The United States Embassy in Sierra Leone has through the “Special Self Help Fund” Program awarded eight local organisations that will be working directly with grassroots to implement various community projects in Agriculture, Water and Sanitation.

The awarded beneficiaries will receive a total funding of forty thousand United States Dollars for the project implementation in Freetown and beyond.

At the Award Ceremony held yesterday at the United States Embassy in Freetown, Ambassador David D. Reimer said the fund is one way the US Embassy will support economic development in Sierra Leone, by working directly with grassroots to implement projects in their communities.

“This is one of my favourite programs in the US Embassy in Sierra Leone because it allows us to respond directly to community requests, to fund projects that have an immediate impact on those communities,” said Ambassador David D. Reimer.

Ambassador Reimer congratulated the beneficiaries for being selected for this program and will like to see more of these projects in the future.

“It was a lot of competition, but yours was among the top 10% of all applications, and this can help cushion these impacts to the good work of your organisations,” Ambassador David D. Reimer.

Ambassador Reimer said the Embassy is proud to partner with and uplift and improve communities, assured that the U.S. team is here to support, and promised that the team will be visiting communities’ projects in the months ahead to see what they were doing.

The Special Self-Help Fund, according to Ambassador David D. Reiner, was interrupted and suspended years ago due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which impact the work of the Embassy.

He further assured me that the money became available again, and the program has started, and “I am happy to restart again”.

The beneficiaries include Deseret Women Organisation, Center for Sustainable Development Initiative, Magorehun Vakie Development Association, Youth Partnership for Aquaculture Development, Tabomnya Women’s Organisation, Advocacy for Women’s Empowerment Network, Goodwill Humanitarian Foundation and Seed Sierra Leone. They received certificates.