Sierra Leone is a country located on the southwest coast of West Africa, with a land area of 27,699 sq. miles. Sierra Leone has a population of over seven million people.

In Sierra Leone a low percentage of the poorest rural girls finish secondary school in comparism to a high percentage of the richest urban boys. The probabilities of a girl completing senior secondary school is estimated at 29% and only about 5% of them go on to achieve university education.

Girls in Sierra Leone have long been disadvantaged in many ways. Access to quality education is one of the major areas girls are left out. There are many factors that limit the access to education for girls in Sierra Leone and key among them is poverty. In terms of absolute poverty rated by regions in Sierra Leone, the North is the poorest. In Bombali district in Northern Sierra Leone, teenage girls are dropping out of school and are exposed to various forms of abuse and exploitation at an alarming rate.

In poor communities in the Northern Region of the country where the quest for survival has far outweighed the importance of sending girls to school, the right to be educated has been trampled upon, for this reason there has been a significant rise in the number of teenage girls who are either staying away from school or dropping out completely. In communities such as Kathirie, Bombali Bana, Mongoreh and Makorombo in Bombali district, North of Sierra Leone, we have evidence of widespread school dropout, child labour, sexual abuse and exploitation. Girls from these communities are engaged in the arduous business of selling samplings for their livelihood and that of their families. They walk a minimum of seven miles to sell what is locally known as fence sticks in the district headquarter town of Makeni on a daily basis. Caught in the relentless quest for survival, most of these girls face the grim prospect of dying from ill health, succumbing to teenage pregnancy, performing below standard at school or dropping out and opting for early marriage under the age of eighteen.

Action for Girls Empowerment (AGE) seeks to address the issues mentioned above by providing the basic needs of girls to ensure that girls do not only stay in school but have the opportunity to reach their full potentials and their rights are recognised and protected. A high-quality education for girls is an extremely important strategy to transform lives in Sierra Leone’s disadvantaged communities.