Plan International Sierra Leone launched the youth livelihood project called Solar Lamps. The project saw a one-day training session for 45 youths from different districts around the country. The 45 sales’ agents will initially kick-start with 5,000 solar lamps as a pilot and hopes to scale up to cover 1,000 youths who will sell 50,000 solar lamps.
In a statement, Plan International Sierra Leone Country Director, Casely Ato Coleman, assured that they would be sustaining and consolidating their programs in education, healthcare, child protection, water and sanitation, and livelihood and human resources development in line with President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma’s Agenda for Prosperity with focus on the social protection component of the post-Ebola priorities for the 10-24 months’ period.
Coleman pointed out that livelihood is one of the main pillars of their organization for the post-Ebola recovery strategy. “In partnership with Plan International Denmark,” he added, “we are providing empowerment support for the youth through the sale of natural light project.”
Coleman disclosed that natural light is being manufactured by a German-owned solar energy company for sale in Europe and the world over, noting that Sierra Leone is the twelfth country in Africa for the sale of the light which he said is designed to provide employment for the trained youths and benefit users in accessing a sustainable source of light for multiple purposes.