By Donstance Koroma
Plan International, in partnership with Advocacy Movement Network (AMNet), on Friday 10th August, 2018 launched the Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) at Masiaka in Koya Chiefdom.
Giving an overview of the project, AMNet Project Supervisor, Port Loko District, Abubakarr Kamara, pointed out that the integrated sponsorship community youth empowerment project is for parents of Plan International sponsored children in 43 communities in the Koya Chiefdom with twenty five women per group.
He observed that they have initiated the project to be able to address the numerous challenges faced by Plan, who have been largely unable to track parents of sponsored children especially so when they needed pertinent information on the kids.
It will benefit a total of 3,650 women, he said. He disclosed that the project will target forty three communities (43) in the Koya Chiefdom with twenty five women per group.
AMNet program coordinator, Abubakarr Kaikai, said AMNet is a women’s organization that has operated for 15 years in Sierra Leone – on areas such as child protection, women and youth empowerment and children in and out of schools in eight districts across the country.
He called on beneficiaries to make the VSLA sustainable, while pointing out that the project has recorded huge successes in other African countries that have been benefiting for the past 25 years.
The Program Coordinator entreated the beneficiaries to put up exemplary performance in terms of efficiently managing the project in the first nine months of the project.
Chief Executive Officer and founder of AMNet, Hawa Sami, thanked P.C. Alhaji Bai Kumpa Bomboli for hosting them. She stressed that the VSLA does not in any way mean wives should challenge their husbands but to complement their role in providing a kitty to solve family issues as and when they arise.
The CEO added that AMNet is fully operational in eight districts across the country, with interventions on women and children. She disclosed that the VSLA is currently operational in Moyamba, Port Loko, Koinadugu, Makeni and Kenema- accounting for ten thousand (10,000,) beneficiaries nationwide.
She cited that Koinadugu, Makeni and Kenema districts have registered great success with the scheme.
Makeni women, she noted, are on the verge of purchasing a cassava grinding machine; Kenema are also planning to buy a mini bus, while Koinadugu’s savings have reached twenty one million leones (Le21,000,000), adding that they are thinking of undertaking a viable investment in the not too distant future.
“The VSLA is not a micro credit. It has caused a lot of migration as many Sierra Leonean women are unable to repay the loan,” CEO Hawa Sami concluded.
Christiana Momoh, Plan International Sponsorship Implementing Coordinator, said the VSLA will serve as an economic safety net that targets Plan children, sponsorship families and beneficiaries. She disclosed that they will be trained on how to use the equipment. She pleaded with them to own the project as it has lots of benefits.
Christina admonished the target beneficiaries to be updating them in an event they (parents) want to transfer their children elsewhere. This, according to her, will prevent a breakdown in communication between the children and their sponsors, otherwise the rationale and sustainability of the VSLA will be affected.
Plan International Head of Sponsorship, Freetown, Joseph Dyfan, among other things, stated that the handing over of the equipment is important but the sustainable management of the scheme is very critical and remains a key challenge for them and the target beneficiaries.
Head of the Social Welfare Committee, Port Loko District Council, Councillor Princess J. Mansaray, called on the targeted families to support the scheme, noting that no government will fully meet the needs of its people without the intervention of development partners like Plan International.
She said the VSAL will help in breaking the poverty circle and provide the opportunity for families to embark on self-created business that directly targets human development.
Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children Affairs’ representative, Suleiman Sandy Sesay, noted that Plan International and Advocacy Movement Network (AMNet) are organizations fully certified and recognized by his ministry. He disclosed that the Ministry has, over the years, embarked on service mapping in the district to identify organizations that are development oriented.
He reminded all present that the mandate of the Ministry is to protect children and women, pointing out that the 2012 Sexual Offenses Act, Sexual and Gender Based Violence, Wife Battering and Violation of the 2007 Child Right Act are all punishable by law.
P.C. Alhaji Bai Kumpa Bomboli thanked Plan for what he described as their marvelous work in the Koya Chiefdom. He added that the said project will help transform the lives of women. He entreated the beneficiaries to work hard as they and their families stand to benefit through such a project.
It will be recalled that Plan International entered Koya Chiefdom, Port Loko District, as early as 1976. Since then they have contributed in constructing schools, providing sponsorship for girls’ educational programs. In fact, the current head of Social Welfare Committee, Port Loko District Council, Princess J. Mansaray, is a success story of both Plan International and Advocacy Movement Network (AMNet).
Plan International has operated in Sierra Leone for forty years, providing interventions in the areas of child protection and education in remote communities.
They have stood by the country as and when the situation demands. The organization has consistently developed programs to fit into the poverty alleviation portfolio of the Government.