SEED Programs
SEED International began in 2005, serving
approximately 50 individuals, with only two staff and two volunteers.
The organization has grown to serve more than 4,500 people with twelve
staff, two volunteers, and over 50 international visitors and part time
volunteers. Many thousands more have benefited from SEED programs
indirectly as health indicators improve, incomes rise, education levels
increase and agricultural practices improve in Kabala town and the
surrounding villages. These grassroots, community-based initiatives have
helped transform parts of the Koinadugu District, one of the poorest
districts in one of the least developed countries in the world.
SEED International has five program areas:
Health Program
Micro-finance and Income Generation Program
Education Program
Creative Arts Initiative
Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Program
Humanitarian Relief Program
HEALTH PROGRAM
The NarSarah Clinic screens and diagnoses over 4,000
patients per year. As a part of the primary health care program,
Peacemaker, the Health Program Officer, and Finah, Midwife and Asst.
Health Program Officer disburse medication, provide injections, and
perform minor surgeries. They refer more serious cases to a suitable
nearby medical center. Peacemaker also coordinates the referral of all
fistula patients for further treatment in the town of Bo.
The clinic also offers HIV/AIDS testing, counseling, and sensitization
in addition to general community health education on essential topics
such as hygiene and disease prevention. After hours, on-call nurses are
available for emergency health care services. The work is certainly
around the clock, but Peacemaker, Finah and other NarSarah staff are
incredibly dedicated to meeting the healthcare needs of the poor in
rural Sierra Leone.
In addition to the primary health care clinic and referral services,
NarSarah staff provide several other services including: weekly maternal
clinic, pre-and post-natal care, family planning and deliveries. The
weekly under-five and children’s health care clinic offers immunizations
and growth monitoring.
MICRO-FINANCE AND INCOME GENERATION PROGRAM
SEED International has several projects including
WAP (Women Against Poverty) and the Amputee/War Wounded Camps, which
focus specifically on the economic advancement of people in the
Koinadugu District.
The Women Against Poverty Micro-finance Program offers
micro-loans to over thirty women who have organized themselves into
skill-based cooperatives in a bid to improve their economic status. SEED
manages and provides support to these income-generating cooperative.
These self-sustaining groups include: tie-ding, tailoring, weaving,
basket making, and agriculture.
SEED also manages a micro-finance program for the Amputee and War
Wounded Association in Kabala. In 2007 almost all of the residents
of the local amputee camp were beggars. Within one year, after receiving
micro loans, no one was begging any more. They had all started small
business, buying and selling food goods, small shops, tailoring,
weaving, or started their own farm (large garden). The men and women are
incredibly enthusiastic about the loans that have helped them start and
improve their businesses in weaving, trade stores (a small shop) and
agriculture. These micro-loans and income generation projects work with
a small number of people in a way that contributes to development in the
community at large.
EDUCATION PROGRAM
Recognizing that education lies at the core of all
long-term development, SEED International manages and supports
educational services to both youth and adults living in Kabala. The
Hope Scholarship Fund provides free tuition, textbooks, school
supplies and registration for more than twenty high-need secondary
school students, including orphans and children of amputees. The
scholarship also provides financial assistance to several female primary
school pupils among the children of amputees and war wounded.
In addition to the Hope Scholarship Program, SEED has supported an adult
literacy and mathematics course serving Women Against Poverty and other
community members.
SEED staff has helped facilitate the construction of schools in the
Koinadugu District with the volunteer work teams from other
organizations.
SEED’s Creative Arts Initiative will foster creative
thinking and self-confidence to young women in Kabala, Sierra Leone by
providing them with the tools - writing, photography, music, and
filmmaking -and resources needed to express themselves creatively.
Through a number of small arts workshops offered throughout the school
year and summer, CAI’s aim is to foster creative thinking and
reading and the arts, and encourage the girls to use their creativity in
ways that will uplift their community. Click
here to read more
about SEED's newest Creative Arts Initiative.
In the spring 2010, SEED will launch a Pilot Program at a school in
Kabala, which will give the CAI staff the chance to introduce themselves
and the program ideals to the Kabala community. We will spend time
learning the strengths of the program as well as what improvements must
be made as it grows in size and scope.
AGRICULTURE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY PROGRAM
SEED International collaborates with villages and community groups to
bring about economic development through agriculturally based
initiatives. The Bendugu Agricultural Cooperative includes 100
acres of land, which was donated to SEED in 2006. SEED provided the
initial agricultural inputs, including tools and seedlings, to support
the cultivation of oil palm, cassava and groundnuts. In exchange, the
community sets aside a third of each harvest to support the operations
of the NarSarah Clinic. More land will continue to be cultivated as the
project expands.
SEED has acquired five female cows through the support of Over Drive
Solutions in Rhode Island. These cows are raised for milk, meat and to
be work-oxen. Before the cows, all farming was done by hand, which
inhibited the amount of workable land, and also did not provide enough
food for families. With the work-oxen, the land area for cultivation
increases and therefore food production increases. Additionally, 100% of
the profit, after the start up cost, goes to the NarSarah Clinic.
The Women Against Poverty Agricultural Program trains women in
agriculture, which includes teaching how to plant and cultivate,
harvest, care for the soil, rotate crops, etc. being expanded to include
five town lots along Ismaia Road in Kabala. SEED will hire an
agricultural trainer to work with the women throughout the coming year
to empower the women to improve their agricultural skills as they
develop a sustainable source of income.
INFORMATION
If you would like any more information on any of SEED’s programs please
email seed@seed-narsarah.org
DONATIONS
If you would like to make a tax-deductable donation to any of SEED’s
programs, please send it to
SEED
9 Exeter Court
East Windsor, New Jersey, 08520
Donations not designated will be placed in the General Fund for use
where the need is the greatest.
| 
