Sierra Leone is a country located on the southwest coast of West Africa. It has two international borders; on the southeast is Liberia, and to the northeast is Guinea.
The land area is 71,740 km2 or 27,699 sq. miles with a population of 7,092,113 as of the 2015 census. The country is divided into five administrative regions which are subdivided into sixteen districts as of July 2017. The capital city is Freetown. The country has a very fertile arable land for agriculture and rich in various mineral deposits such as diamonds, gold, bauxite, and iron, etc.
Migrants as Messengers project is implemented in Sierra Leone based on the three strategies. The basic strategies are digital, on-air and on-ground with returnee migrants being at the center of awareness-raising through a peer-to-peer approach. In Sierra Leone, implementation builds on what has already been done by previous projects and other partner organizations, whilst adding creative thinking to improve and maximize previous work. In reaching out to our primary, secondary, and tertiary audiences, we work with a volunteer-led association to mobilize our volunteers and leverage our unique experiences to reach our common objectives. Our primary Government partners are the Returnee Migrant Association in Sierra Leone (Advocacy Network Against Irregular Migration). Ministry of Social Welfare and the Ministry of Youths; we work with other partners in the non-governmental sector, civil society, UN agencies, media, as well as other projects within the Mission. Our approach to partnerships is to build on what has already been done, avoid duplication, create synergies to maximize the reach and impacts of our activities, and to build a sustainable coalition that will articulate and promote safe migration and discourage irregular migration beyond the life of MaM.
Key Figures
45
volunteers
14
youth outreach initiatives
24
community events
12,472
people reached on the ground
106,206
people reached online
112
videos produced
Volunteers
Attempted to travel to Ukraine for studies and to advance his career as a producer but was denied visa. Did not want to return home and instead tried to explore other opportunities to go to Europe.…
He was convinced by a friend of better opportunities in Algeria which will enable him to raise sufficient resources to travel to Europe. However, Algeria proved to be a difficult place and faced…
Departed with the aim of reaching Italy but got stocked in the desert. Was captured, imprisoned, and robbed before he was released after payment of ransom. Did odd jobs to raise resources to sustain…
Departed with the aim of reaching Spain. Travelled through Guinea to Morocco before heading to Libya. Was imprisoned in Libya before he was assisted to return home by IOM
Left with a group of more than 40 people, lost more than half of his party, was captured, imprisoned, enslaved, and traded. Did odd jobs, attempted to cross the Mediterranean Sea, the boat capsized.…
Started his journey with the aim of heading to Europe. Experienced immense hardship en route, was tortured and imprisoned in Libya. Left Libya for Algeria where he met IOM before he was repatriated…
He was advised by his friend who made similar journey to Europe via the same route not to embark on the journey because of the dangers of the trip. He decided to take the risk, he was sold by…
Was trafficked to Kuwait with the promise of a well-paid job. She was abused by the families she was placed to work for. She was refused medical care when she fell ill and kept in a prison like…
