The Pervasive Flavour of SALT

Another community in Freetown, Sierra Leone is benefitting from the Amplifying Voices through SALT project (AVS)! Young people in Sammy Town have taken up the challenge to repair the damaged roads in their neighbourhood following a chance encounter with project volunteers. Sammy Town is a community in the hills overlooking the centre of Freetown.

Two months ago, a leader, Pa Joseph, from Sammy town was visiting relatives in nearby Sumaila Town. While he was there a team of volunteers working with HCR’s partner, BBN, came by on their house to house SALT visits. During the conversation, the leader heard the story about Sumaila Town residents taking action to repair their own roads. Intrigued by the positive impact, he took the notion back to Sammy Town to explore whether they could emulate that example and improve life in their own community. Sammy Town youths quickly galvanized resources through household contributions and started work repairing their beat-up roads. Two months down the line, Pa Joseph came to a SALT Plus community meeting organized by BBN. Beaming with smiles he proudly narrated the story of how the community-mobilising initiative was beginning to take root in Sammy Town and the road work is near completion.

Freetown has grown fast since the civil war ended in 2002. Many new neighbourhoods were built around informal road systems. Poor road surfaces make it very difficult for residents to travel to and from work or to access markets outside their own community. Without vehicle access, people with limited ability are confined to their homes. It gets much worse during the rainy season. Repairs to road surfaces will improve safety and quality of life for hundreds of families in a community.

 

In 2016 HCR supported BBN to start up the Amplifying Voices through SALT project (AVS), in partnership with Feba UK and Affirm. SALT is a community listening process which leads to better relationships and improved services within neighbourhoods (including more effective radio programmes!). Revitalised community confidence often leads to community-led development initiatives.

 

In January 2019, facilitators from HCR and Affirm introduced the BBN teams to SALT Plus, which extends the listening process beyond household visits to

community wide meetings. SALT Plus helps community members to channel their strengths and resources in response to challenges they can face together.

Sharing community stories on the radio, in SALT or SALT Plus meetings, often results in the process transferring from community to community. If Sammy Town adopts the SALT process, it will become the 8th Freetown neighbourhood activated through the Amplifying Voices projects.