What We Do

Fostering Smallholder Agriculture in Sierra Leone

In many provinces of Eastern and of Northern Sierra Leone a lot of the vulnerable populations suffer from nutritional deficiencies because of the excessive consumption of few foods ( like palm oil) instead of an adequate variety of nutritional elements.

This situation is made worse by the lack of participation to agricultural practices, the low level of instruction of the women, the lack of access to drinkable water, of efficient hygienic-sanitary infrastructures, of correct rules: all these factors contribute to the frequent outburst of epidemics of malaria and diarrohea.

COOPI operates to face these problems with a multisectorial project. Among the many aims pursued, it promotes the introduction and the cultivation of agricultural varieties as tubers, legumes, alternatives sources of proteins. The approach provides the integration of participatory food education to farming models and management of natural resources that are sustainable with the aim to trigger positive behaviour changes in the families of beneficiaries. Moreover we need to restore 90 wells in the villages to warrantee sources of safe water, but also a model of female instruction based on the transmission not only of the correct hygienic practices, but also business notions that are preparatory to the development of entrepreneurial ideas.


The project is funded by:
 

in collaboration with:
Welthungerhilfe
InterAide