For nine years the people of Sierra Leone have known no peace and the country is in a state of chronic fragmentation with physical infrastructures and local services destroyed or severely depleted. The rebels still control half the country while government held areas including Freetown and the Southern Province host large numbers of people including thousands if internally displaced (IDPs). The situation in the country has been exacerbated by the recent fighting that broke out in Guinea, along the borders with Sierra Leone and Liberia trapping over 250,000 refugees from Sierra Leone and Liberia in the war zone. The refugees are also under attack from the Guinean population who blame them for the cross border raids. This Guinean crisis has made many refugees return back to Sierra Leone despite the continuing civil war in the country. Thousands have already made it back to Sierra Leone under very difficult and dangerous circumstances. In recent days, the United High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been negotiating with the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) for a safe corridor for the refugees to return to Sierra Leone.

The returnees are to be placed in villages in the safe areas around the southern and part of the eastern regions. However, urgent assistance is required to increase the capacity of the villages to absorb these returnees. ACT members in Sierra Leone – Christian Aid, the Council of Churches in Sierra Leone, the Baptist Convention, the Methodist Church and the Wesleyan Church - have been very active in responding to the basic needs of the affected population. This appeal from the ACT members includes the following components: provision of food and non food items, shelter, improvements of water and sanitation facilities, improvements of school and health facilities, provision of seeds and tools and also trauma counselling.

It should be mentioned here that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sierra Leone, working with the support of the Lutheran World Federation Department of World Service (LWF/DWS), are currently finalising their program proposals to form part of this appeal. As soon as their proposal has been finalised, the appeal will be revised to include them. The estimated budget for the LWF/DWS programs is US$ 900,000.

CA/CCSL: 1 January 2001 – 31 December 2001

BCSL: 1 March 2001 - 28 February 2002

MCSL: 1 March 2001 – 28 February 2002

WCSL: 1 March 2001 – 28 February 2002

Signed by:
Thor-Arne Prois, ACT Coordinator
Geneviève Jacques, Director, Cluster on Relations, World Council of Churches
Rudolf Hinz, Director, Department for World Service, Lutheran World Federation

Description of ACT Member
Christian Aid (CA) was established in the mid 1940s and is the official agency of 40 Churches representing most of the denominations in the UK and Ireland. Its humanitarian work began in response to the needs of refugees in Europe and it fulfilled a representational role amongst churches in Europe recovering from the aftermath of the 2^nd World War. It currently works in over 60 countries in partnership with local churches and other organisations. In Sierra Leone, Christian Aid is the accompanying agency for ACT. The agency maintains a Liaison Office in Freetown staffed by two expatriate personnel (Programme Accountant and Programme Support Officer) whose tasks are to liase with and support a body of national partners located in different parts of the country. Principal amongst these is the Council of Churches in Sierra Leone (CCSL). For the past three years, Christian Aid has been the accompanying agency for CCSL’s Relief and Rehabilitation Department, to which a Director, jointly recruited by Christian Aid and CCSL, is assigned.

Description of ACT Member’s Implementing Partners
CCSL, in partnership with ACT International and its accompanying agency Christian Aid, has extensive experience in running emergency programmes for victims of the war in Sierra Leone. This experience includes supporting internally displaced people (IDPs), assisting returnee families to re-establish and rebuild their livelihoods, addressing the needs of especially vulnerable individuals and groups including unaccompanied children (UAC), widows and the disabled, and undertaking peace and reconciliation activities.

Historically, CCSL became involved in relief operations in 1990 following an influx of Liberian refugees into the country. A year later, as the military conflict spilled into Sierra Leone, CCSL refocused its work on the needs of IDPs. In 1997, internal restructuring created the Relief and Rehabilitation (R&R) Department with its base in Bo. During the January 1999 crisis, when most INGOs withdrew, the R&R Department was one of the few agencies to continue humanitarian operations. Using their accumulated experience, staff quickly responded to the emergency by setting up IDP camps and distributing food and non-food items. For the past three years, funding for the Department’s relief and rehabilitation work has come through the ACT Appeal and from government sources, the EU and UN agencies including WFP and FAO. CCSL’s R&R Department will implement all the activities detailed in this new relief and rehabilitation proposal for 2001.

