Child Protection

Growing up in the cocoa-farming community of Papuima in Kono District, Adama knew what hard work looked like from a young age. Like many children in rural farming families, she often helped on the farm, clearing bushes, carrying water, and doing heavy work alongside her parents. For a long time, education felt like a distant dream.Every child should grow up in peace, feel safe, and have the chance to go to school. But right now, 152 million girls and boys around the world are still being forced to work. Many of them are doing dangerous and harmful jobs.

But today, Adama’s reality is changing, thanks to an innovative approach by ChildFund and its partners, funded by the Dutch Government through Tradin Organic. Through the Integrated Community Approach to Combating Child Labor project, 54 Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) were established across cocoa and coffee farming communities, equipping over 1,248 farmers (many of them women) with new financial tools to support their families and protect their children.

Today, Adama is 22 years old and proudly studying Information and Communication Technology at the Government Technical Institute in Kono. Her journey from a childhood full of labor to a college classroom is thanks to the Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) supported by ChildFund and its partners.One of the main activities was to set up savings groups in remote villages so that parents wouldn’t have to rely on their children for income or take harmful loans to survive.

Adama’s father, Kai James, is the chief of Papuima and chairperson of their local savings group. When it came time to pay Adama’s college fees, he took a small loan from the group, something he couldn’t have done before.
“I would have felt bad if I had missed this opportunity,” Adama says. “The whole world is going digital, and I don’t want to be left behind. Without that loan, I wouldn’t be in school.”

Adama dreams of using technology to fix health systems in rural Sierra Leone. “My people are suffering because of poor health services. I want to change that.”
Her father, Kai, also feels the impact. “I was able to take a $43 loan to pay Adama’s fees without shame. I’m paying it back little by little, with fair terms. That’s a big relief.”VSLAs offer more than just money, they build resilience, restore dignity, and ensure that children are free to learn, play, and grow. In places like Papuima, they are proving to be one of the most effective tools in the fight against child labor.