iEARN Sierra Leone Child Soldiers PROJECT

1
iEARN Sierra Leone- Child Soldiers PROJECT
Andrew Benson Greene
2
ABOUT ME

• Born in Sierra Leone - Civil War resulted in
  separation of 12,000 children from their
  families, kidnapped and forced to become
  soldiers
• In 1997, I was secretary General of the Fourah
  Bay College Students Union Government, and became
  a target.
  
• I fled to neighboring Guinea where I taught
  English to displaced children and refugees
  
• In 1999, I joined iEARN, a non-profit global
  network that enables young people to use the
  Internet and other new technologies to engage in
  collaborative educational projects
• I decided to dedicate my life to serving and
  teaching children who were brutalized by the
  violence all around them
  
• My commitment prompted me to form the national
  branch of iEARN in Sierra Leone with mostly
  Canadian support
  
• Now - I am a volunteer educator for the iEARN
  Sierra Leone Project, where I work to help youth
  communicate with others throughout the world.

3
About My project

• The project helps to bridge the digital divide in
  Sierra Leone through IT education to youth, and
  links Sierra Leone youth with others around the
  world to share in online educational projects
• The project engages war-affected youths/students
  in a variety of art forms music, creative
  writing, enabling them use the internet to share
  these unique talents.
• Children affected by the war are taught useful IT
  skills and work together with other young
  children from all over the world on relevant
  social issues using the Internet.
• Youth are engaged in Peace building campaigns and
  human rights on-line
  
• I also believe that child soldiers and
  children/youth affected by the war can become
  ambassadors for peace by exchanging their ideas
  with other people of the same age from all over
  the world by means of telecommunication. This
  does not just promote learning, but also social
  justice and inspires a positive exchange because
  child victims of war can play a significant role
  in creating peace in their own villages and
  towns.

4
About My project

• The project identifies and builds the talents of
  youth in a medley of art forms, such as music,
  creative writing, dance drama, videos, and
  computer games, all geared towards psychosocial
  rehabilitation and a chance for youth to mingle,
  socialize and interact with each other in a
  friendly atmosphere.
• In so doing, the project builds the self-esteem
  of youth emerging from wars by providing them an
  outlet to build their skills and learn ICT skills
  in a safe, secure and alternative learning
  environment ultimately displaying the potential
  that war affected youth have

5
How do ICTs help my project?

• The use of ICT is a means by which the youth can
  share their unique talents, while at the same
  time use ICT skills to work together with peers
  from all over the world to discuss relevant
  social issues

6
Where are we now?

• More than 850 youth who have been trained so far
  are now profitably engaged in various places and
  many are helping the community in services
  related to ICT.
• These youth have gone ahead to replicate the
  program in their communities by engaging in civic
  participation and creating ICT clubs, modeled
  from the iEARN initiatives.

• The youth now gain community acceptance which was
  lacking in the past.- it demonstrates that former
  child soldiers and war affected youth can play
  active and rewarding roles in their community.

7
Impacts

• After acquiring certificates of merit from the
  successful completion of software and hardware
  application programs, the youth are recommended
  to a few offices to assist in training staff on
  computer software programs
• In turn, they receive stipends for services
  delivered.
  
• Additionally, those with proven capabilities to
  address hardware problems gain apprenticeship to
  IT staff and supplement their efforts in the
  event of the staff being unavoidably absent.
• In turn, they offer training to other youth
  within the iEARN centre

8
Impacts

• Trained youth are also sent to help in the
  establishment of centres in new locations around
  the country where iEARN Sierra Leone has done
  feasibility studies in the past, and identified
  potential for expansion.
• Interestingly, the youth sent there hail from
  these regions prior to their induction as child
  soldiers, and return to their places of origin to
  kick-start the program with the aid of other
  teacher facilitators.
• Once there, they are provided a few PC's and
  iEARN tries to attract community support so that
  the youth who have acted against their community
  during the war can be seen in a new light and
  gain acceptance.
• In reality, they now bring hope to other youth
  through imparting skills and also getting
  self-employed when charged with some roles.
  

9
Sustainability

• IEARN derives its financial support in the past
  and in recent times through donations from
  individuals, organizations, awards, fund- raising
  in a local and international level by individuals
  and groups, after office hours user fees paid by
  non-iEARN Sierra Leone students and youth.
• Our major finances have come from War Child
  Canada, and some other financial support came
  from the WH Day Elementary School in Bradford,
  Ontario, iEARN Canada, iEARN USA.