Background
War and its devastating effects have afflicted the people and social institutions of Sierra Leone since 1991. What started off as a cross border attack by a small band of Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel soldiers in the country’s Eastern Province progressively escalated to consume the entire country at one period or another. Over time, the conflict has taken on a sub-regional character with a catalogue of rebel attacks on Guinean territory, sustained reprisals by the Guinean army on positions within Sierra Leonean territory and ‘tit for tat’ confrontations between the Liberian and Guinean military. Evidence of the magnitude of these conflicts is discernible from the fact that there are an estimated 950,000 refugees and over 1.5 million internally displaced persons.

At different stages in this long standing conflict, the Sierra Leone government, in conjunction with regional and international bodies, has sought to broker a peace deal with the RUF. The Abidjan Peace Accord, signed in November 1996, for example, gave the RUF a political role in government and offered an amnesty for any past crimes. Filled with hope, tens of thousands of IDPs returned to their home areas. However, the peace was short lived. In May 1997, a coup brought to power the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and the RUF, led by Foday Sankoh. The democratically elected government of President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah fled into exile. Following a year of appalling suffering and human rights abuses regional military forces from ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) ejected the military junta and reinstated the Kabbah government on 10 March 1998. Although driven from Freetown, the rebel forces continued to terrorise the rural populations and committed some of their worst atrocities during this period, including amputations, rape and torture. In January 1999, they re-entered Freetown and after some of the fiercest fighting seen in the conflict, were again repulsed by ECOWAS forces leaving behind an estimated 6,000 people dead. But, before they retreated, large parts of the city were razed to the ground and over 3,000 children were abducted.

Out of the intense violence of this period was born the seeds of a peace process driven by the people of Sierra Leone, their civil institutions and the international community. The culmination of their efforts was the signing of the Lome Peace Accord on July 6, 1999. In the months that followed, substantial efforts were made (in-country and internationally) to consolidate the peace and achieve national reconciliation. A notable component of the Lome Accord, the DDR (Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration) programme, was instituted and rebel-controlled areas around Makeni opened up to humanitarian aid. However, implementation of the terms of the Accord was painfully slow.

In May 2000 a resurgence of rebel activity in the Western area effectively led to the collapse of the peace process. For several weeks, the situation threatened to get out of control as several hundred UN peacekeepers were taken hostage, two international journalists were ambushed and killed and Freetown itself came under the threat of attack. Only a civilian uprising and the intervention of the former junta (AFRC) leader in support of the civilian government halted the rebel advance. During this period, the AFRC/SLA aligned with government forces and, with help from a rapidly constituted battalion of British paratroops, successfully pushed back the rebels. Their leader, Foday Sankoh, was captured soon after in Freetown and faces an international court for crimes against humanity. The upsurge in military activity to the areas east of Freetown, particularly around the towns of Makeni and Magburaka led to an outpouring of displaced civilians. Tens of thousands fled to safer areas around Mile 91, Yele and Masimera Chiefdoms.

Current Situation
On November 10, 2000, the GoSL and the RUF agreed a 30-day cease-fire in Abuja, Nigeria. The agreement included arrangements for the presently occupied northern region to be opened up to humanitarian assistance. In a meeting on December 8 between the UNAMSIL Commander and the rebel faction’s interim leader, the RUF re-affirmed its commitment to peace, disarmament, and the opening of the rebel-held areas to relief aid. While the cease-fire was not broken over the month, the rebels’ commitment to the terms of the accord has yet to be demonstrated. It is questionable, however, that the RUF will give access to the diamond-rich areas of Kono District, voluntarily.

Since September 2000, the conflict has taken on a more regional dimension when fighting broke out in Guinea along its borders with Sierra Leone and Liberia. In Guinea, a vicious campaign of persecution towards the Sierra Leone refugee population has resulted in more than 25,000 of their number fleeing the country, adding to the already large numbers of people living in temporary conditions in Freetown. In addition, military activity between the Guinean army and the RUF has displaced up to 15,000 Sierra Leoneans from the border areas. In the east, Liberia continues to support the RUF cause through brokering the outward movement of diamonds and the inward flow of armaments. ECOWAS, in an effort to lower the political temperature, is becoming more proactive and has placed over 1600 troops in the border areas around Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia to minimise cross border infringements.

