Students of Njala University pursuing Social Work courses have become beneficiaries of the Tuition Grant Scheme instituted by the Post Ebola Recovery Social Investment Fund (PERSIF) Project. The Scheme is intended to benefit five hundred and thirty one (531) students of the university. According to Ibrahim S. Kamara, Project Coordinator of the PERSIF Project, the Scheme was introduced for the development of a sustainable national pool of advanced social workers who would in turn be incorporated in the social workforce of the Ministry of Social Welfare. The support to this endeavor covers among other things, the payment of tuition fees for eligible students in order to ease their academic challenges, and serve as an incentive to complete their academic programmes.  The potential beneficiaries may at the ended the day enjoy the opportunity of full time employment or field deployment, as may be required from time to time, in communities for the delivery of social services during emergencies such as natural disasters and epidemic outbreaks including EVD and COVID-19.

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  The Minister of Social Welfare, Bendu Dasama Kamara (Mrs.) on Wednesday 19th October, 2022, officially launched the Training of Trainers workshop in Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) for health workers in the Eastern Technical University (ETU) and College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS) at the Kenema District Council Hall in Kenama City. The Ministry of Social Welfare (MoSW) through the Post Ebola Recovery Social Investment Fund (PERSIF) Project, an African Development Bank (AfDB) funded programme, supported the training.

The overall objective of the training is to strengthen the capacity of two Health Training Institutions (nursing schools) in the Delivery of Community-based services, including cross-border disease surveillance and response. As one of two institutions to benefit from the training of trainers, ETU was the first recipient of the sessions which earlier commenced on Monday, 17th October, 2022 at the 3K Guest House in Kenema City and concluded on Friday, 21st October, 2022. (more…)

The Post-Ebola Recovery Social Investment Fund (PERSIF) Project has benefitted two hundred and twenty (220) Healthcare Workers across fifteen (15) communities in the nine (9) beneficiary districts of the Project through training in Infection, Prevention and Control (IPC). IPC practice is a key component in the preparedness and response strategies of disease outbreaks. The purpose of this drive was to enhance the capacity and knowledge of healthcare workers particularly in rural communities in the discipline and practice of IPC to enable them achieve the highest level of effectiveness in preparedness and response to epidemic outbreaks, as well as building their capacity to disseminate important information on IPC practices. Consistent with the development objective of the PERSIF Project, the overall objective of the IPC training was to contribute towards building a robust and resilient national health system with the capacity to withstand any potential recurrence of EVD and related outbreaks in the future. (more…)