Mobonda Community Conservation Project: Chimpanzees, oysters, and community engagement in Sierra Leone

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chloe Chesney ◽  
Natalia Casado Bolaños ◽  
Bockarie Ambrose Kanneh ◽  
Ethel Sillah ◽  
Bala Amarasekaran ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Community Conservation ◽  
Conservation Project

scholarly journals Community engagement in outbreak response: lessons from the 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (8) ◽  
pp. e002145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Bedson ◽  
Mohamed F Jalloh ◽  
Danielle Pedi ◽  
Saiku Bah ◽  
Katharine Owen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Community Action ◽  
Religious Leader ◽  
Action Plans ◽  
Engagement Interventions ◽  
Over Time

Documentation of structured community engagement initiatives and real-time monitoring of community engagement activities during large-scale epidemics is limited. To inform such initiatives, this paper analyses the Community Led Ebola Action (CLEA) approach implemented through the Social Mobilization Action Consortium (SMAC) during the 2014–2016 Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone. The SMAC initiative consisted of a network of 2466 community mobilisers, >6000 religious leaders and 42 local radio stations across all 14 districts of Sierra Leone. Community mobilisers were active in nearly 70% of all communities across the country using the CLEA approach to facilitate community analysis, trigger collective action planning and maintain community action plans over time. CLEA was complemented by interactive radio programming and intensified religious leader engagement.Community mobilisers trained in the CLEA approach used participatory methods, comprised of an initial community ‘triggering’ event, action plan development and weekly follow-ups to monitor progress on identified action items. Mobilisers collected operational and behavioural data on a weekly basis as part of CLEA. We conducted a retrospective analysis of >50 000 weekly reports from approximately 12 000 communities from December 2014 to September 2015. The data showed that 100% of the communities that were engaged had one or more action plans in place. Out of the 63 110 cumulative action points monitored by community mobilisers, 92% were marked as ‘in-progress’ (85%) or ‘achieved’ (7%) within 9 months. A qualitative examination of action points revealed that the in-progress status was indicative of the long-term sustainability of most action points (eg, continuous monitoring of visitors into the community) versus one-off action items that were marked as achieved (eg, initial installation of handwashing station). Analysis of behavioural outcomes of the intervention indicate an increase over time in the fraction of reported safe burials and fraction of reported cases referred for medical care within 24 hours of symptom onset in the communities that were engaged.Through CLEA, we have demonstrated how large-scale, coordinated community engagement interventions can be achieved and monitored in real-time during future Ebola epidemics and other similar epidemics. The SMAC initiative provides a practical model for the design, implementation and monitoring of community engagement, integration and coordination of community engagement interventions with other health emergency response pillars, and adaptive strategies for large-scale community-based operational data collection.

scholarly journals Three Acts of Resistance during the 2014–16 West Africa Ebola Epidemic

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frédéric Le Marcis ◽  
Luisa Enria ◽  
Sharon Abramowitz ◽  
Almudena-Mari Saez ◽  
Sylvain Landry B. Faye
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Community Response ◽  
West African ◽  
The West ◽  
Humanitarian Emergencies ◽  
Humanitarian Response ◽  
Uncertain Outcomes ◽  
Epidemic Communication

Abstract Community engagement is commonly regarded as a crucial entry point for gaining access and securing trust during humanitarian emergencies. In this article, we present three case studies of community engagement encounters during the West African Ebola outbreak. They represent strategies commonly implemented by the humanitarian response to the epidemic: communication through comités de veille villageois in Guinea, engagement with NGO-affiliated community leadership structures in Liberia and indirect mediation to chiefs in Sierra Leone. These case studies are based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out before, during and after the outbreak by five anthropologists involved in the response to Ebola in diverse capacities. Our goal is to represent and conceptualise the Ebola response as a dynamic interaction between a response apparatus, local populations and intermediaries, with uncertain outcomes that were negotiated over time and in response to changing conditions. Our findings show that community engagement tactics that are based on fixed notions of legitimacy are unable to respond to the fluidity of community response environments during emergencies.

scholarly journals Integrated digital system for community engagement and community-based surveillance during the 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone: lessons for future health emergencies

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (12) ◽  
pp. e003936
Author(s):  
Mohamed F Jalloh ◽  
Paul Sengeh ◽  
Nyuma James ◽  
Saiku Bah ◽  
Mohammad B Jalloh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Reporting System ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Lessons Learnt ◽  
Essential Components

