Creating Opportunities for All
The idea for COFA grew out of several years of funding small projects in education, agriculture, clean water, and microfinance in the west African country of Sierra Leone, with funding from COFA’s founder, her friends and family, and Gofundme campaigns.
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Ending Period Poverty in Ghana
Girls all over the world need menstrual pads and other sanitary products to fully live their lives, including going to school, during their periods. But many girls in poor communities cannot afford these products —“period poverty”— causing them to miss school and often drop out. The ASAA Foundation (ASAAF) in Ghana is tackling the problem one school at a time.
Founded in 2023, ASAAF aims to create awareness about menstrual health and hygiene— including ensuring that boys are educated to support their female friends and classmates—break down the stigma surrounding menstruation, and create “Period Banks” to distribute sanitary products to girls in need across Ghana.
Nourishing Young Minds and Bodies
This month-long school and feeding program operates during July-August, when food supplies are lowest and many people subsist on a single meal each day, and when the regular schools are closed. Initiated in 2020 in four schools and paid for privately by COFA’s founder and a Gofundme campaign, since 2022 it has received foundation funding to support classroom teaching and provide daily lunch in 11 schools in the Lunsar region for more than 2,500 primary- and secondary-school students. The program provides a month’s salary to the teachers and the local women who prepare the daily lunch. The rice that forms the staple for many lunches is purchased from COFA-supported GFP farmers.
Growing Family Prosperity
GFP provides the means for poor families to farm their land and achieve near self-sufficiency within a year, enabling them to feed their families and sell a surplus in local markets. The first 30 families from five villages were enrolled in November 2023, and 25 families 5 other villages were enrolled a year later, in 2024. After a consolidation year, 25 new families in new villages have been identified and will begin their GFP journey in November 2025.
In the first year, GFP provides basic farming supplies—hand tools, rain gear, seeds, and fertilizer—and expert guidance from a Sierra Leonean agronomist and extension workers. Participants grow rice, groundnuts, cucumbers, peppers, okra, cassava, and potatoes. In addition, each family is given pairs of goats and chickens. Harvests and seed banking for future crops, take place over the course of the year. Families set aside some of the profits from each crop to purchase needed inputs for the next growing season. We continue to enhance the GFP, e.g., establishing organic fertilizer production for all families and adding cassava processing equipment to increase the market value of the cassava crop. COFA continues to provide advice and monitor progress of all families.
Expanding Access to Clean Water
COFA has teamed with WaterStep, a US-based non-profit, to increase access to clean water in the region. WaterStep generously donated chlorination and bleach-making equipment for 11 installations. Once established, the only consumable needed is simple table salt. Each station requires an additional investment for storage containers and batteries to power the chlorination equipment, plus a small monthly stipend to the project manager. These stations are providing clean water at schools and health facilities, and many neighborhoods around Lunsar. Separate generators have also been supplied that produce bleach, which can be sold to health facilities and households, to offset costs.
ReSeed Microfinance
Building on the success of a 2021 pilot program, privately funded by the COFA founder, COFA has teamed with the Vision 8 Sierra Leonean charity to make small loans to individuals and some groups to support their businesses. The pilot program had 25 projects, chosen from several hundred applications, and which nearly all repaid the loans within the six-month repayment period. Most loan recipients are women, many single parents, or with husbands who are unable to find work in the stressed economy, and their earnings provide food and basic necessities for their families. ReSeed has expanded slowly as funds have become available, including a larger loan in the city of Bo to a woman opening a new small restaurant.
Bike Libraries
In Sierra Leone, girls are at greater risk for dropping out of school, and one reason is the difficulty in getting to school. There is no transport offered, and in rural areas, it can be more than five miles each way. In the past 10 years, The Village Bike project has established “bike libraries” at a number of schools, focusing mainly on girls, to facilitate their attendance. COFA is teaming with The Village Bike Project to support and expand the VBP’s existing bike libraries into the rural Port Loko District, and to offer bikes to both boys and girls who need them.
Jassine Banana and Willpower Farm
Just outside of Lunsar, the Jassine Banana and Willpower Farm is rising under the skillful hands of Mohammed Morlai Conteh, aka MC, a local trained agronomist. It began with MC’s dream to develop 10 acres of land he owned, but like so many in Sierra Leone, he did not have the money to get started. Then he met Matthew Christen, an American from Wisconsin, who volunteered in 2025 with the Village Bicycle Project in Lunsar where he met Karim Kamara. Once back home, Matthew raised the funds to get the farm started and continues to recruit new funders. Two acres out of six have already been planted with 2400 banana trees. More funds are needed, however. See this blog post for details.
MC demonstrating composting technique to local farmers
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How You Can Help
All contributions to COFA are used to directly fund projects. COFA has no staff and Directors receive no compensation for their time or reimbursement for expenses. Legal and auditing fees come from donations by COFA’s founder. Every dollar you contribute will be used for the project that you choose, or if unrestricted, for one of COFA’s projects in need of funds.