‘Hoe kijkt coördinator Umaru Fofanah terug op het project?’
De partner vertelt... van 15 november 2023 door Umaru Fofanah
Elk jaar vragen we onze partner hoe het project is gegaan en welke lessen de partner heeft geleerd.
Context and summary
Describe the original plan/idea for the project. Has the project been executed as planned?
The initial plan for the project was to construct a school infrastructure that has three classroom blocks, a headteacher’s office, a store, a staff room and an eight-compartment VIP latrine toilet (2 urinaries 4 latrines and 3 change rooms). The project aims to increase access to quality education through the provision of school infrastructure and WASH facilities contributing to a safe and conducive learning environment for the pupils and staff of the Michael Kamara Memorial Pre & Primary School at Makomp Village, Port Loko District.
The project was successfully implemented. With support from the World Servants Netherlands (WSN), Cotton Tree Foundation Sierra Leone (CTFSL), a local implementing partner of WSN facilitated the project activities. In June, CTFSL and the community constructed the foundation as part of the preliminary activities before the arrival of the team of participants from the Netherlands in Sierra Leone. In July 2023, the team of 32 participants and the community built the school, which was handed over to the school management before the participants departed in August. The community was key in mobilizing local support to facilitate the smooth implementation of the projects. Other activities included the children, cultural and life skills programs were also implemented.
Give a (short) general description of the implementation of the project.
The project implementation employed an inclusive and participatory approach ensuring that all relevant stakeholders were consulted, and their inputs were given utmost consideration. Their involvement provided insights into some of the sociocultural issues in the community, which were helpful in planning and guiding the relationship with all relevant social groups in the community. Before the commencement of the foundation work, CTFSL organised a project launching meeting with the community. All relevant stakeholders, including the section chief, a representative from the district education office, the School Management Committee Chairperson, the Youth Leader, Women’s Leader, Parents, and staff of the Michael Kamara Pre & Primary School were in attendance. The objective of the meeting was to orientate the community on the project deliverables, their roles and responsibilities, and the formation of three local committees- Children, Cultural and Construction. In the meeting, the community expressed their delight and gratitude for the project and reaffirmed their commitment to support the project. They also highlighted some preparations they have already made in mobilising local support. Staff of CTFSL explained to the community about the composition of the different committees and they were asked to present a list of members of the committees. Other issues regarding the foundation were discussed in depth.
The project launching meeting provided a smooth platform for the construction of the foundation. The community were fully orientated on their roles and responsibilities. In June, CTFSL and the community started the foundation work. The community worked closely with the contractor and his team to construct the foundation. They were involved in the digging of the foundation, backfilling of the foundation, fetching water, concreting of the oversight slab, and clearing of debris around the site. With the positive cooperation from the community, the foundation was completed, and all other necessary plans were made before the arrival of the participants in July.
In July, a team of 32 participants from the World Servants Netherlands arrived in Sierra Leone to continue the construction of the school building and the implementation of other activities (cultural, life skills and children’s program and the football4water). The participants were warmly welcomed upon their arrival in the village. This was later followed by an official launching of the project, which was graced by the Director of Cotton Tree Foundation Sierra Leone, representatives from the government and other local authorities. The actual construction work continued the same day after the launching ceremony. During the period that the participants were at the project location, they worked closely with the contractor and his team and the community to construct the school. They were able to make remarkable progress irrespective of the challenges the team faced. Together with the community, they were able to achieve the level of roofing before they handed it over to the school management and administration.
Also, during the period that the participants were at the project location, they undertook other activities (cultural, life skills and children’s programs), which helped stimulate the interaction between the participants and the community, increasing the children's understanding of the Lord and enhancing the participant's awareness of the culture of the people in the community.
Finally, after the participant departed in August 2023 for the Netherlands, CTFSL coordinated all activities of the project and ensured that the remaining work on the building and the toilet was completed. The school was officially handed over to the community.
How do you look back on the following topics? How was it arranged, what went well, what could be done better?
Construction
Buildings worked on
In order to ensure that a quality job was accomplished, CTFSL took pre-emptive actions to mitigate the risk of the soaring price increase by paying for all the building materials for the project in advance and seeking the services of an experienced contractor who was familiar with the working culture of the World Servants project. Also, a local construction committee was formed to facilitate the mobilisation of local materials and unskilled labour. The committee was instrumental in soliciting local contributions, especially during the foundation and finishing stages of the building work. Before the arrival of the participants in July, CTFSL facilitated all the preliminary activities like the construction of the foundation, the preparation of the bricks and the purchase of materials as part of the work to be completed by partner organisations before the arrival of the participants. The community played a key role in achieving this. The local authorities were actively involved, and they ensured that every household sent someone to work at the construction site. They were also able to prevail on the community to provide local materials like sticks and ball stones before the commencement of the foundation work in June 2023.