Community engagement and community-based surveillance are essential components of responding to infectious disease outbreaks, but real-time data reporting remains a challenge. In the 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, the Social Mobilisation Action Consortium was formed to scale-up structured, data-driven community engagement. The consortium became operational across all 14 districts and supported an expansive network of 2500 community mobilisers, 6000 faith leaders and 42 partner radio stations. The benefit of a more agile digital reporting system became apparent within few months of implementing paper-based reporting given the need to rapidly use the data to inform the fast-evolving epidemic. In this paper, we aim to document the design, deployment and implementation of a digital reporting system used in six high transmission districts. We highlight lessons learnt from our experience in scaling up the digital reporting system during an unprecedented public health crisis. The lessons learnt from our experience in Sierra Leone have important implications for designing and implementing similar digital reporting systems for community engagement and community-based surveillance during public health emergencies.

scholarly journals Influence of Women Participation on Sustainability of the Community Conservation Project Implemented by Jaldesa Community Conservancy in Marsabit County, Kenya

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 188-194
Author(s):  
Rufo Roba ◽  
Reuben Wambua Kikwatha
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
Sustainable Growth ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Community Conservation ◽  
Access To Resources ◽  
Research Instrument ◽  
Conservation Project ◽  
Women In Decision Making ◽  
Women Participation

Biodiversity conservation is a new paradigm shift in the management of Community wildlife resources as a tool to sustainable growth of the economy, improved livelihood, and preservation of nature. The study established the role of women participation in projects and the sustainable wildlife conservation project at Jaldesa community in Marsabit County, Kenya. The study utilized four variables that included women in decision making, control & access to resources, project implementation and capacity building of women leaders &sustainable Jaldesa community conservation project. The design approach in the study was a cross-sectional survey having a mixed mode of research methods characterized with qualitative and quantitative. The Participatory and Ecological Feminism Theory were significant for the study. The probability and non-probability sampling were utilized to obtain sample size of 443 samples drawn from a target population of 19,860. Pilot study was obtained using a fraction of the sample. The reliability analysis was attained through Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient of α>0.7. The research instrument was utilized. The researcher herself collected the Primary data using questionnaires and focus group discussions as research instrument. Descriptive and inferential statistics were analyzed with SPSS version 25. The Pearson’s moment correlation concluded that Access & Control of Resources, Capacity Building, Decision Making and Implementation has a significant influence on the sustainable conservation of Jaldesa community projects in Marsabit County, Kenya and there is a strong relationship. The study recommends that the authorities at national and county government of Marsabit County involve women in decision making, leadership roles, attend meeting, be party to decisions made by the conservancy board and making them well versed on the decision-making processes. Also, recommends that women manage, control, and have full access to resources through financial liberty, have voice on access to and control of resources and giving them right to resources and ownership.

scholarly journals Community Engagement during outbreak response: standards, approaches, and lessons from the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Bedson ◽  
Mohamed F. Jalloh ◽  
Danielle Pedi ◽  
Saiku M. Bah ◽  
Katharine Owen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Action Planning ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Community Action ◽  
Social Mobilization ◽  
Theory Of Change ◽  
List Type ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Outbreak Response

Summary pointsThe Social Mobilization Action Consortium (SMAC) was Sierra Leone’s largest coordinated community engagement initiative during the 2014 - 2016 Ebola outbreak. It worked in all 14 districts in Sierra Leone across >12,000 communities (approximately 70% of all communities), through 2,466 trained Community Mobilizers, a network of 2,000 mosques and churches, and 42 local radio stations.We describe SMAC’s Theory of Change and utilization of the Community-Led Ebola Action (CLEA) approach. We present an extensive dataset of community engagement and monitoring with a focus on over 50,000 SMAC weekly reports collected by Community Mobilizers between December 2014 and September 2015.Community engagement and real-time data collection at scale is achievable in the context of a health emergency if adequately structured, managed, coordinated and resourced.We describe a correlation between systemic community engagement, community action planning and Ebola-safe behaviors at community-level.The SMAC integrated approach demonstrates the scope of data – including surveillance data - that can be generated directly by communities through structured community engagement interventions implemented at scale during an Ebola outbreak.We highlight important insights gleaned over time on how to informally integrate social mobilization into community-based surveillance of sick people and deaths.

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