Manoj Kumar

River N 2, Freetown Peninsula, Sierra Leone
December 2010

Name and description of the Organization leading the project: Concern Worldwide
Web site: http://www.concern.net/where-we-work/africa/sierra-leone 
 

Manoj Kumar  Country Director of Concern Worldwide  was interviewed  by Stefano De Santis on December 2010   in River N 2, Freetown Peninsula, Sierra Leone.

EDUCATION
Its aim is to ensure access to quality education for the poorest and most marginalised people. But access is not enough. Once in school, children need to be assured of a safe environment enabling them to realise their potential. As a minimum standard, they believe that education must result in sufficient levels of literacy and numeracy. This enables people to lift themselves out of poverty and continue to improve their lives. As consequence, their education programmes work to ensure the various factors necessary for quality education – teacher education, community involvement in education, classroom construction, development and supply of materials. They help communities to identify the obstacles to education for their children. Overcoming these obstacles plays a pivotal role in theirr programmes. As well as being a fundamental human right, basic education gives people greater economic opportunities and empowers them to lead healthier, more productive lives. One of the most effective ways of improving livelihoods is by increasing access to quality education. Girls, children living in slums, orphans, working children, children belonging to minority groups, children affected by or infected with HIV and AIDS and children with disabilities are all more likely to miss out on the opportunity to attend school. Concern education programmes and policy place particular emphasis on reaching those who have been excluded from the formal schooling system.

HEALTH
They believe that good health and access to healthcare are fundamental human rights. The overall goal of our health programme is to improve the health of the world’s poorest people and ensure that they have access to food. Their work is guided by a health policy. For the most part, they work on improving health through primary healthcare in emergency, rehabilitation and development situations specifically focusing on the following three areas: Maternal, neonatal and child health; Nutrition; Water and sanitation. The main aim of Concern health programme is to reduce mortality and morbidity rates. They plan to do this by supporting the development of sustainable healthcare systems in the areas where they work. With the exception of emergencies, Concern does not directly deliver health services. Instead, they support the capacity of ministries of health and other partners to do so.

LIVELIHOODS
Put simply, “livelihoods” means a person’s ability to earn a living. But it is about so much more than just income, it is about everything that makes an impact on a person’s life – education, health and access to food all play a vital role. As part of their livelihoods work, they take a broad look at all the resources available to communities. Concern empowers people to overcome poverty by helping them to produce more food, get access to a reliable food supply, reduce their vulnerability to droughts, improve their access to water and generate more income to spend on their children’s education and health care. Their livelihoods programmes target the poorest people in the poorest countries of the world. Given that up to 70% of those living in absolute poverty are female, empowering women is a key priority within our livelihoods programmes. Concern’s livelihoods programmes aim to reduce—and ultimately eliminate—absolute poverty, giving people a better standard of living. Within development contexts, their work concentrates on ensuring that communities have better access to food. This means providing the tools, seeds, knowledge, and training to enable people to become more self-sufficient through more productive agriculture, vegetable gardens, and livestock rearing.