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Sierra Leone: real lives

Saio once earned his living raising livestock and growing rice, peanuts and cassava. In 1994, rebel forces killed four of his neighbours and burned and looted much of the town, so Saio responded by enlisting in the civil defense.

After the end of Sierra Leone's decade long civil war, Saio had few skills and little opportunity to become a productive member of the community. But an apprentice program with ChildFund Australia's affiliate organisation in Sierra Leone helped get him back on track.

Saio participated in a ChildFund in Sierra Leone program which provided temporary employment, job training and small loans to people in his district - areas most devastated by the civil war. Sixty per cent of the participants were ex-combatants.

ChildFund in Sierra Leone's first step was to create temporary employment for over 3,000 people, who each spent 160 hours in civil service jobs. Through this experience, ex-combatants received training in carpentry and bricklaying to build schools, roads and health centers, many of which had been destroyed in the war.

For his part, Saio helped construct a school and a grain store. Workers received a stipend and also benefited from psychosocial support to help in recovery from war trauma. Psychosocial interventions and reintegration efforts are a key part of ChildFund in Sierra Leone's micro-enterprise development programs in countries recovering from conflict.

After completing these jobs, participants started the second phrase of ChildFund in Sierra Leone's reintegration program. They were given two options. They could join a 'solidarity group' and receive a micro-credit loan to start an individual or group business, or go on to a six-month paid apprenticeship with a master artisan.

Those who chose to take out a loan started a variety of businesses including a bakery, a butcher shop and a palm oil enterprise. Those, like Saio, who chose the apprenticeship path could learn tailoring, as he did, or carpentry, tie-dyeing, soap making, blacksmithing, or shoemaking. ChildFund in Sierra Leone also provided basic literacy training as needed.

This program has been a tremendous success, with workers completing scores of civil service projects; 650 have become apprentices; and 1,200 have received loans, with a 100 per cent repayment rate.