McNamara Leads Third Student Trip to Sierra Leone
The rice paddies of Sierra Leone served as the setting for a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a group of University of Illinois students who have returned inspired to use their future degrees on an international scale.
The 11 students led by Dr. Paul McNamara, ACES professor of agricultural and consumer economics, welcomed the New Year in Sierra Leone before using their knowledge and education to help improve the livelihoods of the Sierra Leone people, who continue to re-build their country after a civil war that ended in 2001.
McNamara was well assisted in leading the trip by Lisa Sechler, who was a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone in the 1980s, and Festus Amadu, a Master’s student, and a native of Sierra Leone.
To fulfill the research component of this education abroad experience (ACE 499 SL), the group was assigned to conduct a rapid assessment of inland valley rice swamps developed by a USAID-funded project, Promoting Agriculture, Governance, and Environment (PAGE), which is facilitated by World Vision and ACDI/VOCA. PAGE is an ongoing initiative to develop agriculture and natural resource management in Southern and Eastern Sierra Leone. McNamara’s group spent a week interviewing farmers and residents of the south-eastern part of Sierra Leone to learn about the issues they face and their experiences related to the rice swamp developments and organization of farmers’ groups. 
Students saw first-hand how the aforementioned project has already benefited the Sierra Leone farmers. Thanks to the PAGE project, affected farmers have been able to develop significant low-land areas into rice swamps, specifically by building bunds and simple water management systems. Farmers have moved from subsistence to more commercially oriented farming, are procuring multiple contracts, and have obtained the necessary machinery to haul and mill rice.
The PAGE project has also helped farmers organize into groups, provided extension services, and assisted them in gaining access to land and financing. However, World Vision saw benefit in having McNamara’s group objectively assess the project’s impacts and make further recommendations for its success.
McNamara and his students were impressed with achievements made, but also suggested several additional initiatives to further empower farmers. To this end, they developed and presented a 30-page report that summarized their impressions and recommendations. Some of the outstanding issues they identified include: significant post-harvest losses, lack of marketing strategies, lack of training in bookkeeping and strategies to keep transparency in bookkeeping, lack of technical education on how to deal with soil and water issues, and need for more small scale mechanization. Their recommendations were well received, and students took much pride and ownership in their work to help the farmers and Sierra Leoneans, with whom they had developed personal connections during interviews and assessments.
After assessing the rice paddy project, the group coordinated an International Training Course on Sustainable Agriculture, Environment, and the Community. The 3-day course was co-sponsored by the University of Illinois and Njala University, and was the third of its kind. It was attended by 78 members of the Njala community. Mr. David Gandhi, a consultant from Catholic Relief Services, led training on community-based natural resource management, also serving to test a module from the UI-led Modernize Extension and Advisory Systems (MEAS) project funded by USAID, with the goal of strengthening the extension system in developing countries. Fourteen of the participants completed a 1-1/2 day training program on community-based natural resource management. Professor Prasanta Kalita, ACES professor of agricultural and biological engineering, was a featured speaker for the 3-day Training Course.
The UI, under the auspices of a project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), helped to found Njala University in 1964. Njala has become Sierra Leone’s top school for agricultural studies, and has a long history of collaboration with the UI.
McNamara saw the students’ eyes open up with ideas and possibilities of how they might use their majors in agriculture or other fields in international arenas. He says the Sierra Leone project remains “one of my favorite things I have been involved in here at the University.”
Caroline Takawira, a student on the trip, says the trip was something she’ll never forget. “ For me, coming from another developing country (Zimbabwe) and having worked in development, it was an introduction to other complexities that nations face. One thing I was not prepared for was the impact of the war on the country. It was humbling to see a society torn and tortured at the hands of its own people but they have made a decision to unite and slowly rebuild the fabric that once held them together. My experience will be a useful guide in my pursuit for meaningful work in international trade and commodity markets and I interacted with farmers at the grassroots level who want to venture into export markets.”
ACE499 SL included five preparatory sessions and related reading assignments. This year’s trip was McNamara’s third; last year’s group conducted a rapid review of issues facing small-holder oil palm farmers and ran a workshop on agribusiness and development. The course run in 2010 assessed the nutritional needs of several rural villages in Sierra Leone and organized a short course on international nutrition and food security.
The group returned on January 16. To share in this unique experience visually, you are invited to view a slideshow titled “ACES in Sierra Leone” that is posted on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNJsMmDp8Dk.