PROFILE OF DESERT FLOWER FOUNDATION, SIERRA LEONE

DFFSL (DESEERT FLOWER FOUNDATION – SIERRA LEONE) was established in 2014, and registered as non-profit company in Sierra Leone. The organization was founded by a group of socially committed individuals in their pursuit of a better life for poor children and social development for the most marginal and deprived communities in Sierra Leone. DFF-SL works to empower the most marginalized and deprived communities living in the rural and urban areas of Sierra Leone and the Sub-region. DFF-SL emerged out of the need to address the high level of ignorance and low level of self-development capacity that affects over eighty percent of men, women and young people in Sierra Leone.

DFF-SL operates under the vibrant leadership of the President of Desert Flower Foundation-SL, Rev. Fr. Peter Alpha Konteh. The non-profit is governed by a technical Management Board that comprises seven (7) members, who function as an advisory body and an oversight to the day-to-day management. The Management Board meets three times in the year to plan, evaluate and take informed decisions on the operations of the Desert Flower Foundation-SL, and reports progress to the DFF-SL President during the board of management and trustees meetings.

The Desert Flower Foundation-SL covers a geographical area of 27,925 sq miles and a total surface area of about 72,000 km². Sierra Leone is a small country on the West Coast of Africa, between latitudes 7⁰ and 10⁰ N and longitudes 10⁰ and 13⁰ of the equator and Greenwich Meridian respectively. The climate is tropical with a lot of rain, sun and vegetative growth of thick grass land, mangrove swamps and dense forests. It was a British Colony that gained independence on 27^th April 1961 and became a republic on 1^st January 1971, and one party-state on 19^th April, 1978.

Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries in the world, with over 70% of the population living on less than $1 a day. It has an estimated population of about 7.5 million (2015 Census reported by Statistic  Sierra Leone)

The population of Sierra Leone is predominately rural aggregated as follows:

• Rural population 65%;
• Urban population 35%;
• Children below 5 years 17% and
• Children below 15 years 41%.

Life expectancy is 42 years at birth and literacy rate is 21% .

The rural people live in remote villages having populations of 100 to 2.500 people, in mud wattle houses without electricity or safe drinking water. The means of livelihood is subsistence farming; food produced cannot feed the people year round. Communication is very poor although the arrival of mobile telephone services led to some improvement. Roads are unpaved and can be quite challenging during the rainy season. The gross national income per capital is 200 Euro and only 0.4% of the National budget is spent on health care; therefore, it is thus not realistically possible for the Government to take on full responsibility of the general health care service delivery. Mission hospitals provide a much needed service at reasonable and at extensive rural and urban population coverage and catchment.

The country is currently grappling with the devastating effects of a 10-year brutal civil conflict and ebola epidemic. Between 1991 and 2002, the brutal civil conflict killed an estimated 50,000 people and made hundreds of thousands of orphans. From 2014 to 2015, the Ebola epidemic in history struck the country, killing over 4,000 and creating tens of thousands of orphans. This socio-economic situation puts the communities on an urgent course of sustainable recovery. Conversely, the high illiteracy rate and low level of self-development awareness among a huge proportion of the women and young people is a serious challenge and setback to the recovery and development aspirations of Sierra Leone. The need for basic education and functional literacy as the vehicle for initiating and/or promoting recovery and sustainable development in the communities is quite urgent. DFF-SL is addressing this recovery and development challenge by working with communities on social transformation projects that use community-based and participatory development intervention approaches.

The purpose of Desert Flower Foundation-SL that is “Save a Little Desert Flower” is to facilitate independent living and sustainable development among the population DFF-SL serves. This is due to the high level of FGM/C education through Access, Advocating and Awareness in Sierra Leone for women and girls to be resilent. However, it will contribute to work closely with local and external donors to mitigate lapses in meeting the needs of the people where their needs are identified based not on race, creed, tribe, gender, religion, region or nationality.

The project is intended to raise community awareness in a bid to reduce/ and or eradicate FGM/C against children/young girls and women through children led initiated advocacy and community awareness raising programs in Sierra Leone.

