FoRUT supported the development and launch of the National Alcohol Policy Sierra Leone. The Policy aims to reduce harm from alcohol use in Sierra Leone. Please see attached. National Alcohol Policy Sierra Leone_December_2022pdf
In tracking programme quality and relevance, please see our M&E Peer Review Report 2021FoRUT M&E Peer Review Report 2021
Please see our 2020 annual report FoRUT Annual Report_2020pdf
please see our five year strategic plan FoRUT Strategic Plan (2021 – 2025)
International Day of Rural Women (15 October), Celebrating Success with Lower Mama Lane Farmer’s Group Organization
This year’s celebration is done with farmer’s Group Organization in the Western Area with the theme “Rural Women Cultivating Good Food for All”, it highlights the essential role that rural women and girls play in the food systems of the world
Sarian Bangura is the Chair Lady for the Lower Mama Lane Farmer’s Group Organization (FBO) in Gloucester comprising 25 women. Foundation for Rural and Urban Transformation (FoRUT) over the years have been providing farming support to this group such as training through Framer Field School (FFS) by Extension Workers from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) and provision of farming tools and viable seeds. These farmers have been very effective in vegetable production. They work as a team in constructing the plots for cultivation, nursing seeds, transplanting, watering, weeding, stalking, pest management, applying manure, harvesting, and selling vegetables.
Their first attempts in vegetable cultivation did not consider the pressure from insect pests, soil-borne and foliar diseases, and soils infested with nematodes. They have always fought these pests with synthetic pesticides and if the pests persisted, they applied more pesticides until their already thin profit margins were lost. But now, these farmers grows their vegetable successfully with almost no pesticides. This is possible because of training they received through the farmer field schools(FFS). The FFS seeks to promote broader adoption of local pest management methods that reduce the use of synthetic pesticides through cultural practices, in turn reducing the incidence and impact of pests in vegetable crop production
We thank FoRUT for the support given to us in agriculture. Initially, we were working as individually. FoRUT made us to work as a group. We are proud to say that we are self-employed and can address financial needs. However, we are challenged with land. Landowners have sold their lands for the construction of houses. We are moving from one place to another and will soon not have access to land for our vegetable production. Presently, we are cultivating our vegetables on a small piece of land that will soon be taken from us.
FORUT IN NORWAY JOINED THE SIERRA LEONE ALCOHOL POLICY ALLIANCE (SLAPA) TO COMMEMORATE WORLD NO ALCOHOL DAY OCTOBER 3RD 2022.
The General Secretary of FORUT In Norway Ida Oleanna Hagen and team as part of their Monitoring and Learning visit in Sierra Leone graced the occasion of SLAPA’s commemoration of World No Alcohol Day in Waterloo, Western Sierra Leone. The event targeted school sensitization through drama and skit performance and community level sensitization on the significance of a society free of alcohol harm.
In the Western Area, SLAPA mobilized Seventh Day Adventists (SDA) Secondary School, Kissi town, Waterloo and conducted skit performance on Children and Alcohol Misuse at the Forum for African Women Educationalist (FAWE) Secondary School Waterloo. This Day is commemorated since 2008 when a proposal was made at the World Health Assembly to adopt October 2nd, in recognition of the Indian Non-Violence Nationalist Leader Mahatma Ghandi’s Birthday as World Alcohol Free Day.
The United Nations is yet to recognize this Day, however, member States including Sierra Leone is commemorating this Day. It should be noted that Alcohol consumption contributes to 3 million deaths each year globally as well as to the disabilities and poor health of millions of people. Overall, harmful use of alcohol is responsible for 5.1% of the global burden of disease.
According to World Health Organization, Harmful use of alcohol is accountable for 7.1% and 2.2% of the global burden of disease for males and females respectively. Alcohol is the leading risk factor for premature mortality and disability among those aged 15 to 49 years, accounting for 10 percent of all deaths in this age group. Disadvantaged and especially vulnerable populations have higher rates of alcohol-related death and hospitalization.
In Sierra Leone, the drive to reduce the harmful use of alcohol through Policy reforms is significantly positive as the draft Alcohol Policy awaits adoption and launch by the Ministry of Health and Sanitation.
Together we can build a healthy Sierra Leone free of alcohol harm.
FoRUT TAKING EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION TO UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES
FoRUT started work on Early Childhood Education and Development (ECD) in 2019. The project is a donation from FORUT (Campaign for Development and Solidarity) in Norway to the Karene Community for the participation of a four-year old in the production of the documentary for the FORUT Education Fundraising Campaign in 2018 and 2019. FoRUT completed the construction of a community-based ECD Centre in Karene community, Maforki Chiefdom, Port Loko District in December 2019. The centre holds two classrooms, a playground, a vegetable garden, and a three-room toilet facility. The Centre has six components: early stimulation, early learning, health, nutrition, WASH, and child protection. UNICEF donated three ECD kits to the centre through the Ministry of Basic and Senior School Education (MBSSE).
