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People are at the centre of our work

Every person has a story, an ambition and something to contribute. Stories are published with the consent of the people in them, and written about agency and leadership — never pity.

Cover of the AT2030 report “Pathways to funding for organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) in low- and middle-income countries”, showing a smiling man in a yellow T-shirt standing among trees.

Advocacy · June 2026

Opening up development funding for disability-led organizations

Sierra Leone · national

With the Global Disability Innovation Hub and partner OPDs, WESOFOD-SL examined the barriers that keep disability-led organizations from accessing development funding. WESOFOD convened 18 OPD leaders and contributed to guidance aimed at improving access to funding and strengthening the role of OPDs in legislation, policy and development decisions.

Published by the Global Disability Innovation Hub, AT2030 programme.

Read the original post on LinkedIn

Two nurses in white uniforms and two women from the PUSH project, one standing on crutches, smile in front of the PUSH Project banner.

Health · June 2026

PUSH: young people lead on inclusive sexual and reproductive health

Kambia District

Over 40 days, the youth-led PUSH project trained youth activists, engaged healthcare workers and ran community health dialogues, school sessions and a three-week digital campaign — improving access to sexual and reproductive health information and services for young people with disabilities, and challenging the taboos and stigma that keep them away.

Youth Grant Hub West Africa / Breaking Down Barriers, supported by the Global Fund and Thomson Reuters Foundation.

A young woman in a WESOFOD-SL T-shirt speaks through a megaphone, one arm stretched out, at a quarterly outreach event on drug abuse and mpox.

Health · 2026

Youth LEAD: raising awareness on drug abuse and mpox

Community outreach

Through Youth LEAD, WESOFOD-SL ran community outreach with young people on the risks of drug abuse and mpox, promoting healthy behaviour, prevention and accurate health information — practical knowledge to make informed choices, protect themselves and others, and carry prevention messages into their communities.

YOUTH LEAD, co-funded by the European Union, with SEND Sierra Leone and Trócaire.

A crowd of smiling children, among them a child with albinism, hold up new school bags in front of an MI-Chance banner.

Education · 2026

MI-Chance: supporting education for children with disabilities

Kambia and Port Loko districts

Through MI-Chance, WESOFOD-SL provides bursary support and essential school supplies to children with disabilities, helping them enter and stay in school despite financial and other barriers — and strengthening their place in the classroom alongside their peers.

MI-Chance, funded by Christian Blind Mission.

A WESOFOD-SL staff member in a PIE Staff vest addresses a large crowd of secondary-school students beside the programme banner.

Education · 2025

School talk shows open the way for learners with disabilities

Kambia District

Under the Programme for Inclusion and Empowerment, WESOFOD-SL held awareness talk shows in schools with learners, teachers and school authorities on disability rights and inclusion. The conversations are changing practice: learners with disabilities are increasingly given the chance to take part in school activities and extracurricular programmes alongside their peers.

Programme for Inclusion & Empowerment, with Liliane Fonds.

A hand signing a large commitment poster in coloured marker, with signatures from SLUDI and political party representatives already on it.

Advocacy · December 2025

Electoral bodies and political parties sign a commitment to inclusion

Kambia District

Under the Programme for Inclusion & Empowerment, WESOFOD-SL brought electoral management bodies and political parties together and closed the meeting with a signed commitment to inclusion — the Political Party Registration Commission, the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone, SLUDI and party representatives from the APC, SLPP and NGC among the signatories.

PIE, with Liliane Fonds, OneFamilyPeople and Trócaire.

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A participant in a wheelchair writes the training ground rules onto a flip chart at the National Disability Inclusion Training.

Advocacy · November 2025

Fifty youth activists trained as ambassadors for disability inclusion

National

A two-day National Disability Inclusion Training for Youth Activists brought together 50 young people, including young people with disabilities, from across Sierra Leone — strengthening the knowledge, skills and confidence to carry disability inclusion into their own communities, institutions and advocacy platforms.

MI-Chance, with Mano River Youth Network and SLUDI. Funded by CBM.

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Board members meeting WESOFOD staff around a desk at the head office, a pair of crutches resting against one of the chairs.

Programme update · November 2025

Board members take oversight into the field

Kambia District

Board members visited Village of Hope and went on to WESOFOD project communities, meeting head office staff, beneficiaries, community volunteers and local authorities. The visit identified implementation challenges and gathered recommendations to strengthen delivery. YOUTH LEAD, funded by the European Commission, was among the projects reviewed.

Field visit supported by Trócaire. YOUTH LEAD implemented with SEND Sierra Leone.

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Sweet potatoes and cassava roots grown by farmers with disabilities, piled on the WESOFOD exhibition stand.

