Regions: Africa   Asia   Latin America


Name of Organization: Agricultural Production Extension and General Services (APEGS)

Country: Sierra Leone

Project Title: "Improvement of Vocational Services in Schools in Hastings Village"

Project Timeframe: 12 months

Location of Project: Hastings

Budget Amount: $39,000

NGO contact and website:
7 Garber Lane, Juba Hill
Freetown, Sierra Leone
Phone: +232 22 239073 or +232 76 601576
E-mail: cbern@email.com

Project's Primary Objective: Strengthen formal and transitional education systems that encourage working children and those at risk of working to attend school.

Description of Organization: APEGS is a national NGO formed in 1996 with a mission to improve the standard of living of Sierra Leoneans through increased food production by the provision of appropriate technical services.APEGS also realizes the non-agricultural needs of its beneficiaries and seeks to attend to these needs to the best of its ability. APEGS has trained and qualified staff with experience in project implementation, including specialists in the fields of Agriculture, Economics, Accounting and Rural Sociology. Currently APEGS operates in the Western Area, Kenema, Kailahun, Bombali, Koinnadugu and Tonkolili districts, with offices in the town of Makeni in the north, Kenema in the east, and a field office in Buedu in Kailahun district.

APEGS has worked in partnership with both local and international agencies in Agriculture (crops, animals and support services including training), Forestry, Youths in development, Child development, Women's Programme, Rural development and Relief services.

APEGS is one of the major implementing partners for the United Nations World Food Program (UN WFP) in Sierra Leone. APEGS distributes WFP commodities and supervises other organizations in the implementation of WFP programs. APEGS has also worked with agencies like World Vision, European Commissions/Sierra Leone Resettlement and Rehabilitation Program (EC/SLRRP), CARE International, and other government agencies.

APEGS is a member of the National Agricultural Technical Committee. The executive director is the Current Chairman of the Sierra Leone Association of NGO's (SLANGO). Furthermore, APEGS has conducted training exercises in secondary schools within the Western Area, and Kenema in the Eastern Province.

Description of Project funded by CIRCLE: This CIRCLE project will contribute to the rehabilitation of vocational training in two schools in the Hastings village of western Sierra Leone. The schools are Kelly Rural Vocational Agricultural Secondary School (KRVASS) and Rural Education Committee (REC) Primary School. These schools serve communities that cover about 10 miles in radius.

Like its name implies, KRVASS is supposed to be a vocational and agricultural School but currently it lacks the tools, equipments and infrastructure to function as one. During the war, this building was robbed of the little equipment it had and is now in disrepair and non-functional, even though there is a home economics teacher attached to the center. There is strong competition between school attendance and agriculture, petty trading and charcoal production, which are the major sources of income in the community. Parents prefer the ‘fast cash' derived from having their children help them with income generation. Even those parents wanting their children to go to school prefer them to engage in a vocational study, which to a large extent guarantees self-employment after graduation. In the absence of vocational studies, parents consider that the next best thing is to engage children in income generating activities. For both KRVASS and REC the drop out level was 13% in 2002/03 and 11% in 2003/04 school year.

APEGS, having worked in the community before, has met with school heads and community members who have agreed that improving on the schools, especially with regards vocational studies, would attract more children/parents and thus increase attendance.

The project will sensitize parents and other community members to the rights of children to education, and children to their responsibility to acquire education for their socio-economic and life development.

The project will construct and equip a three-classroom block at KRVASS for three major vocational study areas: sewing, cooking, and agriculture. The project will also repair and equip the REC school's Home Economics Center. The parents will contribute to the project through the provision of their labor. A Project Management Committee (PMC) comprising representation from APEGS, the schools and the community, will monitor the project throughout its life span.

Project Targets (Common Indicators):
Enrollment: 10% increase (27 children)
Persistence: 90%
Transition: no transition to non-CIRCLE funded programs
Conclusion: 90%