The Ireland Funds - Your Money at Work : Concern

Beneficiary Story

Sidratu Conteh is a 23-year-old mother of two young children, living in a village called Mamilla Gbla in SierraLeone.

She is an inspirational young woman whose life has been transformed in the three years since Concern began working in her village as part of our livelihoods program in Tonkolili District.

Over the past three years, Concern has helped Sidratu learn new skills so she can earn an income and become more self-sufficient. She works at the school and is currently completing training to become a fully qualified teacher. In addition, she is trained as a community para-vet, which means she treats sick animals in the village and can administer them with vaccines and medicine.

Sidratu is also secretary of the Maunafa Women’s Group in her village. The success of this group is astonishing. Initially Concern provided them with seeds and tools to work their land.

A Concern local staff member visited the group every month to give them guidance. After the harvest they sold a portion of the crop for cash at local markets and used the remainder to provide seeds to others in their community, who paid the group back with interest following the next harvest.

The group plays a vital part in the community – the members help to pay medical bills when people are ill and pay for five children in the village to attend secondary school. In just three years, the group has developed and now needs little advice from Concern staff. They prove that with some assistance, people can turn their lives around.Sidratu believes unity is very important for a community to develop – this group has proved this to be the case.

She is an inspiration but said herself that without Concern’s contribution, none of these changes would have happened. “Before Concern arrived in our village children looked sick and were underfed; now you can see how happy all the children are, they have food to eat and will gain an education."

Concern
Enhancing Livelihoods of Vulnerable People in Sierra Leone

Founded in 1968, Concern is an Ireland-based organisation that works in 28 of the poorest countries in the world. Concern's mission is to help those living in extreme poverty achieve major improvements in their lives. With decades of international experience and a proven ability to create impactful programs, Concern has become an internationally-renowned development organisation.

In 2007, Concern launched a new programme in Sierra Leone, the poorest country in the world according to the UN Human Development Index (2006). Poverty is endemic and severe with 70% of Sierra Leoneans living on less than $2 a day.

In 2002, Sierra Leone emerged from decade long civil war, and is currently working to reconcile the rifts in society created by the conflict while tackling some of the most desperate poverty in the world.

Over 65% of the population reside in rural areas and subsistence agriculture remains the foundation of both the economy and food security. Unfortunately, Sierra Leone’s agricultural sector was one of the casualties of the recent conflict, and most of the country’s social, economic and physical infrastructure was destroyed.

The vast majority of the rural and urban populations in Tonkolili District in northern Sierra Leone are extremely poor. Many people in the community access to basic needs such as food, a source of income, natural resources, shelter, healthcare, education, clean water, and local developmental organisations.

Concern aims to help ensure food security, increase access to income-generating activities, and improve living conditions for 40,000 people in this district.

By the end of 2008, this programme will have:

Increased food production by 20% for 5,695 targeted families
Increased annual income by at least 15% through diversified and livelihood options and have improved physical access to market
Educated 20% of the targeted communities on natural resources management and conservation techniques
Supported the District Council of Tonkolili and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security (MAFFS) to effectively respond to the community’s needs

Concern’s innovative programs have been replicated by numerous UN agencies and other international aid organisations, establishing it not only as Ireland’s leading development organisation but also as a major worldwide player in this field.

The Impact of Your Investment

Concern is seeking assistance for the following program costs.

►Training in natural resource management & conservation €5,700
►Training in food processing and preservation techniques €6,215
►Education programs promoting literacy, numeracy and bookkeeping €13,125
►Construction of bridges €22,684
►Livestock replenishing and animal husbandry and health training €25,090
►Training in improved crop production techniques €84,340

“There is immense practicality about the jobs that Concern personnel do in the field, a readiness to combine state of the art methods with the primitive stand-bys; they will use the resources of the e-mail, for example, but they won’t ever forget about the reliability of the donkey. And yet this constant attention to doing good simply by getting things done, to providing bread rather than circuses, to getting into refugee camps rather than seeking a place at the conference table, this can-do aspect of Concern should not mask from us the powerful idealism that underlies its operations.”
Seamus Heaney, Patron, Concern Worldwide
Foreword, Believing in Action: The First Thirty Years of Concern.

Photos
1. Sidratu Conteh has benefitted from Concern’s training programs

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Concern - In Brief

Who are 'Concern'?
Concern Worldwide is a non-governmental, international, humanitarian organisation dedicated to reducing suffering and eliminating extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries. Currently, Concern works in 28 countries and has a workforce of around 4,000 people. Its headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland, and the organisation has other offices throughout the world.

Mission
To help people living in extreme poverty achieve major improvements in their lives, which last and spread without ongoing support from Concern. To this end, Concern will work with the poor themselves, and with local and international partners who share our vision, to create just and peaceful societies where the poor can exercise their fundamental rights.