Our Freetown project
In Freetown, we partner with UNFAO in Sierra Leone to empower youth by providing training-of-trainers workshops in health and hygiene, nutrition, marketing and life skills, with the aim to harness the potential of YaLa Africa into concrete and long lasting development actions and initiatives for the young generations of Sierra Leone.
Improving Food Security with Training-of-Trainers
Our objective is to improve the nutrition and the health of children and youth of the city. We believe that we can achieve this goal by training youth and empowering them to transfer their knowledge and skills to children and caregivers of vulnerable groups in their community.
We provide training to 15 youth to become Young Master Gardeners/Nutitionists (YMGs). They learn about selection of crops, land preparation, composting, seedbeds, water management, pest control, weed control, harvesting and storage. Then, in turn, they train 450 children and their families through the establishment of school- and community-based micro-gardens. The gardens provide fresh, nutritous food to integrate basic meals.
The YMGs conduct hands-on workshops on how to use small spaces to grow vegetables, fruits and other local crops and how to improve their nutrition and hygiene. They also provide culinary demonstrations for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and their caregivers in order to promote the health, nutrition and food security of these populations who are at risk of malnutrition, under-nutrition and related diseases. In addition, a greenhouse will be built and demonstration gardens in schools and/or community centers will be created.
The Glocal Forum WAF Center
The Glocal Forum We Are the Future Center in Freetown was created in 2005 as a community center for youth and children in Aberdeen, West Freetown. In partnerships with Freetown City Council, local and international organizations, it is providing services to the community, including early childhood education, training-of-trainers, sports and cultural activities, income generating activities, micro-gardening and more.
ICTs to Share Good Practices
Good practices taught and learned during the different trainings, as well as new ideas and information on nutrition and micro-agriculture will be shared with 150,000+ African youth thanks to our Facebook platform. In order to facilitate the information-sharing and the cooperation between youth, we also provide computer literacy skills training.