Thursday 24th January marks the very first International of Education, a day which celebrates the role of education for peace and development. On this day, Dr Chris Berry reflects on his work in Sierra Leone which was recently recognised by an MBE in the New Year’s Honours List for his services to education in Sierra Leone. He has recently moved on from his position as Senior Education Adviser for DFID in Sierra Leone.
Chris first came to Sierra Leone in 1983 as a VSO to work in Yonibana Secondary School and then in Pujehun as a teacher trainer. He came back in 2015 to help Sierra Leone’s education system recover from the devastating Ebola epidemic. Chris led the UK aid contribution to education in the emergency recovery plan which helped 1.8 million children return to school safely and start to catch up for lost time. He also led on the design of a bridging programme for girls who were pregnant or lactating. This programme helped around 5,000 teenage mothers to return to school by the time it closed in 2016.
Chris was appointed as the Senior Education Adviser for DFID in Sierra Leone in 2016. He led the design of UK aid’s education programme – Leh wi Lan – which supports 460,000 children to gain a decent education. The programme is helping to improve learning outcomes and safety in secondary schools by providing direct support to teachers to improve their English and maths teaching as well as improving the security of girls in school, reducing school violence and making schools more disability friendly.
The UK is also supporting the Government’s flagship Free Quality Education initiative by providing 2.7 million English and maths books to all community, mission and government secondary schools in the country. Braille copies of the handbooks will also be printed so that they are easily accessible to children who are blind or partially sighted – so that their needs are met and they can learn and flourish like everyone else.
When asked about his MBE Chris said, “The award was completely unexpected. I am very proud that my work in Sierra Leone over the last 40 years has been recognised. I love the country and its people. It has been a privilege to lead the UK’s work to ensure that all children, especially girls, are able to be safe and learn in school.”
Note for Editors
- UK aid, (delivered through The Department for International Development), leads the UK’s work to end extreme poverty. We are tackling the global challenges of our time including poverty and disease, mass migration, insecurity and conflict. Our work is building a safer, healthier, more prosperous world for people in developing countries and in the UK too. For more information about UK aid, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-international-development/about
- The UK aid funded ‘Leh Wi Lan’ Programme (Krio for ‘Let us Learn’) is a five year programme aiming to improve learning outcomes for students in all non-private secondary schools in Sierra Leone. This follows on from the support UK aid provided during the Ebola recovery period where 225 classrooms and 98 WaSH facilities were built, a payroll cleaning exercise to remove 1700 ghost teachers was carried out, lesson plans provided and 5000 English and maths teachers received coaching.
- Chris Berry, Senior Education Adviser at the Department for International Development, was awarded an MBE in this year’s Honours List for Services to Developing Sierra Leone’s Education Services and Helping Young People Go To and Stay In School.
- Chris has worked in countries such as Tanzania, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone, researched how to provide education in fragile/conflict states, and has made a fundamental contribution to the development of the education system in Sierra Leone.
- When the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak occurred, Chris quickly volunteered to join the DFID team in country to tackle the epidemic and help re-establish the education services to quickly get children back into school.
For further information about how the UK is supporting education outcomes in Sierra Leone please contact:
Annie Homer, a-homer@dfid.gov.uk
For more information on the Leh Wi Learn programme, or for Krio speaking staff members, please contact:
Eunice Cole; e-cole@dfid.gov.uk