In July, the super wall structure was constructed by the team of participants from WSN, the contractor and his team and the community. The contractor had an experienced team who was able to guide and keep the participants engaged with different tasks. The community also worked closely with the team. They helped to provide unskilled labour, fetch water, prepare food for the workers at the site and transport materials. Also, the community voluntarily undertook the digging of the foundation, clearing of the debris at the site, preparing the bricks and concreting of the oversight slab. The participants performed tasks such as bricklaying, steel bending, transportation of materials and woodwork. The cooperation between the community and the team contributed to the smooth implementation of the project. However, there were issues with the contractor not hiring some skilled labourers from the community. This was a concern raised and at some point, it affected the motivation of some of the youths from the community. However, the project coordinators engaged the community to explain to them that the contractor has a limited budget and cannot hire so many people. As usual, this has been a major concern in many communities, but CTFSL has decided to develop and institute a policy on recruitment of skilled personnel that will be explicit and adhered to by the communities and the contractors.
Tasks to be done
Despite the enthusiasm shown by the community, the participants and the contractor and his team, to complete the project before the participants left, there were some tasks that the team could not complete because of the limited time they had and the rains, which also impacted on the progress of work. The remaining tasks were to be completed immediately after the team left: completion of roofing, ceiling, plastering, fixing of doors and windows, skidding and painting.
Programs
Children program
The children's program was one of the exciting activities that kept the children, especially the pupils from Michael Kamara Memorial Pre & Primary School active and engaged during the end-of-school-year holiday. Normally, when schools close in July, children hardly get the opportunity to converge in numbers to play and hear about God. The program was timely and ideal for the spiritual development of the children. As part of the preplanning before the arrival of the team in July, CTFSL formed a children’s program committee that was tasked to mobilise the children in the morning whenever there was a children’s program and to work closely with the participants in facilitating the program. The composition of the team constitutes teachers from the school. The programs were organized in the morning from Monday to Friday. On each day, different sets of participants facilitated the children’s program. At the end of each day, there was an evaluation meeting by the team inclusive of the children’s program leader and the Project Coordinator to discuss what went well, what did not go well, what needed to be improved and how it can be improved. This helped to incorporate lessons learned in planning for the subsequent days. The children had the opportunity to experience different activities and read verses from the bible. The program was climaxed with the children’s party organised in the last week of the project.
Cultural and touristic outings
The rationale for the cultural program was for the participants to learn about the culture of the people of Sierra Leone, enhance their interaction with the community and experience interesting activities that will keep them engaged, especially on the days that they do not have work on the building. The activities for the cultural program were coordinated by the cultural team lead from WSN and the Project Coordinator. At the start of the project, participants were asked to come up with a list of activities that they would like to take part in. The activities on the list were discussed and those that were not possible to do were discarded. The schedule for the selected options was designed by the cultural lead and the project coordinator. The activities that were implemented from the list of options suggested by the participants included the following: a visit to the hospital in Lunsar, a cooking practice which was done daily, a hiking trip to the forest, an evening program to explain the history of Sierra Leone, a local dancing session, the slaughtering of local chickens, a boat trip to Mambolo, a visit to the souvenir market in Freetown, an opportunity to experience the life of a typical farming family and a night at the Bureh beach in Freetown. CTFSL facilitated all the cultural outings and ensured that all the necessary logistics were made available during cultural trips.
Life Skills program and Football for Water (also include the amount of tranings given and the number of people from the community actively involved in training).
The life skills program was an excellent opportunity for the youth to learn about different social issues that are relevant to their personal and spiritual development. A three-day life skills program was organized in the last week of the project. Before the start of the program, the leader of the life skills program had a meeting with the Project Coordinator to know whether the proposed topics were suitable and acceptable to be discussed. About fifteen youths from the community attended the program. On each day, different topics were discussed.
The Football4water also took place in the last week of the project. It was a football match organized between the team and the community. The main objective of the match was to sensitize the community about hygiene issues. After the match, the team distributed some football kits to the captain of the team in the village.
Cooperation and involvement
Leadership team World Servants
The leadership team of World Servants had an open mind to engage with the project coordinators of CTFSL and the locals in decision-making. They were flexible and adaptive and keen on learning from the locals. The Team Lead possessed a wealth of experience in working with people. He approached every situation with a positive mindset, which helped not to put the project coordinators under stress during difficult circumstances. However, the leaders did not nurture a culture that would have promoted more interaction between the locals and the team. The participants in most cases were always together at the place designated for their programs. It might be that the leaders were preventing the participants since most of them were young and were mostly sick during the project. Nevertheless, the team worked closely with the staff from CTFSL in planning activities. Next time, it would be ideal for team leaders to be open to initiatives that would enhance interaction between the team and the locals as it is one of the primary goals of the project.
Local leaders / key persons
The local leaders were key to achieving the project deliverables. They played a significant role in ensuring that the community was fully involved in the project and contributed local materials and labour. In addition, they facilitated the project activities by continuously engaging relevant stakeholders. Furthermore, they were directly involved in every stage of the project, and they provided oversight and monitored project activities. With their influence, they were able to inspire the community and other local authorities to work on the project.
