Water Fund Training Wraps Up in Freetown With Visit to Chimpanzee Sancutary

A three-day training on Water Funds has ended in Freetown, Sierra Leone, with a visit to the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary in the Western Area Peninsula Rainforest.

The training took place from April 8th to 10th, 2025, and brought together teams from nine Water Funds across six African countries Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, and Sierra Leone. Trainers came from different regions around the world.

Topics covered during the training included Water Fund setup, watershed restoration, working with communities and other groups, funding strategies, and ways to track progress.

Sierra Leone’s Western Area Peninsula Water Fund hosted the training, giving participants a chance to see its work and connect with others doing similar work in the region.

The event was supported by several groups and offices, including The Nature Conservancy, CRS Sierra Leone, State House Sierra Leone, Commissioner Sao-Kpato Hannah Isatta Max-Kyne PhD, the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Ministry of Lands, Housing and Country Planning, Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation, the Environment Protection Agency, Freetown City Council, IUCN, and the Global Environment Facility.

The training closed with a visit to Tacugama, where participants saw ongoing conservation work in one of the country’s key forest areas.