NGO #4 IOM Sierra Leone

July 9, 2021 Gisselle Airfunding for NGO, Airfunding for NGO

Hello, this is Aria Intern. How are you all doing? This time, I would like to introduce to you the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which is engaged in entrepreneurship training in Sierra Leone as the second step of the introduction of NGOs participating in the Airfunding Overseas NGO Support Program.

Where is Sierra Leone in the first place? What kind of country? There are many questions, and I think it is a strange country. So, I will explain about IOM while also taking into account the basic information of Sierra Leone.

Facts About Sierra Leone

The official name for Sierra Leone is the Republic of Sierra Leone. It is located on the west side of the African continent and its capital is Freetown. The population is 7.97 million and it takes more than 30 hours to fly from Japan to Sierra Leone! Sierra Leone was originally a British colony and became independent in 1961. After independence, it was not stable immediately, and it was difficult to establish an economic social infrastructure (social infrastructure) due to civil war and military coup d’etat.

The civil war has calmed down, and as soon as the economy gets a little bit on track, the Ebola outbreak will take place in 2014. The Ebola outbreak has been a serious blow to the country, as compared to other countries, the infrastructure is still more unstable and vulnerable. After Ebola’s convergence, mineral resource prices supporting the economy in Sierra Leone declined, resulting in lower foreign currency revenues and economic damage. In Sierra Leone, youth unemployment is the highest in Africa, with two out of three people unemployed and suffering from a situation of incomplete employment. There are many people who are seeking economic stability and jobs and are illegal immigrants to Europe.

IOM Mission & Vision

Work and earn money to support your family and yourself. For us, it is not something that the people of Sierra Leone can do. The current economic and social vulnerability makes it difficult to find a new path in the desperate situation of living tomorrow. For this reason, the IOM was created with the aim of supporting the young people of Sierra Leone who want to start a business and encouraging the growth of the country.

The mission of the IOM is to promote the employment and entrepreneurship of young people. For sustainable development, it is essential to train young people in Sierra Leone to start and operate their businesses on their own, rather than introducing work abroad or migrating as immigrants. The long-term vision of the IOM is to reduce the number of young people who become illegal immigrants.

IOM Activities

IOM focuses on three main initiatives.

The first is vocational training, which increases job aptitude. Through vocational training, we have provided support for about 2,000 people so that the younger generation and women have more employment opportunities.

The second is training to become an entrepreneur. We provide business startups and advanced management training so that you can start and operate your business on your own.

The third campaign is for the suppression of illegal immigrants. As I mentioned earlier, more and more people are staying as illegal immigrants in Europe and other neighboring areas in order to get out of the difficult situation facing the country. But living in other areas as an illegal immigrant is dangerous. For that reason, we are promoting domestic growth by conducting awareness campaigns to inform the dangers of illegal immigration.