Explore our impactful projects and initiatives aimed at empowering youth, transforming communities, and driving positive change in Sierra Leone. From skills training programs to community development projects, discover how we’re making a difference one step at a time.
Experience has shown that to guarantee a future where everyone does well, people particularly the youth must be equipped to with the right skills and environment to thrive and make a difference for themselves and their communities.
Doing so requires a sustained and systematic effort, sometimes focused one-on-one attention to meet the needs of a young person and what the community needs of them. Concretely, this requires proper training, hands-on experience through internships and apprenticeship, consistent formal and informal mentoring, a good learning environment and a community that is engaged and committed to it’s youth doing well.
Thus we work with partners, locally, nationally and globally to accomplish small but impactful goals as well as larger visions.
We recognize that young people operate in communities and environment and that working in a developing, post conflict country means sometimes you must support the well-being of communities in which the young people live. That is why Bright Start-Sierra Leone keeps a holistic lenses on what our young people’s environment needs. For example, Bright Start- Sierra Leone helped renovate the only maternal clinic in the community. Bright Start-Sierra Leone is looking to support with issues of hygiene and sanitation in ways that benefits the young people we serve and their communities.
Furthermore, we have engaged in community sensitization of emerging and critical issues such as the Kush Epidemic, which saw the president of the country declare as a national emergency.
Often, our youth development work extends beyond just training young eople and it is important that we are cognizant fo the needs and times.
Experience has shown that this BIG FIVES are fundamental to have success in developing young people’s capacity to earn and lead. We look at health system strengthening as a mix of five fundamental ingredients: staff, stuff, space, systems, and social support. Removing any one item would result in a weaker health system overall.
Our work aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and more targetedly works towards the below:
Bright Start-Sierra Leone utilizes the Whole Child approach to education which centers the humanity of each student and teacher as we work to prepare students in reaching their full potential. We do this by building environments that empowers students, creates a sense of community and belonging. Our work focuses on both formal education through Bright Start Academy as well as out of school enrichment activities for children, youth and adults who support their development. Given we work in a context and community that has experience many traumatic experience in the last 25 years utilizing a healing centered approach is critical.
Core components of the whole child approach includes physical, mental and socio-emotional health. We focus on health because it is critical for positive child and youth development. Our work looks at individual, family and community health and well-being. We work proactively and respond to health issues that are immediate, medium and long term.
Our community work in rooted in service of the place and space of where children and youth live. For children and youth to thrive the environment around them must be conducive hence we work with local, national and global partners to create communities that support their positive development.
Sierra Leone is a country blessed with natural resources and a resilient people. The country continues to recover from several events that caused social, economic and physical damage to people and infrastructure. These include the 11 year civil war that ended in 2002, several natural disasters, the ebola and COVID- 19 pandemic. Given these layered traumatic events, recovery, healing and the path towards thriving has been an interrupted process. Still individuals, organizations and communities continue to make small and big changes towards full recovery and sustenance. Bright-Start Sierra Leone saw a need in the areas we call “missing Middle” – communities that are not rural but not fully urbanized either. These communities tend not to receive as much resources given donors often think of rural or urban challenges. In particular, Devil Hole, where our work started, is home to Co-Founder Ishmail Barrie.
Birght Start-Sierra Leone works with youth in underserved communities in Sierra Leone to equip them with skills to earn and lead in an ever changing global world.
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