Kadiatu Kabia: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 11 February 2026:
Umu Koroma is a household food trader at the bustling Low-Cost Market in Kissy, where she sells food and other daily essentials to families in her community. Like many traders, Umu faced daily challenges caused by poor sanitation in the market. Waste was often piled up around her stall, driving away customers and negatively affecting her health and income.
Through The Carter Center’s Inform Women, Transform Lives campaign, which promotes women’s access to vital public information via the #8244 helpline, Umu gained access to timely and practical information on waste management services provided by the Freetown City Council (FCC).
The initiative shared information through radio programs, jingles, use of comedy and mobile text messages, educating traders on proper waste disposal, the city’s new waste disposal Byelaws, and available sanitation services.
For Umu, this access to information was transformative. She now understands FCC’s waste management services and, with ta Clean Market Day exercise organised by the City, actively engages with FCC waste collectors to keep her stall and its surroundings clean.
“Before, we didn’t know who to call or what to do,” Umu says. “Now I have the right information, and my business and health have improved.”
Umu has since become a source of information for fellow market women, encouraging them to use the available waste management services. Her story demonstrates how access to timely public information and coordinated support can empower women, transform lives and promote cleaner markets.
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