[afro-nets] Sierra Leone Health Project Represents Africa Among Winners of the 2007 SEED Award

["Eluemuno Blyden" <eluem_blyden@yahoo.com>]

PRESS RELEASE

Sierra Leone Health Project Represents Africa Among Winners of the 2007 SEED Award

FREETOWN, 11 October, 2007. The only African winner of the 2007 “Supporting Entrepreneurs for Environment and Development” (SEED) Initiative this year is Sierra Leone. Out of 230 competitive applications from 1,500 organizations in 70 countries, Sierra Leone's entry is one of five winners of the prestigious award. 

Launched in 2004, the Seed Awards biennially recognize and reward five partnership-based initiatives that combine innovation and entrepreneurship in delivering effective social development and environmentally sustainable programs in their countries. (The other 2007 SEED Initiative Award Winners come from Vietnam, Peru, Ecuador and Brazil.) The partnerships also serve as models to inspire new local entrepreneurs, communities, companies and others to join forces in advancing sustainability.

The Sierra Leone proposal to construct the “Tiwai Traditional Medicine Health and Fitness Center” seeks to leverage indigenous knowledge assets and the emerging tourism-for-health market demand in the fight to conserve the country's ecological and cultural diversity.

“Forests are the origin of our culture...“ said Dr. Eluemuno Blyden who wrote the winning proposal, “investing in the preservation of indigenous knowledge, cultures and ecologies of Africa can create a conflict-mitigating and revenue generating path to sustainable development. In the information age, culture is King!”.

Motivation for the proposal comes from the recognition that indigenous knowledge about high biodiversity environments is an irreplaceable asset. African Traditional Medicine is intimately associated with its forests and is potentially a sustainable livelihood activity of the people who live in or around them. The project proposes to make Sierra Leone's diverse healing arts accessible to local communities and international tourists alike at a center that will also be part of the country's biodiversity conservation effort. The areas affected by the initiative are in, or around the Gola Forest and the Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary, one of the last remnants of the Upper Guinea Rain Forest that has been described as the 'crown jewel' of the world's forests. A three-day planning workshop, ending today in Freetown, was preceded by a partnership visit to participating communities in Pujehun and Kenema districts.

The project will build authentic African villages that can offer local and international visitors accommodation and access to authentic Sierra Leone healing arts, along with easy access to the many historical and ecological attractions of the Moa River valley. The complex of villages will expand on the success of Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary, an unique ecotourism and biodiversity research destination recently rehabilitated in partnership with the Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund (CEPF). Components of the proposed Tiwai Traditional Medicine Health and Fitness Center will comprise:
    * A Village-Life Hotel offering an authentic experience of Sierra Leonean village life in traditional adobe architecture accommodations
    * A Traditional Medicine Health and Fitness Village offering access to both western and traditional medicine healing arts side by side
    * An Arts, Crafts and Cultural Village where local artisans can create, teach and sell their work to visitors
    * Ancient forest trails from the Atlantic to Timbuktu preserved and enhanced for ecotourism, historical and walking tourism
    * Agro-forestry and horticultural components that provide medicinal plants, bio-fuels, and other agricultural products in support of the village complexes.

The complex will also provide a location for Njala University's education, research and outreach programs in Ecotourism, Public Health, Rural Development, Forestry and Environmental Sciences. Traditional healers and allopathic practitioners approved by the Sierra Leone Traditional Healers Association (SLENTHA)and Sierra Leone Medical & Dental Association will operate the healing center, following guidelines in Sierra Leone's 2007 National Policy on Traditional Medicine, and offering services to both the local communities and tourists.

The winning partnership includes the people of Barrie and Koya Chiefdoms who own the area in which the project is to be implemented; Environmental Foundation for Africa (EFA: the Lead Partner) a pioneer local NGO active in conservation efforts of both Sierra Leone and Liberia; the Sierra Leone Traditional Healers Association (SLENTHA), an NGO responsible for creating an enabling environment for the practice, education and policy of indigenous traditional medicine; Njala University, one of the country's two universities and; the Biotechnology Association of Sierra Leone (BioSalone), a local NGO promoting biotechnology industry, education and policy. These organizations are all partners in the Environmental Forum for Action (ENFORAC) which comprises 15 organizations expected to support the implementation of the project over the coming years. In addition, close cooperation with government, civil society and the private sector partners is anticipated.

The holistic approach of the project and the cross-sector participation of partners is in line with the goals of the SEED Initiative to support innovative, grassroots partnerships:

“We were concerned about the early stage of this partnership” said Helen Marquard, Director of the SEED Initiative Secretariat, “but the insistence among adjudicators that this project represented a vision of the future of travel-for-health tourism ensured a place for Sierra Leone among the winners.”

The award shines a light on Sierra Leone's environmental and conservation actors who continue to work hard to protect the post-conflict nation's heritage of biodiversity, history and culture. Notable partnerships in the conservation field include the Environmental Forum fro Action (ENFORAC), the innovative Gola Forest Conservation Concession (GFCC), and the Sierra Leone Traditional Healers Association (SLENTHA) and others. Much of the material and human resource required to build the villages will come from the Koya and Barrie Chiefdoms of southern Sierra Leone, who have demonstrated a strong commitment to environmental conservation over the last thirty years.

“This is the kind of development project that we have been praying for” said Mr. Jobson Momoh, the new MP for Barrie Chiefdom in Sierra Leone's recently elected Parliament, “It is time that we started to make use of our indigenous knowledge and resources to build a better Sierra Leone for the 21st Century.”

The Partnerships Action Plan calls for the prioritization of key project components and the writing of appropriate funding proposals. The SEED Initiative secretariat will help in this endeavor through a dedicated Support Channel run by the Collective Leadership Institute, of Potsdam, Germany.

The Action Plan also calls for friends and partners of the project to participate in an Education and Information-sharing Strategy to publicize the SEED Award and its implementation activities. Among these, the “Gullah” (Gola) communities of the South Carolina in the United States represent a unique international connection that the project proposes to engage. The Gullah and Geechee are the only African diaspora group of descendants that can trace their origins directly to an African forest-- the Gola Forests in Serra Leone. The Tiwai Traditional Medicine Health and Fitness Center, will create a destination of learning, healing and spiritual respite for the Gullah and all those seeking an African rejuvenation of mind, body and spirit through a visit to an ancestral forest.

“We have a great deal of hands-on experience of working in these communities-- even during the difficult times immediately following the end of the civil war in 2002” said Mr. Tommy Garnett, Director of EFA. “I believe this is a project that can succeed given the right inputs and support.”

The Partnership is currently seeking funding, international partners, and other resources to implement its plans for construction and operation of the Center.

For further information, please contact:
Tiwai Traditional Medicine Health and Fitness Center Partnership
c/o Environmental Foundation for Africa, Lakka Village, Sierra Leone
or

Dr. Eluemuno R. Blyden, International Coordinator
Email: info@tiwaihealthvillage.com
Website: http://www.tiwaihealthvillage.com

Related Links:
Visit Tiwai Island: http://www.visitsierraleone.org/tiwai.asp
EFA Website: http://www.efasl.org.uk/
SEED Initiative Website: http://www.seedinit.org
Tiwai Island Rehabilitation: http://web.conservation.org/xp/frontlines/species/06220601.xml