Guinea - IOM has launched a programme to distribute cash grants to Ebola survivors as part of community-led projects in Boke in the northwestern part of the country.

The pilot project, which supports the Guinean government in psychosocial and socio-economic care for Ebola survivors, will also hold a first training workshop in mediation and managing community conflicts for survivors and communities in that region.

The training will let beneficiaries conduct community talks within their villages during which survivors and non-survivors will address their personal and collective difficulties related to Ebola. They will also serve as platforms for community dialogue related to socio-economic recovery in the post-Ebola phase.

“These activities have two primary objectives: the first is to assist communities in their socioeconomic recovery following the devastating impacts of the epidemic, and the second is to let survivor communities divided by Ebola restart talks, and therefore fight against stigmatization,” said Kabla Amihere, IOM Chief of Mission in Guinea.

“By reviving the collective dynamics of ‘the palaver tree’, the community gathering enables them to address issues of the village, in particular those caused by the epidemic’s aftermath,” he noted.

Those trained will also sensitize their communities in conflict management and will lead to the elaboration of a community that can help the communities as a whole in their recovery.

“IOM will also provide financial support to micro-projects of socioeconomic recovery designed by the communities of Tamaransy and Katongoro. That funding will come in addition to individual cash grants, also provided by IOM to survivors in the area,” said Amihere.

This measure fits within the post-Ebola recovery phase, led by the Government of Guinea and supported by WHO, IOM and other partners, which includes other activities of reinforcement of health and epidemiological surveillance systems, especially in sensitive border regions.

With the support of USAID (OFDA), CDC and the governments of Japan and Belgium, IOM Guinea has been providing logistics support to the Guinean government through the National/Prefectural Emergency Coordination programme.

IOM has also implemented activities to strengthen monitoring mechanisms at borders through the Health, Border and Mobility Management programme and other community mobilization activities in key villages to enforce epidemiologic surveillance for early detection of Ebola and other potentially epidemic diseases in border and maritime zones.

According to latest information from the National Coordination body, there have been 3,804 cumulative confirmed, probable, and suspected Ebola cases in Guinea since the beginning of the epidemic, including 2,536 deaths. These figures yield an estimated mortality rate of 66.7%.

For further information, please contact Lola Simonet at IOM Guinea, Tel.: +224 625 25 94 94. Email: lsimonet@iom.int