In January 2020 the centre was officially commissioned at Karene community, Beke Loko Chiefdom, Port Loko district. The ECD Centre accommodates 55 children (25 boys and 30 girls) from Karene and additional children from the adjacent communities. The community provided additional land, some local materials, unskilled labour, and the contractor. FoRUT provided imported materials and the design for the building.
“The level of collaboration for the ECD centre is exceptionally great and exemplary; the community provided the land, building and labour, FoRUT provided the financial and economic resources, this is an indicator of sustainable development”. Says Mr. Mansaray M. Pratt, Director, Educational Programs and Services, Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Educating (MBSSE) during the commissioning of the centre.
The establishment of the ECD centre is in line with section five of the 2004 Education Act which among others states that Pre-primary education shall be the education given to pupils between the ages of three and six years by enlarging and enriching their use of language and giving them other communication skills and refining their manipulative skills in such basic areas as eating, dressing and bowel movements and developing their control over their bodies in order to accelerate the learning process during formal schooling.
The Director of Educational Programs and Services Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education and the Deputy Director of Education, Port Loko district Joseph MB Sesay on behalf of the Minister of MBSSE and the Chief Education Officer officially unveiled the name of the centre as Mortem Early Childhood Development Centre in honour of Morten Lonstad, the retired General Secretary of FORUT Norway.
United Nations Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit trafficking commemorated in Freetown, June 26th 2019 with the theme Health for Justice and Justice for Health.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in collaboration with FoRUT, the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) (specifically Transnational Organised Crime Unit -TOCU & Community Relations Department), CODaP, SLYDC and Initiative for Drug Control and Human Security (IDCHS) has commemorated the 2019 International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit trafficking at the Women’s Fellowship Building CCSL Compound, Kingharman Road Freetown.
The event attracted over 300 participants, they included school teachers and pupils, Technical and Vocational learners and Instructors, University students, members of the Sierra Leone Alcohol Policy Alliance (SLAPA), CSOs, CBOs, Pharmacy Board, National Youth Commission, the Psychiatric Health Facility and Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Speaking on behalf of the Executive Director of FoRUT, Mrs Boi-Jeneh Jalloh, the Program Director Mr. Sulaiman J. Bah disclosed that a recent research conducted by SLAPA, Child Right Coalition and Coalition for Quality and Accessible in February 2019 revealed that alcohol and drug abuse have compounded the rise of cliquism and lawlessness in schools which have the potential to undermine the Free Quality School Education program Launched by His Excellency Rtd. Brigadier Julius Maada Bio in August 2018. He therefore implored government to adopt multi-faceted approach to tackle drug abuse with more focus on preventive measures which he said would be cost effective and efficient.
The Program was chaired by ASP Hawa Tina Momoh, Head of Community Relations, SLP, and the key note address was given by the Senior Policy Adviser and Analyst of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Umar M. Turay on behalf of the Minister of Internal Affairs Hon. Edward A. Soluku. Skit was performed by pupils from some schools in Freetown that depicted drug abuse and its ramification on the health, security and wellbeing of addicts.
The Chairperson of the occasion ASP Hawa Tina Momoh giving her opening statement
The Executive Director of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) speaking on behalf of the Agency
The Program Director of FoRUT Sulaiman Jonathan Bah making a statement on behalf of FoRUT
FoRUT Supports the Newly Formed Alcohol Control Technical Working Group
The Alcohol Control Technical Working Group (ACTWG) held its inception meeting on 15th May 2019. ACTWG is a multi-sectoral committee that will advise and lead alcohol control measures, including the development and implementation of evidence-based policy and legal frameworks in Sierra Leone. The Alcohol Control Technical Working Group (ACTWG) is one of the four working groups that report to the Non-Communicable Disease and Injury Commission within the Directorate of Non-Communicable Disease and Mental Health (NCD) of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS).
The Sierra Leone Alcohol Policy Alliance (SLAPA), with support from FoRUT, has lobbied and advocated for the development of a national alcohol policy in Sierra Leone since 2015. The sustained lobby and advocacy actions have primarily targeted MoHS, and Ministry of Internal Affairs, and Parliamentary Committees of relevant ministries for alcohol control. The current NCD Director Dr. Santigie Sesay, has been very receptive to FoRUT and SLAPA.
FoRUT, Secretariat for SLAPA, also provides secretariat support to ACTWG. Ms. Boi-Jeneh Jalloh, Executive Director, and Alhassan Jalloh, Advocacy and Communications Officer of FoRUT will work closely with the NCD Directorate to ensure that actions, initiatives and issues coming from meetings and other events are followed up. The ACTWG will meet monthly. The Director of the Dr. Santigie Sesay, is chair of the ACTWG.
