Employment Up-Skilling in Kotor

Update:

Success! In less than 30 days you were able to help us raise all of the funds necessary and we have already started tailoring training in 4 different communities, two inside and two on the border of the Outamba Kilimi National Park. The community people were so surprised to see how quickly this came together and we would be lying if we said we were also not extremely chuffed with how this played out. For anyone who might have worked in Sierra Leone, you may know that it can take a bit longer than expected to get things done. Kalie Kamara is in no small part the reason why we were able to go from funds to implementation so quickly.

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts for making our first campaign as a UK registered charity so successful. Onwards and upwards! It’s time to keep growing!

Summary:

We are raising money to purchase two sewing machines, a stockpile of sewing equipment, and a tailoring instructor to provide Kotor, and nearby communities inside the Outamba Kilimi National Park with their most requested development activity: Job training, with tailoring being specifically chosen by the community. After this training period the sewing machines will stay in Kotor to be used by community members on a ‘rental’ (no charge) basis, as is common with sewing machines in other areas. This allows community members to learn tailoring without needing to make the massive investment of purchasing a personal sewing machine, or loosing much of their profit to paying for a machine rental.

“We need the Tambaka (chiefdom) people to see the need to conserve and protect the wildlife, like remaining elephant populations, and their habitats. This is only possible when they are offered the livelihood and income generating opportunities that have been requested by them.”

Pa Kalie Kamara, Trustee of the Pan Verus Project

Background:

The community of Kotor is situated at the entrance to Sierra Leone’s oldest national park, Outamba Kilimi. It is a small Susu community that has gained little benefit from living in one of sub-Saharan Africa’s biodiversity hotspots.

The Pan Verus Project has worked alongside the community of Kotor for several years, and they are our main partner community. Community members have welcomed foreign team members with open arms, and revelled with us as we looked through camera trap videos together, and shared laughs with us as we watched nature documentaries on the projector during outreach nights.

Kotor community members now make up the bulk of the Pan Verus Project team (which is still admittedly much smaller than we’d like) and they have helped us register our efforts as a Community Based Organization within Sierra Leone. This decision was made to ensure that local community members would always lead any community development efforts.

Now that PVP has been registered as a UK Charity, we are looking to grow our activities. However, due to COVID-19 as well as normal funding cycles, it could be months or even a year before we could raise the funds to begin our alternative income training scheme on the larger scale we dream of. However, we want to give Kotor a sign of good faith, and a ‘tenki’ for all the work they have done to accommodate the Pan Verus Project these last three years.

Alternative income training is so important because it gives people autonomy in their situation. Many people lament the lack of paid jobs available to them in the rural district of Karene, and say they often have no choice but to resort to the dangerous and illegal jobs of gold mining and logging when they would rather participate in legal means of earning their income. Tailoring training is one of the most requested types of job training we hear about, and it’s time for us to step up to the plate!

All funds will be used for purchasing sewing machines, accessories, necessary sewing items, funding a tailoring instructor, transporting the items to the park, and related activities.