Community
The project adopted an inclusive and participatory approach ensuring that all relevant stakeholders had access to participate and be fully involved in the implementation. This was visible right from the initial stages of the project. The adoption of such a strategy had a positive impact on the project. It significantly contributed to soliciting community support. The Community was actively involved in all stages of the project cycle. Their involvement was felt in the planning, implementation, and monitoring of the project. During the construction of the foundation, both men and women from the community worked on the building. They dug the foundation trench, concreted the foundation, backfilled, and pounded the stones in the foundation, fetched water, concreted the oversight slab and cleared the debris at the construction site. In addition, they also provided local materials like stones and sticks. Furthermore, they actively worked closely with the participants to build the school. After the departure of the participants, they provided five men daily to work at the site. Their active presence in the project had a positive impact on the project and helped in the smooth and timely completion of the school.
Beneficiaries
The project beneficiaries included the pupils and staff of the Michael Kamara Memorial Pre and Primary School, the parents, the community, and the governments. Considering the positive impact that the project would have on the beneficiaries, they were delighted to embrace the project, they saw it as an opportunity for their children to have access to quality education, which can help to transform their lives and communities. This inspired high participation by the community, and their involvement contributed to the smooth implementation of the project. They were very active during the project and provided support in diverse ways. They physically participated in the work on the building and provided local materials. There was positive interaction between the team and the project beneficiaries. They were happy to participate in some of the cultural activities, which were seen as a platform for stimulating interaction between the team and them.
(Local) authorities
The local authorities in Sierra Leone are regarded as the ‘custodians’ of the lands and they are key to being involved in any development initiatives across communities, especially in the provincial towns, chiefdoms, and villages. With this in sight, the action ensured to consult and involve local authorities and government officials in the planning, implementing, and monitoring of the project. Before the commencement of the project, CTFSL officially met with all relevant authorities to inform them about the proposed project activities. In most of the meetings held, the section chief, the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary School Education and the security division in Lunsar were represented. Their involvement was key and inspired a positive involvement of the community in the project. The local authorities from the community were proactive in ensuring that every household provided a member to work at the site. When the participant's money was stolen, the police also played a key role in apprehending all those who were suspected to be involved in the theft case. The ministry was instrumental, they were more involved in the monitoring of the project to ensure that quality standards by the government for a school infrastructure are met.
Facilitation of the team
Accommodation
The participants and the project coordinators from CTF were accommodated at the CTFSL agricultural centre in Makomp. The participants were accommodated in two separate buildings. The women occupied one of the buildings, which has six rooms, a living room, a store and two bathrooms. All the rooms had been fully fitted with bunker beds, mattresses, pillows and bedspreads. On the other hand, the men were also accommodated in a separate building—they occupied two rooms. Similarly, the men’s accommodation had the same facilities as that of the women. Also, there was a separate and spacious building where the team had their meetings and food. The project coordinators ensured to provide electricity from 7 pm to 12 am every day. The accommodation was safe and conducive for the participants.
Food
The participants were provided with three daily meals and snacks or tea in between the meals. The meals were a blend of local and continental dishes. With the view of promoting the locals, CTFSL hired the service of the headteacher to prepare the food. However, there were challenges with the food served. Almost, all the participants had diarrhoea and it was believed that the possible cause was the food served. Nevertheless, CTFSL has taken some initiatives to address this concern and to improve the food. One of the initiatives is to hire an experienced cook who is skilled in preparing Western food. Additionally, the participants will be provided with a continental dish most of the time since they are familiar with it and would possibly have minimal effect on their health.
Transportation
CTFSL provided an efficient and reliable transportation facility for the team. The project coordinators hired a bus and a delivery van to transport the participants and their luggage from Lungi to Makomp. The same bus was used for cultural outings and movement from Makomp to Freetown. There was a standby vehicle that was available throughout the project.
Safety
Several initiatives were taken to preserve and promote the safety and well-being of the participants during their stay at the project location. At the project launching meeting, the community was strongly encouraged to come up with measures to protect the participants and their properties. Another strategic initiative was the hiring of security armguards. The project coordinator officially wrote a letter to the Local unit Commander (LUC) requesting armguards to protect the accommodation of the participants. The LUC sent two police officers to do a security assessment of the accommodation. After their assessment, they recommended that CTFSL should hire four armguards to secure the accommodation. In addition, the cooking staff were strictly encouraged to practice good hygiene measures in preparing and handling food. The participants themselves were hygiene-conscious, therefore, they followed strictly the guidance of their team leaders.
Lessons learned
To have a policy that stipulates the number of skilled personnel that should be recruited from the community. This will help to lower the expectations of the community and will also ensure that the contractor hires some staff from the community.
The hiring of a cook should be contingent on the skill and experience of the cook and the cooking ingredient should be bought by CTFSL.
The payment for all building materials in advance will help to mitigate the risk of inflation
It will be ideal for WSN to encourage the team of participants to keep their money with the local coordinators.
Another feedback for future improvement is for WSN to make provisions for emergency funds should a participant fall sick, the money will be used to support their medical expenses.
It will be imperative if the fees for the visa are also transferred together with the facilitation amount to avoid prefinance from project funds by the partner organisation.