Impact on human lives and description of damages
At war for nine years, Sierra Leone is in a state of chronic fragmentation with physical infrastructures and local services destroyed or severely depleted. More than half the country remains under rebel control whilst the government held areas, including Freetown and the Southern Province, are bursting at the seams with huge numbers of displaced people. Levels of literacy have dramatically fallen as a generation of children has been denied a formal education. Unemployment has become the norm for the nation’s youth. The deliberate persecution of refugee communities in neighbouring countries has compounded the level of suffering and resulted in the forced repatriation of tens of thousands of people. These returnees are facing life in temporary camps and already congested urban areas where local authorities are incapable of meeting even their most basic needs. Not surprisingly, the level of psychological trauma amongst the population is acute. Added to this is the pressing need to identify new opportunities for reintegrating ex-combatants into civilian life. Addressing the needs of this group (as well as the huge numbers of unemployed youth) will be critical if the country is to find a lasting peace. The fact that the Government’s foreign exchange earning capacity (diamonds, minerals, cash crops) is either in the hands of the rebels or has been destroyed has dire implications for the capacity of the country to re-introduce local services in the short/medium term

Displaced populations are continuing to re-populate previously evacuated areas in the south of the country and sustained efforts are needed from the NGO sector to work with these farming communities to re-establish access to basic services such as healthcare, education and sanitation and to revitalise local economies. Many households face obstacles in meeting their own food needs: their fields are overgrown yet they lack the tools for simple clearing and tilling operations; their traditional seed stores are empty; they are hungry yet have to put in the physical effort to prepare their farms for planting. The lack of access to money is also a collective issue leading to problems with meeting even the most basic requirements: clothing, medicines and shelter materials.

The resurgence of fighting in May 2000, at the time of agricultural planting, caused severe disruptions to food crop production. Many people were displaced and were not able farm their land. The humanitarian agencies’ distribution of seeds and tools was disrupted, which prevented farmers undertaking their planting activities on time. According to the UN, "due to the resumption of hostilities in May, agencies could only provide 46% of the targeted number of beneficiaries with agricultural inputs. This, coupled with incidences of crop pestilence, disease and heavy rain, resulted in a 329,000 MTs food gap between production levels and consumption requirements for the 1999/2000 marketing year."

Locations for Response
R&R Department’s current areas of operations are four chiefdoms in Bo North (Valunia, Badja, Gbo and Selenga), two chiefdoms in Moyamba District (Upper and Lower Banta), two in Kenema District (Kandu Leppiama and Wandor) and two in Tonkolili District (Yoni and Gbonkolenken). If security permits, the Department intends to resume its operations in the other 2 chiefdoms of Tonkolili District where it was previously working in 1998 (Kafesimiria and Kalansogoia). The Department is also working in two IDP camps in Bo and is planning to intervene in a new transit camp for returnees, to be situated between Bo and Kenema.

All NGO operations are co-ordinated by NCRRR (National Commission for Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction) who are responsible for the allocation of operational areas between the agencies. To date, this strategy has avoided duplication and enhanced integration of relief work.

Disaster and Emergency Statistics
Whilst accurate statistics are hard to come by, it is estimated that the war to date has claimed over 75,000 lives, half a million Sierra Leoneans are living as refugees and a third of the country’s population of 4.5 million are internally displaced. About 35,000 people are still displaced in the Mile 91 area following the attacks on Makeni in May. Some of these are staying in a new transit camp. Since September 2000, over 15,000 refugees have returned from Guinea to Freetown. 11,500 returnees from Guinea have fled to Loko Massama chiefdom. In addition, large numbers of refugees are expected to return from Liberia into the eastern part of Sierra Leone.

