Ibis Launches Education Project In Tonkolili District

IBIS, an International NGO with its headquarters in Denmark, has worked in Sierra Leone since 2006. IBIS, which currently implements Governance and Education programmes in Sierra Leone, has recently launched a new teacher training project in Kholifa-Rowalah Chiefdom of Tonkolili District. The project will be implemented in partnership with REACT, a Danish volunteer group committed to supporting development processes in Sierra Leone, and will be administered from the Masanga Education Center at Masanga. The aim of the programme is to train local primary teachers in emerging issues and child-centered teaching methods, to teach emerging issues such as gender, rights, health and environment to local primary children, and to support effective school supervision in the project area.
The education programme of IBIS in Sierra Leone covers a five year period targeting education interventions from the local to the district and national level working with educational authorities, civil society organizations, communities and other relevant stakeholders. The programme’s focus areas are complementary education (CREPS), girl child focused gender activities, vocational training, professional teacher capacity building, supervisory capacity building and community mobilization to support Education for all process at levels.
REACT’s education projects in Masanga also include establishing a school library with school materials and computers, creating an education programme for adults on issues such as hygiene, democratization, and community ownership of development projects. The REACT group will also send Danish volunteers on annual basis to support with technical advice for the project. At an inception meeting between the two organizations, the Country Director of IBIS, Tijani Hamza, indicated that they have just finalized agreement to conduct a baseline survey aimed at creating a benchmark which can serve as basis for measuring progress in the project implementation, testing the assumptions behind the project formulation as well as ensure that project and partner staff familiarize with challenges and perspectives in the areas of intervention. He called on the stakeholders to continuously consult with the District Education Office and other key stakeholders for guidance, since it was important that the interventions fitted well with the Education priorities of the district.