Commit and Act Foundation

Institutional Background

Commit and Act Foundation  (CAF) was established in 2013 in Sierra Leone to bring psychosocial support to people in conflict areas. The psychotherapeutic approach is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), an evidence based behavioural method that has shown to be efficacious in dealing with mental problems (such as depression, anxiety, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, addiction, chronic pain, obesity and many others) in different cultural contexts in more than 100 randomized control studies (for more information please see  www.contextualscience.org). 

The  CAF  office in Bo was opened in 2014 short before the outbreak of the Ebola Viral Disease (EVD), to provide ongoing psychosocial support from local counselors in the area. CAF is the leading organization in Bo district that offers training and development programmes for service providers, including legal and medical practitioners, educators, counsellors, law enforcement agents, and community-based counsellors.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Social Welfare, CAF started outreach programs on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in schools and communities. During the Ebola outbreak 50 teachers and 25 psychosocial assistants were trained in psychosocial skills. The effort of CAF was crucial in breaking the chain of transmission of EVD in Sierra Leone.  Most of the trainees are in on-going training now. Through the interactive sessions, students learn to recognize and appropriately respond to violence in their homes, schools, and communities. This has also helped to reduce the high rate of violence in homes, schools and communities.

Reasons for its Establishment:
The consequences of the country's civil war were very severe on the population, and not least on the youths, women, children and the elderly. Very stressful and traumatic events lead to the mental impairment of those target groups. And just as those scars were about the heal, the outbreak of the Ebola epidemic, and lately, flooding and mudslides, coupled with the prevailing current economic situation have created serious mental and psychological health problems on many Sierra Leoneans.
 
Against this backdrop,  Commit and Act Foundation  was established to provide psychosocial support to Sierra Leoneans so as to be able to cope with their stressful situations through the use of the "Acceptance and Commitment Therapy," (ACT). This is done through individual and group counseling, training, community empowerment programmes, drama, research and awareness raising sensitization.

Geographical Location:
Commit and Act Foundation  is operating in 15 chiefdoms in the Bo District and in addition, provide support in various forms for children in Kenema, Pujehun, Kono, Moyamba, Bonthe, Bombali, Tonkolili, and Koinadugu District, and the Western Area. Moreover, the Foundation is currently working with volunteers in Makeni and Freetown.


Target  Beneficiaries:
The Foundation's primary targets are girls below the age of 18 and women that have experienced gender-based-violence. The Foundation therefore targets about 200 young girls and 150 women annually also Offer Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Trainings to minimize Violence in Sierra Leone.

The Foundation's secondary targets are individuals and couples that are experiencing day-to-day stress, cumulative stress, and traumatic stress with the object of creating hope in them and to transform their lives for the better.

Organization Thematic Areas:
The Foundation focuses on the following thematic areas

  • Child protection
  • Health
  • Education
  • Gender
  • Livelihood
  • Research


Organizational Strategies:
To achieve our objectives and outcomes, the Foundation embarks on the following strategies
- Advocacy for better policies and the implementation of applicable laws
- Capacity building through trainings
- Community mobilization
- Organizing fundraising drive

Activities:
The Foundation has embarked on a number of activities in partnership with different partners and under several themes as indicated below:

1. Kindermissionwerk
In partnership with  Kindermissionwerk,  the Foundation has  provided temporal shelter for sexually abused girls from January, 2016 to December, 2017.

  • Enrollment and psychosocial services;
  • Provide 3 meal daily whilst at the shelter;
  • Provide recreational activities and entertainment;
  • Provide  clothing and dignity kits to girls at the shelter. E.g. tooth brush, toothpaste, bathing and laundry soap, etc.;
  • Provide medical examination and treatment to victims in and out of the shelter;
  • Family tracing, mediation and reunification;
  • Provide legal aid support to all clients that passes through the shelter, and
  • Educational and livelihood support to 542 beneficiaries between January, 2016 and December, 2017.

2. Activities - One Day

  • Monthly incentive to seven teachers working with the shelter;
  • Distance educational support to six teachers at college level;
  • Training of seven teachers on approved code of conduct and Lesson Plan Manual;
  • Training for 45 caregivers on good parenting skills;
  • Develop sustainability project for orphans and caregivers;
  • Construction of multi-purpose store, drying floor etc;
  • Educational support to 93 orphans;
  • Provide medical support for 93 orphans and 184 extra children;
  • Psychosocial support to 93 orphans providing individual and group counseling; and
  • Support to babies that have been delivered as a result of sexual violence.

3. Activities - DARE to Connect

  • Facilitated training for 113 boys both in and out school;
  • Research on the causes of violence among couples in Boama, Tikonko and Kakua Chiefdoms;
  • Training of trainers on different activities;
  • Training of ACT and PROSOCIAL techniques to couples;
  • Counseling session for nine couples; and
  • Couples identification and training of other couples.


4. Activities Desert Flower
Provided monthly incentive of Le 170,000 each to 32 teenage girls that have not gone through the FGM rite of passage; and
Provided virginity assessment services to 32 girls.

Staff Strength:
The Foundation currently has a strength of  24  core staff, with 50 volunteers Teachers  in Bo District, 35 volunteers in Makeni and  24  in Freetown

Partnership:
The Foundation has worked/is working in close collaboration with the following institutions and organizations:

  • Commit and Act Germany and USA
  • Kindermissiowerk
  • One Day
  • Desert Flower Foundation
  • Caritas Freetown
  • Missionary Hospital
  • World Vision
  • Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Children's Affairs
  • Ministry of Health
  • Caritas Bo
  • The Police Family Support Unit
  • Legal Aid Board
  • Other relevant child protection agencies


Registration Status:
Commit and Act Foundation is legally registered with the following bodies:

  • Ministry of Finance and Economic Development 
  • Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Children’s Affairs
  • Sierra Leone Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (SLANGO) 
  • The Bo City Council  
  • The Bo District Council 
  • The Pujehun District Council