The Seed of Non-Formal Education: Isata's Journey to Independence⁠

A small mistake, a steady will

A hot and humid afternoon in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Isata Swaray is sitting on the porch of her small home. She laughs, when she talks about her first attempt to cook. Her grandmother had handed her the ingredients to make a sauce. She poured all the salt into the bowl. The food was inedible. The error would have been a little thing in another life, but for her it was part of a pattern at the time: a life that offered few chances to learn calmly, to try things and fix them. Now she smiled, when she told this memory because it showed her how far she had come.

Isata grew up within a household where work came before school. Her grandmother taught her the chores. She learned through doing. That salt story matters to her because it shows a learning curve without formal support. She tried. She failed. She learned the hard way.

When formal schooling is not fully available, children learn in the home in Sierra Leone. They learn practical skills. They rarely get time to practise, to read instructions, or to correct mistakes under a teacher's eye.

Later she married a man who promised to help her study. After the wedding, he stopped her from leaving the house. He did not pay for school. After two years they separated. He left. She was alone. She did not stop living. She started selling fish. She paid the rent. She kept going. Then a friend told her about the Youth Dream Centre. And she went.

Finding the Youth Dream Centre

The Youth Dream Centre offers non-formal education, everything from catering to computer skills. The Youth Dream Centre is where Dreamtown has its roots and it is still running, as the need for non-formal education is as large as ever. Education at the Youth Dream Centre is free, only the uniform cost something small to make it as accessible as possible.

Isata’s friend encouraged her to go. She took the advice seriously. She walked when she could not pay for transport. She chose to go, and she went seriously.

"All these constraints had increased my will to be self empowered."

The choice to walk to classes when she had no money for transport shows how education can change a person's behaviour. When a programme meets a real need and removes the fee barrier, attendance follows. She chose learning because she wanted to be able to cook better. Cooking was a passion. It became a pathway.

Learning to cook and to make beads

In the Youth Dream Centre she studied a course in catering. She practised recipes and learned trade skills. She gained the confidence to sell food that people liked. She also picked up beadwork and made items to sell. The money she earns now pays for transport and basic needs, while she continues her non-formal education. It also buys her the small margin of independence that makes other choices possible.

"I have a passion for cooking and that is what motivated me to pursue this course. People like to eat my food now and that is what inspired me to do more. I can also design different types of bead work now and sell them."

Reclaiming agency: forgiveness and moving on

"Recently, when my ex-husband heard that I am empowering myself he wanted to come back into my life, but I denied him. I have decided to move on. He asked for my forgiveness and I forgave him for all that he has done to me. But we will never stay together again."

She had a new plan. She wants work for someone after graduation, save money, and then start her own business. She would not go back to a life where she had to ask permission to leave a house.

She chose to keep the independence she had built. That decision came from confidence gained through learning and earning.

"The Youth Dream Centre has really changed my life. I used to be a very shy person, but now I’m bold and strong."

What her story shows about non-formal education in Sierra Leone

Her path is not a one-off. It follows a pattern that appears across Sierra Leone. Formal schooling leaves gaps. Families face poverty. Girls drop out. Non-formal education (NFE) fills some of those gaps. It offers second chances. It bundles practical skills with life skills and safe spaces. It targets people who are out of school, pregnant, married early, or who face other barriers.

What non-formal education is and why it matters

Non-formal education is planned and intentional learning outside the formal school ladder. It includes literacy and numeracy for adults, accelerated learning for older children, vocational skills, life skills, and entrepreneurship. It is flexible, and often learner-centred. In Sierra Leone, NFE serves people who cannot access formal classes for reasons such as poverty, early marriage, pregnancy, or work - and with that fills an important gap.

Especially for many young women the formal system is a leaky pipeline. Completion rates fall from 64% at primary to around 22% at senior secondary. The drop is worse for those in poverty, in remote areas, or who become pregnant. NFE gives those young women a real path to a skill and an income. It often links basic literacy to vocational training to savings and small loans. That is what the Youth Dream Centre offered Isata.

