Mental health is pivotal for the success, longevity and passion of any employer working in any industry - especially in the aid and development industry. As an organization that works in partnership with communities in rural Sierra Leone, daily, we witness firsthand the changes and impact multidimensional poverty can have on communities and on our local staff.

On the 13th September 2022, OneVillage Partners, in partnership with the community members of Lalehun, Sierra Leone completed and successfully handed over a new Junior Secondary School. Lalehun is a community in the Eastern District of Sierra Leone with a population of 2,858 and 387 houses. A community lush in agriculture and desire for a sustainable change.

A key issue we’ve noticed in the international development community has been the level of ethical communication strategies and terminology used to communicate to audiences.

Earlier this month, we released our expansion initiative with our plans to grow OneVillage Partners across all rural Sierra Leone. The response from our supporters and donors have been overwhelmingly positive and we are just as excited as you are!

2021 has been an incredible year at OneVillage Partners. We have experienced and witnessed resilience, growth and changes in our partner communities and our team. From overcoming global pandemics, to national and global crises’, our community members have shown us they are committed to this journey to grow and impact sustainability for themselves and for Sierra Leone.

Research suggests that appeals for giving in international aid are less likely to succeed if audiences constantly see images and information that they find too negative. This is true in many cases where calls to actions and charitable donations do not focus on the growth of a country, but rather the demoralizing images and descriptions of constant need.

Leading in a Changing World

On April 8th, OneVillage Partners with the Movement for Community-Led Development co-hosted a Skoll World Forum EcoSystem Event. This is the recording.

Last February, Executive Director, Jill LaLonde, wrote a blog post about our efforts to define and take action to decolonize our work and organization. Now, she’s providing an update on what we’ve achieved in this space, where we’ve fallen short, and a few areas of focus for the future.

On March 15th, we hosted a town hall with four experts on gender equity and women's empowerment in Sierra Leone. We discussed how women's empowerment and gender equity are thoughtfully integrated into the work of OneVillage Partners and are vital to the development of resilient, thriving communities.

The leadership of Maloma was male dominated. Decision-making power was solely in men’s hands. This culture was noticed by women in the community. As a result of this, women were not respected.

At OneVillage Partners, our staff, board of directors, and volunteers are always learning – about history, society, and ourselves. In honor of Black History Month, we’ve gathered up everything we’re reading, people from history who are inspiring us, and resources we utilize to challenge our perspectives. And we want to share all that good stuff with you!

OneVillage Partners and many other grassroots organizations have noticed the lack of inclusive planning in global aid and development and have chosen to take part in what’s called community-led development. But what is it, you ask?

Hawa Saffa is a 45-year-old business woman and a Nurturing Opportunity for Women (NOW) participant. She is also a widow with five children who lives in Ngolahun with her family. Before the NOW program in Ngolahun, Hawa lacked knowledge in savings and budgeting and household financial management.

In the spirit of sharing good news, we once again want to share with you our favorite accomplishments from this past year.

Like many villages in Sierra Leone, Kambama is resilient in the face of many challenges: limited access to clean drinking water, women's education and gender equity, and insufficient income. Learn how the community is coming together to provide equitable access to clean drinking water.

The leadership system in the community of Majoe displayed an unfair governance and social discriminations against women. Baindu Samu, a 30-year-old community member is one of those that went through this repressive and non-transparent leadership system. This is her story.

The Community Action program guides our partners to prioritize their poverty-related challenges and design unique solutions to those challenges. In this video, hear directly from Sheku and Jinnah, two Community Action volunteers from Bombohun, explain what they are doing to make their whole community healthy and resilient.

OneVillage Partners is proud to be partnering with Together Women Rise to fund the Nurturing Opportunities for Women (NOW) program. We recently sat down with Together Women Rise to discuss the impetus and impact of NOW and the importance and urgency of supporting women worldwide.