Sierra Leone

The basics of the project

Women’s Bank supports two women’s and girl’s vocational training centers in Sierra Leone, in Makeni and Kapala towns. Yearly 120 young women receive a profession from the center and an opportunity to work as a sewer, cook or an agricultural entrepreneur.

When choosing the students, teenage or single parent mothers, unschooled or school dropouts and especially poor girls and women are prioritized. The students have grown up in circumstances damaged by the civil war and most are uneducated single parents.

In addition to vocational training, the curriculum includes basic skills for entrepreneurship. Literacy teaching and psychosocial support is available for those in need. When graduating, the women receive a profession and a start-up package for starting up their own small business.

Both training centers have a small kindergarten, where the student’s children get to go while their mothers study. The centers also have their own shop and lunch restaurant, which offers internships and brings income for the centers. The centers have good relationships with local businesses.

Watch a video from the graduation party at the Sierra Leone vocational training center:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUyml1jSdwU