Livelihoods · November 2025

Farmers with disabilities exhibit at World Food Day

Kambia District

At the World Food Day celebration in Kambia, WESOFOD-SL exhibited produce grown by farmers with disabilities contributing to the Feed Salone programme, alongside farm tools adapted for disabled farmers. President Julius Maada Bio and his team spent time at the stand; the First Lady and senior government officials also attended.

Exhibited under the government’s Feed Salone programme.

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The blue and yellow Bright Future Pre-School building at Village of Hope, its veranda reached by a ramped and railed walkway, with the motto “Where little stars begin to shine” painted across the front.

Village of Hope · October 2025

Bright Future Pre-School and the Transitional Accommodation Facility open at Village of Hope

Kambia District

Two facilities were officially opened and commissioned at Village of Hope: Bright Future Pre-School, providing safe, inclusive and quality early childhood education, and the Transitional Accommodation Facility, which houses young people with disabilities moving on from residential care towards independence, and persons with disabilities who come to the village for training.

Developed with Children in Crisis Italy.

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Trainees holding certificates outside the WESOFOD Kambia District office, in the banner artwork for Clarity’s “Inclusion in Action” series.

Advocacy · October 2025

A collaboration with Clarity Occupational Health

Kambia District

WESOFOD-SL began working with Clarity Occupational Health on health, youth empowerment and disability rights in Sierra Leone. Clarity’s “Inclusion in Action” series carries first-person accounts from the WESOFOD community, among them the advocacy of Foday Conteh.

With Clarity Occupational Health.

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Conference participants in white caps and T-shirts, several of them with crutches or mobility aids, pose together at NDIC 2025.

Advocacy · 2025

NDIC 2025: advancing inclusive financing for persons with disabilities

Freetown

WESOFOD-SL took part in the two-day National Disability Inclusion Conference in Freetown under the theme “Inclusive Financing”. Government, international and national NGOs and other stakeholders came together on why accessible, inclusive financial opportunities matter for persons with disabilities, and how to widen their part in economic development.

Amie Fullah smiles as she works a tray of soap in her production workshop.

Livelihoods

Amie Fullah turns three months of training into a soap business

Village of Hope, Kambia

Amie Fullah, a single mother affected by disability, trained for three months in soap-making at the Village of Hope. Through WESOFOD-SL’s skills development project she was then supported to open her own soap-making enterprise — and today she makes soap in her own small production workshop.

WESOFOD-SL skills development project.

A young woman with a tape measure round her neck sews turquoise fabric on a treadle sewing machine, surrounded by finished garments.

Village of Hope · 2025

Village of Hope expands to Pujehun District

Pujehun District

WESOFOD-SL launched the development of a Village of Hope vocational skills centre in Pujehun with support from Trócaire — an accessible training centre with vocational training in areas including tailoring, soap-making and bead-making, for young people and women with disabilities.

TEC-VOC project.

Adults and children stand with wheelbarrows of watering cans and hand tools in front of an MI-Chance banner at the Sunday Foundation Skills Training Centre.

Livelihoods · 2025

MI-Chance: strengthening sustainable livelihoods through agriculture

Kambia and Port Loko districts

Through MI-Chance, WESOFOD-SL provides agricultural tools to beneficiary families managing gardens, helping them improve productivity and farm more efficiently. The gardens are owned by the children with disabilities — a sustainable livelihood model that lets parents and caregivers keep supporting the children through farming and income beyond the project period.

MI-Chance, funded by Christian Blind Mission.

A thank-you graphic listing WESOFOD’s 2025 partners, among them Trócaire, CBM, the European Union, Liliane Fonds, SLUDI, Humanity & Inclusion and SEND Sierra Leone.

Programme update · 2025

Eleven projects delivered across Kambia and Pujehun

Kambia and Pujehun districts

Across 2025 the organization delivered eleven projects covering inclusive education, health, social protection, livelihoods, climate justice and inclusive governance in both districts.

Reported at the annual staff retreat.

Graduates in matching indigo dresses raise their certificates of completion above their heads, several of them standing with crutches.

Livelihoods · February 2024

Seventy trainees graduate in soap-making, weaving and shoe-making

Kambia District

Seventy people with and affected by disabilities completed training at the Sunday Foundation Skills Training and Production Centre and received certificates at the project close ceremony. The trades — soap-making, weaving and shoe-making — were chosen because each leaves a graduate with a product to sell, not only a certificate.

Small Scale Enterprise Development for Persons with Disabilities, funded by Trócaire and Electric Aid.

This section is designed to be updated by WESOFOD staff: each entry carries a title, date, category, location, hero image and related programme. Entries that were first published on the organization’s LinkedIn page link back to the original post.