10
Sustainability

• The ICT centres are equipped with necessary
  furniture and gadgets to run at subsidized cost.
  
  
• It is well managed and maintained regularly so
  that it can continue serving the communities
  permanently.
  
• Through iEARN Sierra Leone, professional and
  development components include the training and
  recruitment of teacher facilitators, who are
  equipped with relevant ICT knowledge and skills
  that can be used for the benefit of the war
  affected youth and building capacities of the
  target beneficiaries beyond the project
  timeline.
• The centre subsidizes - at non-youth training
  hours - internet access and desktop publishing
  services to the public and small user fees to
  non-members for on-going sustenance, such as
  fueling of generator and maintenance cost.
• The services of volunteers and trained youth
  additionally help to give more impetus to the
  program.
  

11
Our Partners

• iEARN Canada has been technically supporting the
  initiative by hosting and collaborating with the
  www.childsoldiers.org project.
  
• iEARN USA is a parent body that provides moral
  and technical assistance, serving as a source of
  reference for the program.
  
• War Child Canada has partnered with iEARN Sierra
  Leone on the DFAIT funded project No War Zone
  and provided some financial support to connect
  the centre.
• Computer Aid International UK has provided
  computers for the pilot phase of the project and
  iEARN has also served as a source of reference
  proving the efficacy of the second-hand PC
  supplied.
• The project has also partnered with schools such
  s WH elementary school, in Children Connecting
  Children for Peace which deals with online
  interaction so that Canadian youth can connect
  with youth of Sierra Leone to discuss peaceful
  solutions to conflict.
• The Ministry of Youth and Sports in Sierra Leone
  has provided moral assistance as well as the
  current space to house the gadgets for youth
  participation.

12
Scaling Up

• My vision for the project is to equip communities
  in the 12 districts of Sierra Leone with ICT for
  young people in the rural towns and Urban
  districts to gain valuable skills.
• Named The iEARN Sierra Leone Youth Centre for
  Information and Technology, the centers will
  have computers, internet facilities, video and
  music editing, and production rooms.
• The centres would become the main hubs from which
  the 12 districts can rely for technical support
  and reference.
  
• It would be dedicated to youth who have endured
  war and its effect in Sierra Leone.
  
• The program will seek potentials donors,
  collaborating partners to assist with financial
  and technical support to scale up the project.
  
• The program plans to promote peace education in
  the local school curriculum and provide an outlet
  for young people to interact online on issues of
  promoting peace and global understanding
• Includes the publication of a book comprising of
  the current peace situation in Sierra Leone
  through the writings provided by iEARN youth and
  their counterparts around the world.

13
Constraints

• At first when we got started, the community
  failed to see our vision and considered the youth
  as no good, due to their involvement in the war.
  
• Through dogged efforts we were able to convince
  the community that these youth can make a
  difference by using ICT and the program gradually
  gained community acceptance which was visibly
  lacking.
• Due to the constraints of accessing the
  technology in the past, I often took my students
  and war affected youth from the outskirts of the
  capital by bus, then walked long distances and
  queued up with them in a cyber café to give them
  some time on the Internet.
• The time was used to showcase the students work
  on www.childsoldiers.org
  

14
Lessons Learned, Insights

• I knew that in order for the program to kick-off
  in earnest, it would need community acceptance,
  and so it was registered through the Ministry of
  youth and Sports, and the Sierra Leone
  association of NGO.
• I lobbied together with partners at iEARN USA and
  iEARN Canada to convince Computer Aid
  International in UK that youth of iEARN Sierra
  Leone can be the change when they can learn
  practical ICT skills.
• The supply of 10 computers created much
  encouragement for the expansion and recognition
  of the program. Hundreds of youth in the
  communities and schools began to flock in and
  gained skills - which drifted their minds from
  idleness and the perpetration of mayhem.

15
Wish list

• Governments , civil society must create more
  opportunities for youth, like building centres
  for both educational and recreational purposes.
  
• Creating employment opportunities for youth in
  ICT sectors through provision of the tools to
  capacitate youth for self-engagement and
  self-employment, and even real job roles.

16
Thank you