Water, Health & Women's Empowerment- Guinea Bissau

CEO’s annual visit to Guinea Bissau
 
Our CEO, Dr Antony Kingsley, visited Guinea Bissau between 20th February and 11th March 2023 meeting several stakeholders and visiting villages supported in the past. He also confirmed the new villages (eight in total) where we will work in the coming year. It was carnival time and it was great to see people in the capital dressed up and in a celebratory mood. 

Good progress in Tepde a villages supported by partners of WellFound:
The positive impact from WellFound’s interventions was very evident by the happiness shown in this community. Dr Kingsley met a lady called Natalia, a young mother, who took him on a tour of her village. She was happy to show him the new water point. She also showed how they have now organised their houses for the safe storage of clean water, keeping storage vessels away from contamination. The village invited Dr Kingsley to come to lunch next year with vegetables grown from their new market garden. The community also have plans to extend water points across the village with their own money – a fantastic sustainability effort. 

Welcoming Andrew Mustapha Country Director for Sierra Leone – WellFound is a learning organisation and as part of this, Andrew spent over two weeks in Guinea Bissau with Dr Kingsley and Joao Le (Country Director, Guinea-Bissau). Andrew was looking for good practice and lessons learnt which he could take back to Sierra Leone.

“It was an interesting experience travelling from Freetown to Guinea Bissau for a cross-learning event of our WASH and Nutrition Projects. It was an exciting adventure as we visit communities where WASH projects are implemented, some for over five (5) years and others for about three (3) years and they are still in existence and the market garden women harvesting crops/vegetables for sale. 
 
The visit was a productive one because the two approaches were carefully observed and will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis in future projects. We also learn from best practices and have identified smart ways of doing things that will help us to build trust among stakeholders, and team members and involve them in the process. As a country we have plans to replicate what we have learnt from Guinea Bissau, to improve on the gaps and continue to make the necessary gains on areas where we have difficulties” -Andrew Mustapha

New villages: The need for water continues. The climatic changes having a real impact on people's life. We thank all donors for your support and guidance. 

This new year, many villages that are being supported by GlobalGiving donors are now engaged in improving their lives through new and revised market garden activities. Women are being very proactive in clearing the gardens and planting new vegetables. The vision is to bring more health and economic opportunities t the villages. The micro-saving scheme is expanding with great new opportunities for women to purchase seeds, tools and also improve their income from starting up new small scale businesses such as opening up a shop, animal husbendary or sewing. The community are coming more closely together to address their needs without expecting support from the outside. Their level of confidence is growing very positively. This is done equally involving all member of communities, from elderly to young children. 

There are chellenges such as spiralling cost of living and lack of transport for women to make the best of opportunities. WellFound aims to address this by seeking new funding and partnerships across the board. The support provided by the GlobalGiving community m very positive changes.