Nearly four years ago, Senior Fellow Joseph Kaifala’s mission was to build a school that is a dignified learning space for adolescent girls. In 2021, the Sengbe Pieh Academy in Robis, Sierra Leone, has its first 21 graduates.
The school serves as a safe space that eliminates obstacles to girls’ education, such as period poverty, lack of uniforms, textbooks, qualified teachers, and proper sanitary conditions. The school enrolls approximately 75 girls in their last three years of secondary school in preparation for the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination. The school also has a water supply system that provides portable water to both the school and Robis village where the school is located.
This is not the first time Joseph is making an impact in the educational sector of Sierra Leone. Together with Liat Krawczyk, also a Senior Fellow, they created the Jeneba Project as part of their Action Project. This project is dedicated to providing high-quality traditional and civic education in Sierra Leone.
Previously, Joseph had also constructed a library in Sierra Leone after winning the Kathryn Wasserman Davis 100 Projects for Peace. The St. Joseph Senior Secondary School now holds 768 students per year.