According to a recent report produced by FAO, Sierra Leone is one of nine countries facing serious food shortages as a result of civil conflict. In the year 2000, early rains, coupled with recurrent floods also caused significant damage, particularly to upland rice. FAO estimates that "the expected cereal production for 2000 will meet less than 30% of total national requirements in 2001".

Current Security Situation
The security situation has gradually calmed down since the aftermath of the events in May that led to the collapse of the Lome Peace Accord and a resurgence in the internal displacement of large numbers of people. Across the country, little has changed in terms of the balance of military power. The essential north/south division (north – occupied by the RUF; south and west, including Freetown – primarily government controlled) remains unchallenged. The North and the East (Kabala, Kailahun and Kono) are still inaccessible to humanitarian aid, where it has been reported that living conditions are deplorable and human rights abuses common. The rest of the country is relatively safe, and some rehabilitation activities are taking place. Several factors seem to indicate that the situation is likely to be maintained or even to improve, including the presence of the British rapid reaction force, the training of a Sierra Leonean army and a revitalised UN Peacekeeping force under a new command structure.

Goal: To assist war-affected communities meet their most urgent basic needs and move towards self-reliance.

• To assist 8,500 farming households (51,000 people) from war affected victims return to normal levels of food crop production by providing them with the necessary resources
• To improve the capacity of communities in R&R’s eight chiefdom (operational) areas to respond to the needs of returnees amounting to up 2,500 families (15,000 people)
• To provide improved water and sanitation facilities to communities with a population of 3,000 people
• To rehabilitate three primary schools and four court barries designed to improve educational facilities and assist the reconstitution of local authorities.
• To facilitate income generation for 27 women’s groups and diversification of food production for 2,500 farming families (15,000 people).
• To increase community participation in decisions about their own development
• To encourage unity in the communities and a peaceful reintegration of ex-combatants through sensitisation work in Gbonkolenken, Yoni and in the IDP camps in Bo.
• To continue to maintain an emergency response capacity in the sphere of Non-Food Items (NFIs) for up to 10,000 families
• To provide ongoing management for 12,000 residents of two IDP camps in Bo.

Number and type of targeted beneficiaries
The whole programme will benefit approximately 140,000 beneficiaries. Interventions will be targeted at returning refugees, IDPs, farmers that have returned to their villages and who need support to restart their food security activities and vulnerable people and village communities as a whole. The targeted population will vary according to the activities they are involved in. (See below).

Beneficiary selection criteria
The R&R Department carried out needs and impact assessment exercises in all operational areas in October/November 2000. The findings, which form the basis of this proposal to ACT, served to identify the beneficiaries. Once funding is approved, a registration and verification for each activity will follow to single out the actual beneficiaries. The criteria for registration will depend on the nature of the activity and vulnerability of the targeted communities. Priority will be given to the most vulnerable families who have lost their economic means and received little or no previous assistance.

The following criteria were used to select communities to be targeted and to determine areas of intervention.

• Security
• Accessibility
• Presence of CCSL member churches
• Degree of destruction
• Vulnerability (female headed households, displaced, returnees, disabled people, and aged)
• Capacity to shoulder the programme (size of farmland, availability of labour force, etc…)
• Willingness to undertake community work and to contribute to the programme through labour or supply of local materials
• Presence and activities of other NGOs
• Level of food crop production

• 12,000 IDPs living in two displaced camps in Bo will benefit from the camp management work and the food distributions
• 15,000 – 20,000 Sierra Leonean refugees returning from Guinea and Liberia will be hosted into a transit camp and receive NFIs. (A larger number of beneficiaries may be targeted should the flow of returnees intensify).
• 500 host community families, affected by the arrival of IDPs in their home areas, will receive assistance for agricultural production.
• IDPs and host communities in areas of high IDP presence (Bo, Mile 91, Yele, Massengbeh) will benefit from a peace building and conflict resolution programme.
• 500 farm families and 2000 farm families in Falla Wandor (15,000 people including dependants) will receive agricultural inputs for food production.

