Strategic Humanitarian Services

Strategic Humanitarian Services (SHUMAS), a Cameroonian Development NGO, after working on its own for sometime, considered possible networking and collaboration with northern NGOs who shared common objectives and methods of approach to development. Between 1997 and 1999, the General Co-ordinator of SHUMAS, Stephen Ndzerem and the President of Plant a Tree in Africa (PATIA)/Co-ordinator of Future in Our Hands Education and Development Fund UK, Mike Thomas, were involved in some intensive correspondence.
One of the issues they discussed was how to seek a sustainable solution to the adverse effects of eucalyptus plantations on water sources and farming areas. Women were the principal victims.
In 1999 Mike Thomas visited to carry out a site assessment and provided £500 from PATIA (matched by SHUMAS) to establish a nursery for 40,000 tree seedlings (10 species) and fell several thousand eucalyptus.
Because of the encroachment of the trees into existing and potential farming areas, many women have to walk long distances (often 15 miles or more) to find new areas to farm. They will then live in temporary self-made huts for 2 to 4 weeks before returning home with whatever they can carry on their heads.  Many will carry babies or take young children with them.  People in general, usually women and children, have to walk further and further each year to fetch water.  A summary of the project and its outcomes are shown below.
Information gained from the pilot project was used in support of an application to the Big Lottery Fund to fund a large project named the Eucalyptus Replacement Project .
A 10 page brochure summarising the first phase of the project can be seen here:
CAMEROON – EUREP I – BROCHURE
Since then SHUMAS has established partnerships with AidCamps International and Building Schools for Africa both of which have resulted in a comprehensive school building programme involving a partnership between local communities and the schools’ parent teacher associations.
A Buildings Schools for Africa report can be seen here:
BUILDING SCHOOLS FOR AFRICA Newsletter October 2014
SHUMAS is now a well respected organisation in the area and has established many projects, including those summarised below, which have improved the lives of poor people in both urban and rural areas. More details can be seen at the SHUMAS web site:
STRATEGIC HUMANITARIAN SERVICES

SHUMAS integrated organic farming training centre

Another inspirational development has been the establishment of an Organic Farming Training Centre in the NW Region near Kumbo.
Details of the operation of the Centre can be seen in this 34 page report: BIOFARM

Primary health care
A partnership with Spreading Health [Founded by Dr Peter Hearn] is facilitating primary health care training for people in the rural areas.  This has included a scheme to sponsor local village candidates to train for three years at the St Louis Higher Institute of Health & Biomedical Sciences in Bamenda (the capital of NW Cameroon).

Womens co-operative network
During his visit in 1999, SHUMAS gave Mike Thomas an opportunity to present his idea for establishing savings and credit cooperatives to about 300 women.  There were some initial setbacks but before 2000 more than five co-operatives had been trained and became fully operational.
By 2014 sixty two autonomous co-operatives all of which have again come under the single umbrella called Future in Our Hands Womens Credit Union Cooperative- Cameroon.
The FIOH co-operatives are quite different from conventional co-operatives. FIOH concentrates on building the capacities of grass roots women through encouraging the spirit of sharing, co-operation and fellowship, rather than on too much external dependency and a quest for individual material gain.

The SHUMAS head office and rehabilitation centre
In February 2009 SHUMAS started the construction of an inspirational new building that combined facilities for both staff and vocational training for disabled people. The building was completed later that year. The SHUMAS head office combines facilities for administrative staff with those providing vocational training for disabled people. The object is to provide disabled people with the means to become economically self-reliant and the ability to effectively participate in the development of their communities.

The objectives of the Centre are to:

• Train disabled people in self-reliant skills so that they will be able to carry out economic activities which enhance their self-esteem and enable them to be part of the mainstream of development of their communities.
• Train them in basic management and leadership skills.
• Continuously monitor and evaluate graduates for some years to assess their progress.
• Set up a revolving micro-finance scheme to benefit ex-trainees.
• Advocate for the rights of disabled people.

 

 

The Eucalyptus Replacement Project

The project was launched in 2000 and was supported by all sections of the community and government authorities and provided the framework for the introduction of new ideas to the women.
The womens network was to play an important role in the day-to-day management of the project which involved the felling of 1,017,200 eucalyptus and the raising of 2,624,000 mainly indigenous African trees (60 species) carried out in two phases between July 2000 and October 2008.
The projects cleared about 463 ha of eucalyptus trees resulting in the recovery of 105 springs and 140 water taps during the dry season. Over 9,000 women who had previously walked long distances to farm and collect water, were able to farm close to their homes.
Statistics in 6 rural health centres and 1 hospital recorded an average 27% reduction in water born disease during the life of the project. It was estimated that an additional 5,153 children were able to go to school because of the increase in family incomes resulting from the projects.
The local authority and many individual farmers copied the example of the project and hence the figures shown above are an underestimate of the project’s impact.

