Our Background

background of ABC DEVELOPMENT

The Association for the Wellbeing of Rural Communities and Development (ABC-DEVELOPMENT) was founded in June 1996 by a group of Sierra Leoneans, Guineans, and Liberians. The founding members were motivated by their concern with the problems of poverty and the violent civil conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone and the alarming prospect of a spillover into Guinea. The organization received its first official registration with the government of Sierra Leone in November 1998 to operate as a local non-governmental organization in the Northern part of the country.

Since 1997, ABC-DEVELOPMENT has been operating in the border district of Kambia in northern Sierra Leone on various projects in food security, health including HIV/AIDS, education, women and youth empowerment, governance, and skills training. 

In 2001, ABC-Development also joined some NGOs and civil society organizations operating in Sierra Leone to promote the activities of the Network for Collaborative Peace building in Sierra Leone (NCP-SL). This was later transformed into the West African Network for Peace Building (WANEP-SL) Sierra Leone chapter.

Previous Experiences with Project Implementation:

There have been rapid developments in ABC in relation to project intervention and activities. Starting with a single project in 1997, the scale-up of activities has increased rapidly over the years as follows:

Major Projects:

-         Epidemic Control and Reinforcement of Health Services funded by the Federal Republic of Germany and the Government of Sierra Leone through Care International Sierra Leone ( ECRHS-2016-2020)

-         Integrated community case management (ICCM) and CHW program funded by UNICEF and IRC (2011 to 2018)

-         Civic action for sustainable health care service delivery (CASHED) funded by EU and CARE International Sierra Leone (July 2012-June 2015)

-         Community Action for Self-reliance and Reintegration (CASAR I – CASARIII) Funded by ACT-Netherlands (Kerk in Actie), Refugee Foundation, (S.V) Netherlands and Diakonisch Werke, Duitsland, (October 1997 – December 2002.

-          Literacy and Conflict Resolution Project (LICREP). Funded by Lady Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Funds and Comic Relief,     UK (October 1999 – December 2001).

-          Rebuilding Community in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone (REBCOM); Funded by the National Lotteries Charities Board UK, (January 2000 – December 2002).

- Cross-border HIV/AIDS sensitization targeting mobile population and commercial sex workers in lorry packs and weekly traditional markets, funded by CARE International Sierra Leone (2007-2011)

Micro-Projects:

-         Child Sponsorship and Community women empowerment by providing livelihood support (2009- 2020)

-         To Promote the Inclusion/participation of Women in Decision Making through the Provision of Knowledge that will Enhance their Participation in 2018 Elections funded by Trocaire Sierra Leone (2016 to 2019)

-         Empowering women and girls in post-Ebola communities in the Kambia district funded by Trocaire, Sierra Leone 2016 to 2019)

-         Girl child education challenge in Kambia district, funded by PLAN and IRC ( 2016 to 2917)

Life-Saving Emergency Assistance:

-         Emergency Food Distribution and Community Feeding – Kambia District, Sierra Leone. Funded by ACT-Netherlands, during the escalation of the war in the Kambia District (September – December 1998).

-         Ebola Response Consortium funded by DFID, UKAID and OFDA from 2014 to 2016

-          Responding to the needs of affected flood and mudslide victims and communities using an information Kiosk in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Funded by Trocaire (20^th August to 20^th November 2017)