Agricultural programme
Approximately 36,000 people (using an estimate of 6 persons per family) will benefit from the following agricultural activities:

• 1,500 farm families in Moyamba and Kenema Districts will receive seeds (on a loan recovery basis) and tools for rice and groundnut production.
• 30 seed multiplication groups (10-15 members each) will receive seeds and tools. 10 of these groups (producing groundnut) will be primarily women, whilst the other 20 (producing rice) will be mixed (male and female) reflecting traditional division of roles.
• 80 communities will be assisted in the construction of community seed stores
• 100 fishing groups, of approximately 20 fishermen each, will be provided with fishing equipment
• 2 groups of 10-20 members each (primarily youth) will be targeted for a fish pond programme
• 800 farmers will receive support for cash crop rehabilitation,
• 300 families will receive support for poultry production,
• 16 groups of approximately 10-15 members each, will be provided with cassava grating machines.

The field extension workers (FEWs) will provide ongoing agricultural support to all 14,460 farm families and 500 farming groups (i.e. approximately 120,000 people). In addition, the programme will impact on a much larger number of people, such as traders, labourers, hauliers, etc. who will benefit indirectly from the revival of the local economy.

Community Infrastructure programme
Up to 10,000 people will benefit from the rehabilitation of community infrastructure (schools, community stores, court barries) and the construction of latrines and water wells.

The Community Peace Building and Civic Education Programme will target community-based animators, church leaders, IDPs, returning refugees, ex-combatants, host communities and front line communities. The programme will impact on local communities at large, as the trained animators and church representatives use their training to promote conflict resolution and encourage the formation of support groups within their own communities.

The income-generating programme will be targeted at:

• 10 groups of women
• 90 foster families taking care of orphans and Unaccompanied Children

The scheme will operate on a revolving loan basis so that, over time, other groups will have access to the loans.

Camp management
Currently the Department is in charge of the management of 2 camps for IDPs in Bo - the Splendid camp with a caseload of 8,526 people and the Kendeyella II camp with a caseload of 3,102 people. It ensures the proper administration of the camp and is there to resolve any internal conflicts. It is also responsible for co-ordinating the activities of other NGOs, including Oxfam (water and sanitation), ACF (nutrition) and MSF-B (medical care) and for carrying out a regular distribution of food (provided by WFP) to all camp residents.

Camp construction and distribution of non-food items
With the recent influx of returnees from Guinea and the expected return of others from Liberia, a new transit camp is to be established between Bo and Kenema with a capacity of up to 20,000 people. The R&R Department is planning to help with the construction of housing booths and to distribute non-food-items, including plastic sheeting, to the new camp residents. If the Abuja agreement is implemented and the security situation improves, the Department could be called upon to participate in repatriation arrangements including the transport of returnees and distribution of NFIs.

Assistance to host communities
Providing relief assistance to IDPs often affects the livelihoods of the host communities living in the surroundings. This can lead to tensions, even conflict, between the two groups. The Agriculture Team will therefore cater for the needs of host communities through the provision of agricultural inputs to 500 families. The peace building team will also work together with both the IDPs and the host communities to promote peaceful coexistence of the two groups.

Shelter for Tonkolili
Given the large-scale destruction in Tonkolili District and the resulting lack of shelter, a distribution of plastic sheeting to 500 families is planned for the construction of temporary housing facilities.

Emergency seeds and tools distribution
In areas that have only recently become accessible to humanitarian aid, food production has been seriously disrupted leading to hunger and other vulnerabilities. It is planned to distribute a seeds and tools package to 500 farm families in Tonkolili District and 2,000 in Falla Wandor in Kenema District for rice and groundnut production, their main food staples. Each farm family will be provided with 2 bushels (50 kg) of rice and 1 bushel (18 kg) of groundnut as well as a tool kit comprising two hoes (large and small) two cutlasses (curved and straight), one felling axe and one bucket. In addition, given the large-scale destruction of infrastructure, some storage facilities are required urgently in Tonkolili District for the storage of seeds harvested this year. The Department will endeavour to rehabilitate temporary stores in the next few months.

Agricultural programme
Farmers who return to their villages to rebuild their livelihoods will be provided with the necessary inputs to restart their agricultural activities.

