The Women Solidarity and Development, Inc. a non-profit, non-governmental women-led Liberia registered charity serving women and children in the underprivileged communities of Liberia to overcome the severe poverty that is facing them.

The mandate of this body is to develop and promote creative solutions to problems that impede the social and economic development of the poor rural women and children of Liberia, through the following activities:

1.        Education;
2.        Economic Empowerment; Primary Health Care Services;
3.        Women & Children Human Rights; Education;
4.        Food Security; Micro finance, 
5.        Ebola response 2014- 2015, etc.

 During the Ebola epidemic in Liberia, the Women Solidarity and Development (WSD) was able to secured funding from the following partners Geneva Global/Capital for Good and the African Women’s Development Fund to help combat the deadly Ebola Virus disease in the country.

WSD saw the urgent need to locate one of the projects in Tewor District, Grand Cape Mount County, near the Liberian Sierra Leonean border where the virus came with reinforcement at the time. 

While implementing the project, we came across 150 Ebola orphans, most of whom are girls and 74 widows who we have been caring for by supplying them with several food and non-food items (NFI), including book-bags, copy books, pens, pencils, sharpeners, rulers, erasers, etc.,

 Liberia is one of the world's poorest country with 84% of the population living under the UN poverty line of 1.25$ a day. Unemployment rate is also very high which means the cycle of poverty is difficult to break through.  The Ebola epidemic has added to suffering of its citizens. Killing more than 4000 people, Ebola left over 3000 widows and even more orphans, all very vulnerable and many feeling their situations are hopeless and unbearable.  Many children of these widows as well as many of the orphans are not in school, their mothers and/or caretakers are often not employed and further more they are mostly unskilled. Life is very difficult for these families and they are unable to sustain their households.

As our project is now phased out in that location, life continue to be very unbearable with these widows and those who have taken in those orphans as they are totally depending on hand-outs because they do not have any source of income and/or skills.

As a result of the forgoing, the widows and care takers of these orphans are not able to underwrite the tuition cost and living expenses of their children and these orphans and even their own children (the care takers), thus making most of these children especially the girls who are given less attention to drop out of school.

The above mentioned information concerning the present status of these children was gathered during our last follow-up visit made in that district in March 2017.

 WSD is greatly excitement to partner with you because the project is gear towards breaking the financial barrier that is keeping these children out of school. The implementation of the project will enable the target beneficiaries walk out of abject poverty for the rest of their life. 

Thus, WSD wants to partner with friendly organizations and individuals like your to enable us established a back to school project for these children, so that they can break through the cycle of poverty that is facing they and their families, by sponsoring 55 Ebola orphan girls ages ranging from 5 years to 20 years old from primary to senior high levels for the 2017/2018 school year in the District of Tewor, Grand Cape Mount and Paynesville City, Montserrado Counties; which were some of the hard hit areas during the epidemic in Liberia.

Below is the financial breakdown of the proposed project:

FINANCIAL BREAKDOWN

During the implementation of the project, the most needed beneficiaries shall be identified by our staff in collaboration with the various communities leaders and WSD shall pay the require fees to the account of the various schools that the children are expected to attend for the academy 2018/2019 school year, while the other require materials such as uniform, text books, pens, pencils, copy books, book bags, etc. shall be purchase by the management of Women Solidarity and Development for onward distribution to the targeted beneficiaries with a regular follow-up visits been made both to those schools that these children will be attending and to the homes of the beneficiaries as well.

When the project is funded, it will bring a great relief/secure a better future for these disadvantage children.

From the start of the project, immediately an operational coordination mechanism begins and effective M&E mechanisms established to monitor, supervise and evaluate the expected outcomes and impact of the project through the following mains:

       The Field Monitors will be spending much of their time on the field checking in with those schools’ administration that the children will be attending and the home of the children;

       Monitoring visits will also be done frequently by the  Project Coordinator in the selected communities as a constant follow-upon on the schools’ activities;

       The Executive Director Mrs. Bettea S. Monger and two other senior staff will further conduct a join monitoring visits advising on areas that need improvement.