As part of ongoing celebration of our values, a values champion will be profiled every month. Champions were nominated by their peers and selected based on their commitment to the Values and ideals of Restless Development. To learn more about our values, visit www.restlessdevelopment.org/our-values

The Restless Story Restless Development (Sierra Leone) was founded in 2005, the youngest Country Programme in Restless Development globally. Over the decade to follow, the team forged deep ties with key Ministries, secured 5-year strategic funding from DFID, worked in 50% of chiefdoms nationally, built an alumni network of over 1200 ex-volunteers nationally, demonstrated through repeated evaluations the impact of our work and sustained community engagement, and led global innovation in areas of gender-based violence, internship programmes, urban slum interventions, business development centres and much more. Hosts of the 2008 Directors Conference, Sierra Leone and its team have always been one of the most vibrant examples of our values and culture in action. Ebola On May 26th 2014 the Ministry of Health and Sanitation formally confirmed a case of the Ebola virus, part of what would become the largest Ebola outbreak in history. Within one week of the first case Restless Development recalled its 120 national volunteers from their district placements, retrained them in Ebola messaging with the Ministry and sent the volunteers back to placement where they lead Ebola awareness-raising in their placements. On 30th July 2014 the President of Sierra Leone declared a State of Emergency. Restless Development committed to scaling up its programmes to focus on prevention and developing a community-led (not outside driven) response to Ebola. Restless Development emailed and texted its alumni, and within 24 hours 350 Sierra Leonean alumni volunteered to return to lead the response to Ebola on the front lines.

As part of ongoing celebration of our values, a values champion will be profiled every month. Champions were nominated by their peers and selected based on their commitment to the Values and ideals of Restless Development. To learn more about our values, visit www.restlessdevelopment.org/our-values

The next month Restless Development came together with a coalition of partners in the Social Mobilisation Action Committee and developed a nationwide programme and methodology - Community-Led Ebola Action – truly engaging and empowering communities to lead the prevention of Ebola. 2,366 Community Mobilisers were recruited & trained before working fulltime for 6 months, drawn from and embedded directly in communities. Approximately 40% were Restless Development ex-volunteers. These mobilisers reached over 10,000 communities and 3 million people – more than half of the population of Sierra Leone – via more than 50,000 individual community visits On Saturday 7th November at 10am, Sierra Leone was declared Ebola-free after 18 months of fighting the disease. It is difficult to find an example of where this kind of community engagement has been tried before in such a short time on such a scale. Nor has there been many occasions of such rapid behavior change being achieved within and emergency or development context. The role of communities, of young people, and communities, and of Restless Development and its partners in leading this response was central to this outcome. How did Young Sierra Leoneans lead the Ebola fight? Check out this brief video to learn from Jamie, Fodeh, Janiba, Princess and Alhaji about why and how young people led the response. How did it feel when Sierra Leone was declared Ebola free? Check out this Bye Bye Ebola video to

see how Sierra Leone said goodbye to Ebola – produced by the Social Mobilisation Action Consortium.

How can the lessons of the recovery after Sierra Leone’s civil war apply to the Ebola recovery?

Read this We Are Restless blog from James Fofannah about how the story of recovery from the civil war

might have in it the answer to the re-building of Sierra Leone after Ebola

Why are Communities the Real Heroes?

Read this We Are Restless blog by Jamie Bedson that reflects on lessons and recommendations from the

Ebola outbreak.

How are Sierra Leone keeping Values central in their new office?

Produced by our 2013 Values Champion, Prince, check out this video to get inspired by how the Sierra

Leone team made our Values a focal point of their new office.

And a final word from our Country Director… Finally, please listen to this message from James Fofannah recorded the day after Sierra Leone was declared Ebola-free.