The Environmental Foundation for Africa (EFA) is a Sierra Leone-based nongovernmental organization, working to facilitate community-led programs for sustainable forest management as a basis for poverty alleviation in West Africa.

Since 2012, the ERM Foundation has been working in partnership with EFA to provide financial and technical assistance on various projects, including:

• Developing a business and sustainability plan for its Biodiversity and Renewable Energy Learning Center;
• Upgrading the EFA and Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary websites; and
• Securing funding from the Climate and Development Knowledge Network to implement a multi-stakeholder renewable energy fair in Sierra Leone.

Photo credit: EFASL photo archives

This year, a team of ERM’s biodiversity experts has provided technical pro bono advice to support EFA’s application to UNESCO World Heritage Commission for the enlistment of Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary as a World Heritage Site. This builds on work undertaken in 2012 to add Tiwai Island to the tentative list of World Heritage sites. The final application will be submitted to UNESCO in January 2022.

We have also provided unrestricted funding to EFA as part of our "Standing Together" program to support local staff salaries, organizational running costs and incentives to the Tiwai Island forest-edge communities while revenue from ecotourism has been on hold. This has helped to curb local poaching as well as provide much needed income and basic supplies during the height of the pandemic. The ERM Foundation has also supported EFA’s ongoing efforts to reforest degraded areas of the Western Peninsula Forest National Park.