Why non-formal education works for women like her

What we can see through Isata’s story are several strengths of NFE in practice.

1\. Flexibility

NFE fits around life. Courses can run in the afternoons or evenings. Students can attend while running a small business. She walked to class when she could not pay transport. A flexible schedule allowed her to balance work and learning.

2\. Bundled services

Good programmes combine vocational skills with life skills and economic support. The Youth Dream Centre gave her cooking skills and beadwork. The money she made paid for transport and food. A small loan or a start-up kit can turn a skill into income.

3\. Safe spaces and mentoring

NFE often creates women-only spaces where girls talk about rights, health, and safety. These groups build confidence. They also reduce exposure to the risks that pushed girls out of school in the first place.

4\. Rapid returns

Short vocational courses show immediate results. She learned to cook popular food and sell it the next week. She began to earn. That cash flow reinforced her commitment to learning.

Evidence from Sierra Leone: what research shows

Trials and reports from Sierra Leone back the value of NFE. The ELA evaluation by BRAC, completed during the Ebola crisis, showed that clubs kept girls safe and reduced the rise in pregnancies that school closures caused. The programme halved the drop in school enrollment in high-risk villages. When girls had a place to go, they avoided risky time with older men. They learned life skills and used contraception more. They had better odds of returning to school once schools reopened.

Other programmes show that literacy and small business training help women manage businesses and household finances. Partners In Health’s adult education improved women’s numeracy, which translated to better pricing and profit calculation for small traders. Street Child’s family business grants and business training have enabled families to pay school costs and keep children in class.

Persistent barriers that limit impact

But despite its clear benefits, NFE faces three linked limits: finance, recognition, and stigma.

1\. Funding and sustainability

Most NFE depends on donor funding. Project cycles expand services for a few years and then end. Local NGOs manage delivery but cannot always sustain programmes after grants end. The system needs longer-term domestic funding and innovative mechanisms such as outcomes-based financing to scale useful models.

2\. Lack of formal recognition (the certification ceiling)

Many NFE certificates do not count toward formal qualifications. A woman can learn a trade but still cannot use that credential to access formal employment or advanced training. Governments and partners need a Recognition, Validation, and Accreditation (RVA) framework so non-formal credentials have clear value and pathways.

3\. Social stigma and structural norms

Poverty, gender norms, early marriage, and the lingering stigma about pregnant girls make it hard for women to return to learning. Even where policy changes have removed formal bans, social attitudes continue to exclude. Programs must include community engagement and male involvement to change norms.

Lessons from one life

Isata’s life shows how small choices add up. A walk to class. A recipe corrected. A bead sold. Each action made a new choice easier. Non-formal education did not "fix" everything of course, but it did one thing that mattered: it gave her a skill and a safe place to learn it. That skill earned her money and confidence. That confidence let her refuse to return to a harmful marriage because she saw a differnet path. That refusal is real change.

Her story is a clear example of how interventions that meet the daily needs of women have outsized social effects. When a woman earns an income herself and can feed her family, she gains bargaining power at home. She also gains resilience to survive crises. That outcome is useful at the micro level. At the macro level, NFE contributes to national growth. Closing gender gaps raises long-term GDP by significant percentages. Small programmes add up.

Listen to the quiet progress

Isata’s story is a single life, but her story can represent countless others in similar circumstances. The Youth Dream Centre is one of many such places across Sierra Leone where women find second chances.

Isata walked when she had no money. She practised when she made mistakes. She sold food and beads. She forgave without returning. She plans to work, save, and open a business. Those are ordinary acts that build a life, but can feel extraordinary, when all you see around you are barriers. At the end non-formal education is not only providing skills, but also create pathways to break down this barriers, as Isata did. Stories, like hers, are the very results that effective NFE aims to produce.

In her words: “I used to be a very shy person, but now I’m bold and strong."