1. Through a seed loan recovery programme, 1,500 "new" farm families will receive a seeds and tools package to cultivate rice and groundnut. Half of the seeds required will be derived from those collected from by last year’s beneficiaries.
2. Increased focus will be placed on the constitution of community seed banks to encourage communities to cater for their own needs and enable the R&R department to phase out progressively. Communities will be trained in seed bank management. These ‘banks’ represent a safety net for the communities to weather such threats as unexpected bad harvests and loss of family members as well as providing a means of support to the most vulnerable members of their communities. It is expected that by next year, the R&R Department will not need to procure any additional seeds for these areas.
3. Communities will be assisted in rehabilitating or constructing small community stores. The current lack of storage facilities is leading to heavy post-harvest losses.
4. Given the shortage of seeds in the country, the Department is encouraging the constitution of seeds multiplication groups. A package of seeds and tools will be provided to 30 groups (10 for groundnut production, 10 for inland valley swamp rice and 10 for upland rice). As well as increasing the availability of local seed for planting, the programme will also be an opportunity for the groups to generate income by selling any surpluses.
5. Besides basic staple food production, communities also need to generate income to improve their self-reliance and to be in a position to cover non-food costs. Training will be given to community groups in small-scale business management and in the following income-generating activities:

• farm produce processing: 16 groups will be provided with cassava graters to undertake the processing of cassava into gari, which can be safely stored and is highly marketable as a cereal.
• rehabilitation of tree crop plantation: 800 small farmers will be assisted in the rehabilitation of their plantations (coffee, cocoa and oil palm), which have fallen into neglect and under-production over the past few years.
• fishing: 100 fishing groups will receive fishing tackle to weave their own nets. The fishing materials will be provided on a cost recovery basis that will enable the Department to revolve the funds and support new groups in subsequent years.
• fish ponds: in areas with few rivers, youth groups will be assisted with the construction of fish ponds. Extensive sensitisation and training of the communities in fish pond management will take place to make sure the facilities are properly maintained and business plans are in place to use the profits efficiently.
• poultry production: 300 individual families will be provided with one cockerel and three hens for poultry production both for consumption and for sale. The birds will be given on a cost recovery basis, so that the programme can be replicated elsewhere and benefits reach increased numbers of families.
  
  
  F. The FEWs will continue giving support and technical advice to beneficiaries through farm visits, demonstration plots, and working closely with the chiefdom committees in the recovery of seed loans and the repayment of equipment from income-generating activities.

Community Infrastructure Programme
Given the level of destruction to public buildings and local services over the past nine years, the task of rehabilitation and reconstruction is immense. Investing with communities in this long-term programme is, in the R&R Department’s view, an integral component of its commitment to re-establish a social environment in which reconciliation and peace can begin to prosper. Re-introducing new school facilities will enhance learning and literacy, and offer young people choices for their future lives; restoring the buildings that house the court ‘barries’ will allow traditional leadership structures to return at community level to administer local affairs and start the process of healing society’s deep divisions; and embarking on a programme of latrine and well building will contribute to the prevention of water borne diseases that have increased enormously during the years of war and dislocation.

The building work will be undertaken by local contractors under the supervision of the Infrastructure Team using a well established system of tendering, contracts and quality control. The local economy will benefit through the employment of community based and suitable skilled artisans (e.g. masons and carpenters) as well as casual labour. To encourage self-development and the maintenance of the new structures, the Infrastructure Team will undertake sensitisation and awareness raising work as well as enter into partnership agreements with local communities (such as the Communities’ Teachers Associations - CTA). The involvement of ex-combatants in the infrastructure programme will be considered in conjunction with the appropriate authorities and in line with the wishes of local people.

An analysis of actual work planned is given below:

• Three primary schools each comprising a three-classroom block, latrine and water well with hand pump. The school will also be furnished with locally manufactured benches and desks.
• On completion, the building will be handed over to the local community and CTA.
• Payment of teachers’ salaries and other benefits is looked after by the Ministry of Education.

