Guinea is a small country in West Africa on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. More than 50% of the population is under age 18.
Guinea achieved independence from France in 1958. Despite its reserves of rich natural resources, the country continues to face numerous economic challenges. It was also one of the hardest hit countries during the Ebola epidemic of 2014-2016, throughout which ChildFund diligently worked to help families get treatment and protect children who had been orphaned.
ChildFund has worked with children in Guinea since 2005. Our programs center around helping children grow up …
Healthy
In collaboration with the Ministry of Health, ChildFund Guinea donates medicines for critical Vitamin A and deworming campaigns, renovates and equips health centers, and promotes responsive parenting programs. We work in some of the most remote communities to identify pregnant women and babies in need of preventive health treatments, prenatal consultations, mosquito net distributions and immunization programs. To raise awareness of public health basics, we also organize mass campaigns for mosquito net distribution and seasonal malaria chemoprevention, train community health workers to conduct community outreach, and provide care for individuals with tuberculosis and HIV.
Educated
ChildFund Guinea's country office is dedicated to enhancing children's access to education, supporting their learning from early childhood through adolescence. We build early childhood development (ECD) centers to prepare children aged 0 to 5 for school, provide school supplies, construct and rebuild education infrastructure, and train teachers and supervisors on early childhood curriculum. We also work to ensure equal access to education for girls and other disadvantaged groups, integrating child protection into all our education initiatives. Through our gifts in kind (GIK) program, ChildFund Guinea often distributes much-needed physical items like solar lamps and bicycles to aid students on their journey through school.
Skilled
ChildFund Guinea helps children and families gain useful life skills through formal and informal vocational training, as well as through simple household economic empowerment. In fact, ChildFund Guinea has supported the creation of 280 Village Savings and Loan (VSLA) groups with more than 10,000 members – the majority of whom are women – to help families save money and access small business loans. We also work to supply families in agricultural communities with the basics they need to earn a sustainable income, like farming tools, farm animals and market gardening kits.
Safe
ChildFund ensures children's safety in Guinea by strengthening local child protection structures and advocating with authorities for children’s right to a safe environment. We establish community-based Child Protection Committees to help identify and report cases of abuse at the community level. That includes facilitating emergency interventions and action plans against harms like female genital mutilation (FGM) and child trafficking.
Children learn at an ECD center built by ChildFund Guinea.
Tata, 14, celebrates getting a new wheelchair from ChildFund after her family lost their possessions in a fire.
Mothers with children enrolled in ChildFund’s programs water their crops.
A child receives critical health treatment at a clinic supported by ChildFund.
Children play at a primary school supported by ChildFund Guinea.
