NaCSA’s Labour Intensive Public Works (LIPW) deliver a successful cassava harvest in Kono

Under the President’s Recovery Priorities, NaCSA has so far supported 6,454 male youths and 4,962 female youths, with conditional cash transfers in the form of wages through Labour Intensive Public Works. Below we look at the experience of 80 young people in Kono.

The 80 young people taking part in NaCSA’s Labour Intensive Public Works (LIPW) programme in Kono’s Gbense Chiefdom have cultivated two acres of cassava in their community.

LIPW is a cash-for-work approach which provides young people with short term employment opportunities as well as building their employability and contributing to the local economy. Harvests from LIPW farms are divided into four.  One quarter is shared among the project’s participants; another kept for next planting season – where suitable, another given to the community and the last quarter is given to other youths to cultivate, creating another LIPW group.

During monitoring and evaluation visits, the President’s Delivery Team (PDT) gathered feedback on the process to prevent unresolved issues from derailing its success.  During one trip, town chief, Sahr Alhaji Baker, told the PDT that the LIPW has been responsible for a lower crime rate.  The PDT also heard from Joseph Bockarie, the chairman of the Community Oversight Committee, which is responsible for managing the projects.  He said the it had been extremely positive and suggested including training in cassava processing to add value to the yield. A female participant, Alice Gbainda, explained that she, like many other participants, is using her earnings to send her children to school.

The project is targeting 11,600 youths in the districts of Kono, Bombali, Moyamba and Western Rural. They work from Monday to Saturday, 8:00am to 2:00pm, and each receives Le 10,000 per day.