• Reconstruction of three court barries in communities where the original buildings were destroyed.
• Contribution by local communities of local materials and unskilled labour. In the case of the court barrie planned for Kenema town, the local population has also already contributed 12 million Leones (about USD 7,000) to the construction costs.

• Construction of 100 latrines and 20 wells.
• Work carried out in co-operation with the local authorities and the communities (who will contribute their labour and local materials).
• WATSAN animators will ensure the maintenance of the facilities. Recruited as volunteers, these men and women will be selected from their communities and provided with training from District Health Officers.

Peace building and civic education
Given the fragility of the current peace agreement, the promotion of reconciliation and peace are extremely crucial at this stage. The reintegration of ex-combatants into society is also dependent on the readiness of communities to reconcile and to accept them back. A lot of preparation work is needed for this process to take place in a smooth manner and to avoid any clashes between the two groups.

The peace education team has been involved over the past three years in conflict resolution, peace building and reconciliation work. They have conducted community sensitization workshops as well as trained community-based animators (CBAs), church leaders and other lay people, who then work at promoting peace and reconciliation within their own communities.

In December 2000, an independent consultant from the UK carried out an evaluation of the programme. The final report commended the work and coverage of the Department to date but strongly recommended that, given scarce human resources, activities should be more focused on specific target populations and geographical areas. In the light of this, the programme for 2001 has been re-shaped with an emphasis on consolidation rather than any further expansion. As such, the team will reinforce its support to the trained CBAs in the form of refresher training, more regular follow-up visits and supervision. The member churches that were trained over the past two years will also receive more support to facilitate their own respective community based initiatives.

In addition, the peace building work will focus on the interaction between IDPs and host communities. The presence of large numbers of displaced people in a number of the Department’s operational areas (whether staying in camps or not) is having a significant impact on the lives of the host communities, as they make extra demands on local resources and services. The resulting tension can lead to incidents or even to inter-group conflict. It is therefore planned to carry out community sensitisation on peace building for both IDPs and host communities in Gbonkolenken, Yoni, and in the IDP camps of Bo.

Micro-credit Programme
Plans for a micro-credit programme have also been formulated in the light of the recommendations of the consultant who also evaluated the vulnerable groups programme. The evaluation suggested a fundamental shift from a direct assistance approach to one that a) focuses on increasing people’s self-reliance and b) gives communities the responsibility to take care of their vulnerable members. Consequently, the following activities are being planned:

• a micro-credit programme for women. Women have been among the most affected by the conflict. For many widows and female-headed households with limited access to labour, their only means of raising income is to engage in activities such as petty trading, fish smoking, palm oil processing and soap making. However, they often lack the start-up capital and business skills. The Vulnerables Team will organise training in basic business management for 27 women groups. Following the training, they will receive a small loan to start up agreed activitied.
• support will be given to 90 foster families taking care of especially vulnerable children (such as orphans and unaccompanied children) in a way that enhances self reliance. Each family will be trained in basic business management and will receive a loan to start up a micro-credit activity designed to generate income to contribute to the costs of maintaining the children. As an integral part of the programme, the vulnerable team will sensitise the families on child rights issues.

Both schemes will function on a revolving loan basis so that, over time, new groups will benefit from the programme. Training for the Vulnerables Team members will be organised to build their capacity to manage the scheme.

Transition from Emergency
The state of the emergency and its impact on the conditions of life for the Sierra Leone people varies considerably from area to area. For the majority, however, living in an environment of uncertainty has become a way of life over the past nine years and, at the present time, looks likely to continue. The operational areas of the R&R Department fall within the country’s Southern Province most of which have remained relatively secure over recent times. Populations from other parts of the country, particularly the occupied north, have concentrated in these safer areas resulting in increased pressure on the scarce local resources and stretching the goodwill of the resident people. Security within a few chiefdoms (Tonkolili included) remains uncertain, however, and those residents that have remained are existing in extremely vulnerable circumstances.

