Women Led Change
It was Fanteh’s first time being on a laptop and zoom. The COVID-19 pandemic was at its height globally and she took a long drive with World Hope staff to the closest town. As the chairwoman of her village, she was meeting with Canadian CEO, Tanya Nace and Pastor Denn Guptill of Cornerstone Wesleyan Church to start a Village Partnership.
Partnering for Transformation
Village Partnerships are set up to make a long-term sustainable impact. Churches or organizations commit to partnering with a community for 3-5 years to holistically address community-identified needs and support community-led solutions that make a powerful difference in one place.
Fanteh and her community identified two significant challenges:
- The village didn’t have access to seeds and were struggling to grow successful crops.
- The village had a high rate of teenage pregnancies because girls were having to walk 4 miles each way to attend high school and were vulnerable to sexual assault.
Seeing the Impact Firsthand
On a recent trip to Sierra Leone Tanya had the opportunity to meet Fanteh in person and to see the transformation that happens when women are empowered to make change. As Fanteh shared about her role as chairwoman of the village her excitement and passion for her people were evident.
The village partnership provided seeds and agricultural training. Now a cooperative of women are successfully growing onions and testing new crops of tomatoes and okra. They have learned to continually develop their skills as farmers. Now these women produce their own seeds and have not only enough for themselves but to sell to others!
“If you want to lift up humanity, empower women. It is the most comprehensive, pervasive, high-leverage investment you can make in human beings.”
To address the second significant challenge facing their community, it was decided to build a secondary school in the community. In the 2 years since the new school was built- there have been no teenage pregnancies! Having a local school has provided safety and opportunity for girls to continue pursuing their educations.
Fanteh says, “Now, we have peace.”
“the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.”’
Numbers 6:26
Read more about how World Hope International empowers women or give to support programs that equip and elevate women’s voices.