 

School building and education in Yonibana, Tonkolili District

Background and problem analysis
Before the advent of the 11 years long civil conflict in Sierra Leone, education was regarded as one of the corner stones of socio-economic development of the country.   During this era, the country used to be called the ‘antens of West Africa’ where people along the West African coast came to acquire quality education.
But this situation changed during and after the war when the country experienced massive destruction of the social and educational structures which in turn made its citizens vulnerable and jeopardised the future of children thereby denying their protection right which is education.   This has also been compounded by the outbreak of the Ebola Virus disease which denied effective schooling for children during 2014 and most of 2015.
The Rosari Benthee, Fouthernefor, Mayolah, Mayebo and Magbanapoli communities are found in these remote parts of Kunke chiefdom in the Tonkolili District where children trek over four miles to access educational facilities in chiefdom headquarter town (Masingbe) and the neighbouring chiefdoms.
During the rains children reached the schools with their uniform and books soaked and most times returned home without learning.
In addition, most children had to go across streams from their different villages and during the peak of the rainy seasons most streams became over-flooded stopping the children from reaching the school.
Through community initiative and support, in 2008 a three classroom building was constructed with mud and roofed with thatch but leaked profusely during heavy rains. This coupled with poor sanitary conditions (no water well and toilets facilities) made these children prone to health hazards.
This school, with a population of 110 pupils, was supported by community voluntary teachers with limited sitting accommodation, teaching and learning materials hence making learning difficult for these children in classes 1, 2 & 3.
However, this classroom building could not accommodate the increased population of children.   With the growth of the school to classes 4,5 & 6, there was a need to provide basic educational facilities for these disadvantaged children as the facilities used were not educationally productive.
It is against this backdrop the Rosarr Primary Education project was designed to provide a conducive learning environment for 200 children drawn from five village communities in the Kunike Chiefdom in the Tonkolili District.

Objectives

• To construct a 3-classroom building with a staff room and store
• To construct a hand pump water well in the school compound
• To construct a 4-apartment VIP toilet
• To furnish building with desks, benches, chairs, chalk, exercise books, pens, pencils and rulers.

This project is one of several school building projects partly funded by the FIOH Fund.  During 2014/15 the FIOH Fund provided grants of £5,040 for a school building programme in the district with the generous support of Georg Hansen from Norway.

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Future in Our Hands Sierra Leone

Future in Our Hands Sierra Leone
Background
An FIOH group was established by Olatunde Johnson in Freetown in the 1980s and registered as a national non-government organisation by Edward Kargbo in 1995.  The first interest in FIOH arose from an article in the New Internationalist and the second from a seminar at Port Loko when Mike Thomas paid a second visit to the country in 1993.  Edward, who attended the seminar, formed an association of 13 farmers groups which was then named the FIOH Farmers Union. The name was later changed to FIOH Sierra Leone.
Edward Kargbo testimony: EDWARD TESTIMONY

Mission Statement
The Mission of FIOH Sierra Leone is to co-ordinate and facilitate the efforts of village development groups by enabling them to access farming inputs, modern farming techniques, education and skills poverty alleviation programmes, sanitation and credit facilities for self-sustainability and self reliance.
Programme interventions – capacity building, food security, women and youth empowerment, environment, health and sanitation, advocacy.

Brief History Of The Organisation:
The Future In Our Hands Sierra Leone (FIOH-SL) is an indigenous non-governmental organization with a Head Office in Makeni (Bombali district) and sub-offices in Kabala town (Koinadugu District) and Mile 91 (Tonkolili District).  It was established in 1993 as an offshoot of what was formally the Yoni Farmers’ Union.  In 1994, as the situation in Sierra Leone deteriorated, the membership decided that FIOH had a vital role to play in providing assistance to those affected by the escalating conflict.  The main focus of the organization during the rebel war was to complement the emergency and relief work of the Government of Sierra Leone, as well as that of international and national NGOs. 

During and immediately after the war, FIOH worked in collaboration with CARE International, Department for International Development (DFID) UK, Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) UK and the World Food Programme (WFP) UN, distributing food and other relief items to internally displaced persons in their operational areas.  Further activities included providing psychosocial support to affected communities and raising awareness on human rights, HIV and AIDS prevention and control.

Edward Kargbo and his family surviving in the bush
Youth group in Freetown
Displaced people queuing for food at Mile 91
FIOH vocational training centre at Mile 91

Following the end of the conflict in 2002, FIOH shifted its focus from emergency relief to development which involved building the capacity of communities for self reliance.  It has continued to build partnerships and linkages with a variety of local and international organizations and has implemented two projects (Conservation Agriculture Project (CAP) and Villages Savings and Loans (VS&L) project with CARE-SL in Koinadugu District whilst the Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) has provided the human resource support.  In addition, the FIOH Fund-UK and UN/WFP supported Life Skills Trainings and Community Asset Creation for marginalized youths and communities.
FIOH-SL also enjoys strong links with community based organisations (CBOs) at grassroots level aimed at building their capacities to better serve their communities.

Food for work
During 2003 FIOH Sierra Leone was able to increase its operational area to include 3 chiefdoms (Kissy Tongi, Njaluahun and Dea) in the Kailahun District and two chiefdoms (Kalansogoia and Sambaia Benduga) in the Tonkolili District.

In  August 2012, FIOH Norway member, Nini Haeggernes, visited Sierra Leone and was made aware of the work of Edward Kargbo by Mike Thomas.  Subsequent to her visit she wrote an article which appeared in the FIOH Norway magazine, Folkevette: FOLKEVETT-FIOH SIERRA LEONE

Norwegian, Georg Hansen, read this article and decided to visit the country and see the the work of FIOH Sierra Leone. He has raised a considerable sum of money to support a school building programme and has contributed funds to address the ebola crisis in 2015.

Future in Our Hands Sierra Leone
37 Lunsar Road
Makeni City
Northern Region
Sierra Leone