The Members of ACTWG represent relevant ministries, departments and agencies, UN agencies and NGOs. WHO and UNICEF will represent UN agencies on ACTWG. The members are MoHS, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Children’s Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Sierra Leone Standard Bureau, WHO, UNICEF, Independent Media Commission (IMC), SLAPA and FoRUT,
FoRUT conducts Project Inception meeting with Stakeholders in Freetown
Foundation for Rural and Urban Transformation (FoRUT) has commenced the implementation of its 5-year (2019 – 2023) development program sponsored by NoRAD through FORUT – Norway. As part of its transparency and accountability campaign, FoRUT has conducted a one-day stakeholders’ inception meeting in Freetown on 9th May 2019 to present one of its Projects’ (SLE 21- Promoting Social Rights and Responsibilities in Urban Communities) plans, progress markers and Result Framework Format (RFF).
The following stakeholders participated in the program; Children and Young People’s Club members, Teachers, School Principals, Official of the Directorate of Non-Communicable Disease and Mental Health (NCD-MH) of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS), Official of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Child Rights Coalition members, Officials of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Sierra Leone Alcohol Policy Alliance (SLAPA) members, Mental Health Coalition members, Ward Councilors, Community leaders and the Media
The Project’s vision, theory of change was presented and the program was climaxed with a group work and presentation on the roles and responsibilities of project stakeholders in making the project a success.
Several key stakeholders made statements, among them was the Deputy Commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission Augustine Foday Ngobie. He said “As a Commission, we are very pleased with the objective of FoRUT: to empower men, women and children to fight poverty, injustice, alcohol and drug abuse, through social mobilization, advocacy, capacity building and provision of services for long term development. But we are particularly pleased with the fact that FoRUT also focuses on the fight against corruption”. He affirmed recognition and praised FoRUT’s efforts for its role in raising awareness in dealing with issues of alcohol abuse, drug abuse, child rights and gender quality. “This is critical given the current realities surrounding our youth and their use, or better still misuse of alcohol, over the counter pain killer like tramadol and sexual and physical abuse against women and children. As a commission we praise this effort”.
The stakeholders pledged to support FoRUT in their drive in Promoting Social Rights and Responsibilities in Urban Communities.
GETTING CHILDREN BACK TO SCHOOL AND PUT A SMILE ON THEIR FACES.
In Manjama Community, Timidale Chiefdom, Moyamba district, FoRUT supported children affected by a fire disaster with school uniforms and assorted learning materials on March 30th 2019. 
The FoRUT Program Manager – Moyamba district Sahr Dumbar doing handing over of items to children and their parents/guardians
The occurrence of fire and other forms of natural disasters has been identified as a key challenge most remote communities in Moyamba district have been grappling with in the past years. This has necessitated the need for an assessment and setting up of disaster management mechanisms to mitigate possible disaster occurrences in communities around the district to ensure the lives and property of the rural poor are safe.
In the past years, FoRUT has contributed immensely in supporting communities affected by fire and other forms of natural disasters, particularly in the programme operational chiefdoms of Bagruwa, Bumpe, Kaiyamba, Kagboro, Kongbora, Ribbi and Timdale. 
On the 24th March 2019, a mysterious fire disaster broke out in Manjama community, Timidale chiefdom, which happens to be a FoRUT operational community supported by the Rockdale Foundation education and WASH project. On receiving the information of the disaster, a staff was assigned to the community to conduct as assessment of the extent of the damage, which informed FoRUT to support the most vulnerable people in the community. The assessment report clearly indicated that 10 houses were burnt down by the fire disaster and a total of 15 households were directly affected. The assessment report further highlights that most those affected were school going children. The data below shows an analysis of the people affected in the disaster
| No of HH Head | Source of Livelihood | No. of dependents | Sex of Dependents | Under 5s | School Going Children | ||||
| 1st | Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | |||
| 2nd | Farmer | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 3rd | Farmer | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 4th | Farmer | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | |
| 5th | Volunteer teacher | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 6th | Farmer | 5 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 7th | Farmer | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | |
| 8th | Farmer | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| 9th | Farmer | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 10th | Volunteer teacher | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 11th | Volunteer teacher | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| 12th | Farmer | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| 13th | Farmer | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| 14th | Farmer | 8 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 15th | Farmer | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| Farmer | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Total | 66 | 29 | 37 | 3 | 4 | 18 | 16 | ||
The data above depicted that majority of children affected were school going children. Therefore, FoRUT supported the school children with school uniforms, toiletries, assorted learning materials and cash. The cash was for parents/guardians to buy shoes for their children since they know which size and type to buy. A total of 34 children were supported 16 girls and 18 boys. The figure below provides a list of items and quantities provided.
| No. | Items | Quantity | No. of children supported |
| 1 | Exercise books | 34 | 34 |
| 2 | Pen | 8 | 34 |
| 3 | Pencils | 20 | 34 |
| 4 | Erasers | 102 | 34 |
| 5 | School bags | 34 | 34 |
| 7 | soap | 102 | 34 |
| 8 | Paste | 34 | 34 |
| 9 | Brush | 34 | 34 |
| 7 | uniform | 34 | 34 |