Reflection and Gratitude for 2020
It goes without saying that 2020 was difficult for everyone, so we won’t dwell on the challenges. Instead, here are a few of the many accomplishments we are happy to reflect on and the things we are grateful for.
1) We responded to COVID-19 with compassion, discipline, and with our community partners in mind.
When COVID-19 began impacting the lives of individuals in our partner communities, we immediately applied lessons learned from Ebola, which had gravely affected many of our community partners. We collaborated with community and regional partners to learn what communities needed – and so we provided handwashing stations, masks, and food delivery services to more than 30,000 people in the region. We partnered with a nearby hospital to rehabilitate the nurses ward into a quarantine center, so people could quarantine in a safe space. We quickly trained our existing network of volunteer-leaders about COVID-19, so they in-turn could educate fellow community members on prevention and mitigation. To date, we are grateful that no one in our partner communities has contracted COVID-19.
Lockdowns in Sierra Leone began in early April and were lifted mid-summer, so for over three months programming was on hold. When we could, our team and partners jumped right back into work, with zeal and dedication to community-led transformation.
2) Nearly 200 women were empowered with financial skills.
When our team resumed operations, the Nurturing Opportunities for Women (NOW) team was able to adapt and implement safety guidelines into training sessions. With social distancing and masks, women were still able to receive valuable training on budgeting, saving, and basic business skills. We are so proud of this year’s 184 NOW graduates – they persisted during a challenging year and are now skilled in financial literacy and business management, skills that are more important than ever in a time when women in rural communities are more negatively impacted by the pandemic and corresponding global recession.
3) Communities took action to improve wellbeing.
After a few months delay in construction, seven communities completed projects with Community Action, solving self-defined challenges and improving wellbeing: 4,000 children, women, and men aren’t getting sick as often today because of sanitary latrines, handwashing stations, and water wells that were constructed in three communities. And four communities constructed projects for agricultural productivity – rice milling machines, seed banks, dry floors, agricultural storage facilities, and farmers’ trainings are increasing incomes and food security for over 6,000 people.
4) Volunteer-leaders led development in communities where we have long-standing partnerships.
In 2020, we continued with piloting the Lead program, where volunteer-leaders in partner communities that have completed both Community Action and NOW were trained on proposal writing and received grant money to implement projects in their communities. In the community of Grima, the labor ward of the Maternal and Child Health Clinic was rehabilitated, which will increase and improve services for expectant mothers in Grima and the surrounding villages. In Mamboma, a community skills training center was outfitted, better preparing the youth in the community and surrounding area for gainful employment.
5) We opened a new office.
Despite all the challenges of this year, we were still able to officially expand to a new geographical area and open an additional hub in the town of Daru. Bombohun, about two and half miles from Daru, is our first new community partner out of the new office. They have already started trainings in the Community Action program and plan to construct 30 latrines and handwashing stations for community-wide access and use in the new year. We are excited to begin NOW trainings in Bombohun and partner with more communities in the Daru area throughout 2021.
6) OneVillage Partners staff remained healthy, safe, and employed.
In such a tumultuous year, we are incredibly grateful that our entire staff in both Sierra Leone and the United States, as well as their families, did not fall ill. We are also thankful that despite the significant challenges to fundraising this year, we were able to keep on all staff members and continue doing the critical work of economically empowering women and promoting community-led development.
Thank you to our supporters all over the world who ensure we are achieving our mission and vision. Make a donation today and help ensure that our partners in Sierra Leone continue to achieve their goals for development!