The organization is an effort to empower the most marginalized and deprived communities of DFF-SL operational areas across the rural and urban towns and villages in Sierra Leone and the Sub-region and its promotes structures of justice where people live in peace, love and harmony. DFF-SL caters for the “holistic development” of people, every person with special concern for the care, protection and development of people, who are marginalized and disadvantaged. Specifically, the Desert Flower Foundation-SL through the activities of her advocacy and development team supports sponsorship and development projects in the said operational areas mentioned below:

• Sponsorship (Education; food and medication);
• Water and Sanitation (WATSAN);
• Agriculture and food security;
• Health education/talks;
• Community Based Development Education micro-Finance Activities with women and youth groups;
• Gender, mainstreaming and Child Protection/ Welfare; and
• Construction, infrastructure, rehabilitation and relief.

The Desert Flower Foundation-SL is headed by Country President, Project Coordinator, who works with a team that includes a Supervisor, Social Workers, a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Administrative and Finance Officer, Data Entering Clerk/Officer and various auxillary staff such as Personal Assistant (AP), driver and security etc.

Since its inception, the Desert Flower Foundation-SL has enjoyed a favourable working relationship with Government departments, sometimes implement projects in close collaboration with international and local NGO’s, Line Ministries and departments/CBOs/community leaders, etc.

The Desert Flower Foundation-SL is a strong technical member of the inter-agency fora in the Districts of operation and in the country at large. This body also serves as oversight to the operations of all local and international NGOs in the country and vets the technical ability of implementing agencies under their jurisdiction. DFF-SL benefits from technical support rendered by the Local authorities, Government and collaborating agencies based on identified needs.

In order to enhance sound financial management and accountability, Desert Flower Foundation-SL operates a computerized accounting system for recording and reporting on all financial transaction. The accounting system includes the production of monthly reports and quarterly variance reports based on management accounting that shows planned, actual expenditure and balance.

The personnel of Desert Flower Foundation-SL works under a structured organogram and the standard of accountability to the community and beneficiaries for all humanitarian and development workers working in Sierra Leone.

Since its inception in 2014, the DFF-SL has:

• Provided Sponsorship on Access to Education, Advocacy and Awareness for Sierra Leonean girls and women;
• Collaborated with like minded institutions in the fight against FGM/FGC, rural and urban poverty and women and child rights abuses;
• Facilitated rights promotion/protection and gender, and leadership transformation events & processes in rural communities and institutions.;
• Facilitated behavior change education interventions targeting FGM/FGC Malaria, HIV and AIDS prevention and impact mitigation and sanitation in rural and urban communities;
• Supported social and economic capacity building for rural women and youth;
• Trained and mentored rural women and young people in functional literacy, Livelihood advancement Skills, sanitation and SGBV prevention and response;
• Made contribution to the Ebola, Mudslide and Flood emergency response efforts to meet partial needs of the affected communities in the DFF-SL areas of operation in (Bo, Lungi, Freetown, Newton, Leister, Dwerzark and Allen town); and
• Contributed on Relief and Rehabilitation programs in areas of need.

The DFF-SL plans in the very near future based on available local and donor support to:

• Establish animal Production Projects: Currently most animal products consumed in Sierra Leone are imported from other countries. They are expensive and beyond the financial means of a great majority of the people. This plan will not only provide the local people with enough animal protein, but it will also create jobs for Desert Mothers in their local settings.

• Establish “Desert Flower Hub”.

• Establish a DFF-SL Educational/Recreational Centre for generating income.

• Establish DFF-SL clinics, hospitals and schools.

• Establish DFF-SL recreational Centres for children, youth, adults and elders.

• Establish large scale rice production project in its area of operation. The objective is to produce rice in large quantities to serve the needs of the local population and for export purposes. Establish agriculture Field Training Schools in identified locations of DFF-SL. This is based on the realization on the old Chinse adage that “lf you give a man a fish, he will eat it and ask for more but if you teach him how to fish, he will be a fisher man the rest of his life”.

• Provide RELIEF Programs to those affected by natural and man-made disasters.

• Provide ploughing services to farming communities. One of the contributing factors to shortage of rice in Sierra Leone is the lack of capacity on the side of the farmers (the majority of them old and sick) to plough their fields. A subsidized mechanical ploughing project will assist the farmers to produce adequate rice to serve their needs.

• Establish women and youth programs; Rural women and youths are the forgotten majority in development efforts. Programs that are carried out based on their identified needs will go a long way to help them realize their dreams.