development. Majority of them could not have survived all of these confronts without the timely intervention of the EU and its implementing partners, as some beneficiaries explained in an interview.
The project started in 2008 but has contributed greatly in changing the living conditions of the people. It has increased agricultural productivity for food self-sufficiency and trade links with both rural and urban communities.
Soft loans were given to local farmers to strengthen their economic status and most of them commended the donors for providing such an enviable assistance.
In Blama, women’s groups have received over two million Leones to startup small scale businesses and according to them, “it has yielded a lot of profits for the community”.
Before the loans were given, beneficiaries were trained in business management, profit and loss and other business techniques for them to properly manager the resources.
These women can now pay school fees, buy clothes and feed their children without support from their husbands. The scheme has created unity and love among women’s groups as they plan together and share things in common.
One of the beneficiaries, Victoria Samai, said they can now properly take care of themselves and their children out of the profits generated from the micro credit scheme.
She said they organized themselves into groups with 20 of them given reasonable amount to be invested and that she was happy that the scheme has been a success for the communities.
“Before we were given the loans, they provided us with training facilities on business management, adult literacy, savings and income generating activities; it is significant because it has increased trade links tremendously between Bo and our village.
“We no longer quarrel with our husbands if they fail to give us food for a particular day because we have some money at hand. We recognize the fact that it is out of sympathy that we are getting this support, therefore we are working hard to sustain our business activities,” Samai said.
Adama Thomas, a member of the group, explained that they have been buying palm oil and other local products and that whenever there is an increase in prize, they sell and make profit.
She thanked the EU for constructing seven toilets, a dry floor, and water well and other facilities for the people.
In Kondorwadu, Kissi Tongi chiefdom in the Kailahun district, the community association and skills training institute (CASTI) is working with Oxfam with support from the EU to implement community action for water facility development and poverty reduction in the area.
The community has been fetching water from a nearby stream which, according to residents, was not hygienic.
Community sensitizations on hygiene promotion were all part of the project.
A total number of two hundred and twenty six people in that village now boost of nine locally made toilets, water well and other implements to upkeep their environment.
Original date published: 8 June 2010
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201006090845.html?viewall=1