FARM PLAN EMPOWERING RURAL WOMEN

Operating in Sanda Magbolontor, one of the most deprived chiefdoms in Sierra Leone, the third most vulnerable nation to climate change, our sustainable farm, Hope Sauma, inspired by EBAFOSA sets out our mission to harness the spirit of innovative volunteerism, marrying diaspora skills and the chiefdoms boundless natural and human capital, to empower rural women to:

- achieve gender equality and deliver good governance - all our farmer associations have a majority of women (70%) by design to ensure an equal voice and an equal say at all levels

- improve food security by intensifying rice production and reducing post-harvest losses - 15 teams 70% women learning skills to develop inland valley swamps to grow neria rice

- boost nutrition and climate change adaptation by learning nursery skills and diversifying into vegetables and drought-resistant cassava and cashew highly nutritious alternatives to Salone staples rice and peanut helping these farming communities adapt to climate change

- enhance forest livelihoods and protect biodiversity by improving market linkages and diversifying livelihoods by processing produce locally adding value and reducing transportation costs and CO2 emissions - all our farmer associations agree to farm only previously farmed land, not to cut down trees and not to use chemical pesticides