Within this dynamic environment, the R&R Department continues to maintain an operational responsiveness, from its head office in Bo, that is able to address the diversity of needs associated with relief, rehabilitation and the sudden onset of emergency. Areas like Tonkolili, and to a certain extent Wandor chiefdom in Kenema District, which have been until recently held by the rebels, are still in a predicament of crisis with a high level of destruction, shortage of food, malnutrition and severe destitution. Here, the programme will focus on distribution of seeds and tools to help meet the basic food needs of the population. In those more settled areas, the revival of the local economy and the infrastructural base is becoming all the more crucial to cope with the additional numbers of returnees. In these parts, the Department’s work plans put a greater emphasis on the constitution of seed banks, the phasing out of the distribution of inputs and a limited involvement in income generating activities, and initiatives designed to promote peace and reconciliation. In the IDP camps in Bo, the Department will continue to meet its responsibilities to care for the residents most of whom have been dislocated from the north. Finally, in the event of an upsurge in the conflict or a sudden return of refugees from neighbouring countries, the Department is ready to scale up its emergency response work assuming the availability of donor funding.

The Relief and Rehabilitation (R&R) Department’s activities have expanded from being purely relief based in 1997 to now include rehabilitation. Since then, staff numbers have grown from 50 to its present 112. All staff are based in Bo, Kenema, Moyamba or Tonkolili Districts, with a small liaison office team based in Freetown.

The overall staff compliment comprises :

Programme Management
The management team comprises a Director, the Administration & Finance Manager and two Program Managers. The Director, based in Bo, is jointly recruited by Christian Aid (CA) and CCSL and is responsible for the overall management of the Department. The Administration & Finance Manager is responsible for Financial, Logistical and Administrative matters. The two Program Managers co-ordinate and manage the program activities.

The various programme activities of the Department are implemented through four Programme Units: Agriculture, Peace Building and Civic Education, Vulnerable Groups, and Infrastructure, and are all supported by a Distribution Unit. A Monitoring & Evaluation Unit oversees all programme activities and reports directly to the Director. Each unit is managed by a "Unit Leader". A liaison/logistics officer, based in Freetown, is responsible for co-ordination of activities between the R&R Department and CCSL Main Office. The officer is also responsible for procurements and administrative activities undertaken in Freetown.

The Department is supported by Action by Churches Together (ACT) through Christian Aid, its accompanying agency. Christian Aid employs a Programme Manager (based in London) and a Programme Accountant and a Programme Support Officer (both based in Sierra Leone) who provide auxiliary support to the Department in their specialist fields.

Administration & Finance
The Finance and Administration sector comprises the following units: Budget and Accounting, Secretarial support, Logistics, Fleet, Stores, Technical Support and Security. A Budget Control Officer and the CA Programme Accountant ensure the financial aspects of the program are carefully monitored and controlled. Management Accounts are produced monthly and annual accounts are prepared by the Christian Aid Programme Accountant for external audit by Pannell Kerr Foster, a leading international firm of accountants.

Reporting
Each Programme Unit provides a monthly report to its respective Programme Manager who presents these to the Director. The Director in turn copies information (including the management accounts) to both CCSL’s General Secretary and the Programme Manager, Christian Aid. The Department also produces half-yearly reports, both narrative and financial, which are circulated to ACT, CCSL General Secretary and members of the R&R Department’s Board.

Monitoring
A Monitoring & Evaluation Unit overseas the implementation of all programme activities, with particular emphasis on "impact assessment" activities that helps to inform the Department’s planning process. Regular visits are made to the programme by the London based Programme Manager (a total of four in 2000) as well as hands on assistance by other support personnel such as programme funding staff and emergency officers. The purpose of all these contacts is to improve the level of programming, planning and administration.

The programme will run from January to December 2001.

The Sierra Leone Government, through NCRRR is the principal co-ordinator of all NGO activities including the R&R Department. Operational Districts and Chiefdoms are allocated and supervised by this government body to counter duplication and maximise impact.

CCSL works closely with individual line ministries and agencies such as the Ministry of Agriculture and the Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA). It strives to abide by the codes of conduct agreed by NGOs and UN agencies and is committed to working in close and good co-operation with national and international NGOs. It is also bound by agreements and decisions taken by co-ordinating bodies such as Food Aid Technical Committee, Agriculture Sub-committee and Water and Sanitation Committee.