P&G Alumni Foundation Grant Expands Let Them Earn Project

December 2025

Sherbro Foundation is honored to announce that the Procter & Gamble Alumni Foundation Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation has awarded us a $24,500 grant to expand our transformative Let Them Earn program in Sierra Leone.

With this funding, 50 more Bumpeh Chiefdom village farmers can replicate the success of early participants like Musu Koroma, improving their incomes, livelihoods, and futures.

Transforming Lives Through Economic Empowerment

Musu Koroma, below, a mother of three, was one of the first farmers to join Let Them Earn. Last month, she showed me how new earnings from her loan changed her life. She reinforced her mud brick house with strong concrete stucco, safeguarding it for years to come from erosion and collapse in Sierra Leone's heavy monsoon rains. She installed sturdy hardwood doors and windows that keep out rain and mosquitoes. With pride and confidence, Musu is now sending her son to secondary school in a larger town.

With earnings from her three-acre farm, Musu Koroma, above left, strengthened her house, before like the mud brick house next door.

"Let Them Earn has helped me so much," Musu said. "I can now do things I never thought possible."

How Let Them Earn Works

Through our local partner CCET-SL (Center for Community Empowerment & Transformation—Sierra Leone), Let Them Earn provides smallholder farmers with:

• Interest-free loans to expand their operations and grow cash crops
• Year-round training on improved farming practices
• Classes on basic numeracy and small business management



After covering operating costs and setting aside family food, participants have net cash income to improve daily life, repay loans and reinvest in their farms.

Kadi Fofanah, above, will soon harvest her cassava (tall bushes) planted last year, giving her additional profit after harvesting rice.

Results Speak for Themselves

The impact has been dramatic. Families are sending children and grandchildren for higher levels of education. They have more food and can afford protein like fish, important for child development and disease resistance. Homes become safe and healthy places to live with dignity. Villages are becoming debt-free, and communities are rediscovering hope.

Aminata Sandy, below joined Let Them Earn after losing both her husband and the brother-in-law she became dependent on. With her loan, she hired labor for her farm, secured food for her children, and paid their school fees. As the loan recipient, she manages her farm and a household of eight. She's repaid most of her loan, with the remainder coming with the year-end harvest.

Aminata confidently stood up in front of her village and Paramount Chief Caulker to tell her story. When women are direct loan recipients, Let Them Earn empowers them to make farm and financial decisions. They've gained respect and a voice in managing their village.

Borbor Bendu, Mokomrabai village chief, left, described one of his happiest moments: the day his village became free of debt because of the Let Them Earn program.

In rural Sierra Leone, small farmers often fall into a cycle of high-interest informal loans they can never repay. They face the embarrassment and anxiety of threatened police action. Some flee their village rather than face arrest and incur additional court fees they can't afford. Women and children may be left behind destitute.

Mokomrabai has been the top performing village in Let Them Earn to date. The first to repay their loans, their farms are prospering and they're meeting their children's education needs.

Why This Approach Works

After 14 years working with Sierra Leone, I've learned a vital truth: sustainable development doesn't begin with what you construct — it begins with who you empower.

Schools, wells, and roads are important, but villages can't develop or sustain growth unless individuals become economically self-reliant. Lasting change happens when you invest directly in people, giving them the means and skills to lift themselves out of poverty.

The Let Them Earn program brings together what truly works: financial access, practical skills, and local empowerment—helping farmers move from subsistence living to building viable, income-generating small businesses. Loans are repaid on schedules that match farm harvests.

Yes, it's riskier to provide loans to subsistence farmers and small traders. It's time-intensive to deliver hands-on training in remote villages and provide ongoing coaching. But this is what actually works. This is what moves people and entire communities beyond survival mode to genuine economic opportunity.

Microfinance schemes in rural areas frequently fail. Our partner CCET-SL proudly reported 95+% of year one loans were repaid with the combination of interest-free loans and year-round training tailored to farmer needs. Year two Let Them Earn loan repayment promises to reach the same high level. Repaid loans are reloaned to the next group of farmers eager to improve their lives.

Looking Ahead

On my November trip to Sierra Leone, I worked with Paramount Chief Caulker, below right, and CCET-SL to plan the next phase of Let Them Earn.

"This grant is a big leap forward that's adding momentum to what we're doing with village farmers," said Paramount Chief Caulker. "I want to create a culture of increased productivity where farmers continue to grow more, earn more, and villages lead their own development. I'm deeply grateful to the P&G Alumni Foundation for standing behind us with their support."

Sherbro Foundation sends our deep thanks to the P&G Alumni Foundation for their continued confidence and partnership in Let Them Earn. Year three of the program will bring even greater growth and opportunity to the villages of Bumpeh Chiefdom.

As 2025 comes to a close, congratulations are also due to our partner CCET-SL for their banner year of education programs, as well as Let Them Earn. We're grateful to all Sherbro Foundation supporters for helping make this happen. Thank you!

Wishing you happy holidays and all the best in the new year.

-- Arlene Golembiewski
 Executive Director