By Mabinty M. Kamara
As he launches the organization’s 60th anniversary of operations in Sierra Leone, the Country Director of Care International has explained plans to continue to boost women’s industrial growth in the country.
Speaking at a press briefing at the organization’s headquarters in Freetown on the 14th of December 2021, Michael Alandu said the intervention targeting 7,120 women, will build the capacity of women entrepreneurs across Sierra Leone to engage in renewable energy enabled businesses, facilitate the development and expansion of energy enabled women’s businesses and decentralized energy provision as an entry point for women’s economic empowerment.
He said there are many businesses that Sierra Leonean women are engaged in which takes more time and energy with little or no returns in the end. However, he said doing those businesses through renewable energy, maximizes production, profit and create employment opportunities for many.
The Country Director added that over the past sixty years in Sierra Leone, their engagements among other things include a school feeding programme, education, health systems strengthening, water and sanitation and hygiene, HIV/AIDS prevention, addressing sexual and gender based violence and youth empowerment.
In his presentation on their response to health care emergencies, the Director for the Health Project, Sylvester Epiagolo said CARE Sierra Leone provided timely response to the Ebola outbreak in 2014 and the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that their support to the government’s border surveillance and screening was key in the successful management of the pandemic.
He added that the institution is providing “five solar powered cold chain storage containers (one 40 foot and four 20 foot) to support the vaccine storage at the regional facilities across the country. The project also provides unconditional cash transfer to about 2000 vulnerable women and their households to mitigate the impact of COVID on their livelihood”.
In her statement, Sia Magdalene Kennewa, Gender and Livelihood Manager said from 2014, the project has reached over 15,000 women and their households through training on financial literacy, access to market information, and linkage to formal financial services. She said they have facilitated social and behavioral change by engaging men and boys and working with the government and the private sector to create an enabling environment for gender economic justice.
On the Piloted digital approaches to recording savings and loan processes that introduce a more robust accountability mechanism, she stated: ‘’The success of this project has informed the development of a new project funded by Rockefeller to further enhance women’s businesses through the introduction of renewable energy enabled business opportunities”.
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