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The people resident in Benduma Village, Bagruwa Chiefdom in Moyamba District have started to mobilize resources to commence the construction of a Village Health Post that will serve the people and improve the health status of their community, and its immediate surroundings, especially in Maternal and Child Health Care services.
The initiative came as a result of Fambul Tok International- Sierra Leone’s direct community-led planning and development initiative through the People’s Planning Process. The initiative allows communities define their needs, resources and moving forward with beginning to implement the plans through a Village Development Committee (VDC) without waiting for outside aid .
According to Solomon Yarjoh, Project Officer at Fambul Tok, the VDC members have received several trainings in basic project management, mediation and reconciliation techniques as well as communication skills that are designed to equip the members.
He said the trainings are geared towards strengthening their capacity in development and peace building activities that are linked with the People’s Planning Process, which according to him, ‘is an inside-out approach to healing, recovery, and ongoing development in Sierra Leone that puts the people at the centre’.
Henry Johnson Senesie, the VDC Secretary of Benduma Village said that through the VDC structure, each household contributes money (above Two Leones) or other items such as fruits and vegetables, which are sold and the proceeds go into the Village Basket for safe keeping, at the end of every week.
He said the nearest health facility within their community was over 15 miles away which was why they remain determined to make every little effort in mobilizing resources to commence the construction of a health facility that would serve Benduma and its surrounding Villages.
“We are confident that with the little effort we are making to develop this health post will surely improve the health and well being of our community. Fambul Tok has helped us to develop this believe and we are grateful for all the support they continue to give the people of Benduma”, says Mr. Senesie.
Fambul Tok is working with the Government of Sierra Leone and the Catalyst for Peace to expand the People’s Planning Process nationwide as the “Wan Fambul Framework”. The initiative is currently piloted in Koinadugu, Kono and Moyamba Districts, which will be coordinated at Chiefdom Level supporting every Section and Village in the district.
