Construction of a village for victims of poliomyelitis

The aim of this project is to build a village, within one year, for over 220 Polio victims in Makeni, located in the Bombali District. This village will provide 100 of them homes, a kitchen, as well as toilets and showers, but will also enable all of them to access skills training workshops in order to improve their standards of living. They will be able to produce items in the workshops that will be sold at the local markets. The income generated will serve to maintain the welfare of the inhabitants and the village's infrastructure.

The project proposes a comprehensive strategy aiming to improve and sustain their livelihoods. The beneficiaries own the village, live there and are responsible for taking good care of it.

Sierra Leone has a large number (between 2,500 and 3,000) of Polio victims, who, for many years, have been marginalized by both society and successive governments. The registered number of Polio victims in Makeni alone is 250. They do not benefit from any help to handle their disability and are in great majority homeless, which make them even more vulnerable.

Action Swiss Sierra Leone is an international non-governmental organization, established in 1996 to support its Sierra Leonean counterpart SSLDF (Swiss Sierra Leone Development Foundation). Its mission is to help SSLDF improve and promote sustainable socio-economic well being for vulnerable groups such as mothers and children, war victims, leprosy victims and polio victims.

The Addax Foundation helps by financing the construction and setting up of the workshops for the completed village, which will include:

a housing unit,
a kitchen,
toilets and showers,
a palava hut,
workshops and a showroom for 8 professions.

Location	Bombali district Sierra Leone
Objective	Rehabilitation of Polio victims to help them achieve self-sufficiency
How	By supporting Action Swiss Sierra Leone