The leadership of Maloma was male dominated. Decision-making power was solely in men’s hands. This culture was noticed by women in the community. As a result of this, women were not respected.

Hawa Saffa is a 45-year-old business woman and a Nurturing Opportunity for Women (NOW) participant. She is also a widow with five children who lives in Ngolahun with her family. Before the NOW program in Ngolahun, Hawa lacked knowledge in savings and budgeting and household financial management.

We are delighted to announce Together Women Rise as our newest grant partner, a powerful community of women and allies dedicated to achieving global gender equality.

In honor of Women's History Month,, OneVillage Partners held a virtual town hall hosted by the Nurturing Opportunities for Women (NOW) Team. The team explained why a program like this was created, the importance of investing in women’s empowerment, the program’s impact on participants and their communities, and how we’re working with program graduates to develop the next phase of the program.

In this video, we take you behind the scenes and inside a NOW training session in the community of Peje Baoma, led by Hameedatu Turay, NOW Program Coordinator. You might not be able to travel to Sierra Leone right now, but you can learn alongside the women of Peje Baoma in a training session right from the comfort of your home!

Hameedatu Turay is a Nurturing Opportunities for Women (NOW) Program Coordinator with OneVillage Partners. After one of her sessions, she spoke about the impact NOW has on participants' abilities to plan for the future.

Watta Moriba is a 46-year-old single mother of five who lives in Gbeka. Like many mothers, Watta wanted to educate her children and save for the future.

Lucy Baion, a 30-year-old farmer and single parent of three, lives in the small farming village of Grima in Kailahun district, Eastern Sierra Leone. Read her story of building financial security.

The OneVillage Partners NOW Coordinators are changing hearts and minds. They inspire women to dream bigger than they ever have before, and encourage men to understand to the benefits of an empowered woman. 

What does gender equity mean to you? What does progress look like to you?

In 2019, OneVillage Partners ended the year proud of all our collective accomplishments, grateful to those who made it possible, and we enter 2020 committed to deepening our impact in our partner communities and beyond.

As 2019 comes to a close, we are incredibly proud of the accomplishments we have achieved together with our partner communities.

Meet Mustapha Moma and hear his family’s story of resiliency and unity

Meet Jenneh Musa. Along with her fellow NOW participants, changed their image and contributed to community development at the same rate as their male counterparts.

Our Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning team developed two new surveys piloted in 2019 to provide data in new areas.

Meet Matu Mohamed. Through the NOW program, she and her family have become financially self-reliant.