Education
Majority of Sierra Leoneans are disempowered. The provision of education to all children is a major challenge to the Government. Little or no education significantly increases vulnerability, especially for girls. With only 42% of primary school-going age children attending school and only 30% of the population older than 15 years literate, There are considerable regional disparities, with access to education and the quality of services lowest in the north and eastern provinces. The reasons been, 38% of primary school teachers are unqualified, especially in the rural areas and the supervision scheme extremely weak. In addition, there is a serious lack of teaching and learning materials and many children struggle to learn in a non-conducive leaning environment. The drop-out rates are even higher with the new educational systems put in place.

There have been partial development in primary and secondary education sector in the past years, and 40-45% of a total of 2,773 primary schools are now functioning. However, many of them are housed either in temporarily structures, unfinished buildings, private homes or simply under trees and the supply of books and teaching materials ranges from "not enough " to nothing at all" particularly in the rural areas/ country side.

With the introduction of free primary schooling for classes 1 to 6, access to basic primary education has improved and school enrollment rates have increased. However, the system still lacks the capacity to absorb all children in each respective age range with significant gender gap still evident, particularly in the north and the eastern province and general increases with education level.

Youth, (15-35 age group), underwent violent, radical transformation during the conflict. Those engaged in harmful activities are now part of society and several of them can only fit into vocations for self-employment, while those younger ones who succeeded to be enrolled into the school system are posing further challenges during inter sports competitions. ZCD Foundation is of the opinion that the needs of these youths must receive the desired attention for peace-building and poverty alleviation, providing training opportunities to mitigate the numerous challenges they continue to pose in society.