ABOUT US | edi1

ABOUT EDI FOR SIERRA LEONE

Education and Development Initiative (EDI) is Sierra Leone’s first network of former university students based in the United States, Sierra Leone and overseas. Founded in 2010, EDI-SL is solely dedicated to promoting improved education as a core aspect of economic growth and sustainable development in the country. As an alumni network, EDI-SL was established on the inclination that the continued limited or no access to education during the war, left a legacy of a lost generation of non-school goers in the country. EDI-SL was thus formed in time to take this challenge head-on and purposely so that recent and previous university graduates will have the space to contribute towards addressing the critical challenges facing the country’s education infrastructure. We focus more specifically on the socio economic, cultural and political factors that hinder access, retention and completion of schools among the most vulnerable population in the country. EDI-SL is currently headquartered in the United States with a field office in Sierra Leone. All EDI-SL operations focus on Sierra Leone where projects and programs are planned and delivered; however, the organizational maintains a loose network of registered members in other countries which also helps to maintain global partnerships, networking and skills sharing.

Our Vision

One day, all children, youth and adults of Sierra Leone will utilize the benefit of education to create opportunities for themselves and their communities.

Our Mission

EDI is dedicated to promoting access to improved education and wellbeing for Sierra Leone’s most vulnerable children and youth through providing support, which includes school materials, scholarship, clothing, food training and capacity building for teachers and communities.

Achieving Our Mission

We have three-pronged approaches to achieving our mission: Firstly, we provide direct support to school pupils to ensure that they have what the need to gain access to education and be able to learn. Support in this area includes identifying and addressing any form of barriers to education which includes culture, conflict, food and nutrition, finance, learning materials, gender and other harmful traditional practices that keep pupils out of school. Secondly, we focus on equipping teachers and school management bodies with the skills and resources that the need to plan and deliver effective and effective educational and learning activities in and outside the classroom. Thirdly, we work with communities and make sure that they are sufficiently aware the importance to work with teachers and together support the schools and, also the educational needs of children.

Our Strategy

With all commendable efforts both locally and at the global front, retention and completion of education remain a huge challenge with high dropout rate for girls and low enrolment in secondary schools in Sierra Leone.

Education is a right. This right is explicitly stated in the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted in 1948:

"Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. …" (Article 26)

Believing that education is a necessary component for economic growth and sustainable development EDI-SL invest in the prospects of partnership with all relevant stakeholders including UNESCO,UNICEF, PLAN, Education for All Movement, The World AT School, the Global Partnership for Education etcetera, to promote access to improved education and wellbeing for Sierra Leone’s most vulnerable children and youth. Further, EDI-SL utilizes key international standards such as the Dakar Framework for Action, the UN Decade for Education and Sustainable Development, the MDG goal 2, and relevant national documents including the new Sierra Leone Education Sector Plan 2014 – 2018, the SABABU Education, the Government’s Gbamenja Commission’s White Paper on education and others to achieve this end.

OUR VALUES

Partnership and learning: EDI maintains an open and accessible attitude which we recognize as a benchmark for our operation and existence. We believe that being open, flexible and accessible makes us relevant to build partnership with other stakeholders, and also enhance learning and skills sharing. The work of improving education is never accomplished alone. Thus, we are committed to building and sustaining genuine connections with individuals, groups and organizations form near and far so that together we can learn, share and celebrate results.
Integrity and selflessness: We hold the values of integrity and supporting others in high esteem. We believe that the journey from the first day at school until graduate education and employment is a tedious one. With a lot to celebrate today in our own lives we also believe in genuinely supporting others to make this journey and enjoy the benefit of acquiring skills and achieving the highest standard of education. A powerful inner resource that we hold in high esteem is the integrity to do that we say that we are going to do and being accountable to ourselves, our communities, and the society as at large. These are the foundations upon which the University is built.
Discipline and Leadership: Author Jackson Brown said that, “Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There's plenty of movement, but you never know if it's going to be forward, backwards, or sideways." We believe that even with the greatest goals and activities we will never succeed in our endeavor without individual and collective discipline. We hold individual and collective discipline in high esteem, ranging from the way we approach our tasks, our planning and delivery processes, how work with others, and our overall management and operations. As change agents, we believe that leading by examples is both a necessary and sufficient condition for effective leadership.
Results: We emphasize the need to achieve the highest result in whatever we do. This means upholding the values to commitment our time, our skills, individual and collective resources to win within the most reasonable period.

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