Supporting 55,000 children to access education across Sierra Leone — Street Child

In October of last year, schools were able to reopen after six months of COVID-19 induced closure, allowing our ‘Mind The Gap’ project in the Southern Province to begin. Since the programme launch, we have identified 2,000 children, 998 boys and 1,002 girls, who will be supported to enrol and remain in education. 80 rural schools have also been identified and plans are in place to support 46 of them this year with construction or renovation. Last month, vulnerability assessments also took place identifying families who will be enrolled on FBE in the coming months. 

Despite COVID-19 induced school closures, restrictions on movement and curfews, of which the latter has only recently been lifted, all these programmes have continued without too many delays and challenges, a testament to our collaborative way of working with local communities, the government and other key stakeholders. Over the coming months, the teams across the three programmes will continue to support a further 5,572 children. 4,500 families will receive family business grants and training as part of FBE and 479 teachers will be trained on TaRL methodology and receive teaching and learning materials. 56 further schools will also be renovated or constructed improving learning environments for thousands of more children in remote rural communities.