Local Partner: Association for Health, Education, Agriculture and Development in Sierra Leone (AHEAD-SL)
Background and objective: The Indigenous Limba people of Kasonko live in hard to reach and remote communities, often lacking access to food, basic education and other socio-economic facilities, including good road networks and safe drinking water. These indigenous communities largely depend on farming, hunting and palm wine tapping and consuming bush meats and bats pose a threat to their health and wellbeing. They engage in subsistence farming as the main source of livelihood with 89% of households involved in farming, food production is insufficient and daily food intake does often not meet the requirements.
The project intends to enable indigenous farmers improve productivity and diversity by introducing crop rotation with vegetables and will leverage on indigenous food systems and knowledge whilst also equipping indigenous Limba family farmers with the knowledge, skills and experiences to undertake integrated agricultural activities through learning by doing to increase food production for consumption at household levels and sale of surplus. It will build capacities on best practices, increase knowledge that will lead to food security and sovereignty and increase household incomes and support establishment of 5 Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) in all target communities to enable indigenous people have access to financial services as well as from sales of their agro-produce.
Local partner information:AHEAD-SL was founded in 2012, in Kenema District, eastern Sierra Leone, to respond to issues affecting youth, women and children living in the deprived communities. The mission is to provide services that promote health and knowledge of local people, and support agro-based activities through food production. Major programs include interventions in health, agriculture, education and development of cross-cutting issues which is the reason for our existence with long- term priorities being to support food production, reduce poverty, promote health, quality education and create enabling economic development.
