UNIDO PARTNERSHIP WITH MA DENGN FESTIVAL -19-20 DECEMBER

2009

Ma dengn is the Kuranko word meaning let’s meet or let’s get together and the goal of
this festival is to be an annual meeting place for friends, fans and artists. The Ma dengn
Beach Festival was conceived out of a collective need to celebrate and promote the Sierra
Leonean culture, through music, the arts, literature, cuisine and the beautiful terrain. A
beach festival was chosen as the platform because it provides the opportunity to present
multiple aspects of the Sierra Leonean culture in one setting, while showcasing one of the
country’s most prized and unique assets, its magnificent coastline beaches.

“Having lived outside Sierra Leone for 17 years and travelling around the world, one of the
things I thought was missing here was our own international festival, it’s a few days in the
year where you can enjoy what we define as our culture in Sierra Leone,” said Ma dengn
Founder Sinkarie Sesay.

UNIDO Partnership

United Nations Development Organisation (UNIDO) for many years has been partnering
with the private sector and government on various cultural developments in many
countries around the world. UNIDO attaches high priority to sectors such as agriculture,
arts, textiles and crafts, entrepreneurship etc as this is crucial to developing
industrialisation.

UNIDO SL Head of Operations, Dr. S Kargbo, mobilised funds for building and installation of
the stalls used at the Ma dengn Festival. “This was an opportunity for some of our MSME’s
that we have trained in the past to showcase their products to both local and international
customers and potential investors”, said Dr Kargbo.

Participants

To show their appreciation the Ma dengn members offered UNIDO four free stalls which
we allocated to some of our MSME’s.The UNIDO supported vendors registered for the Ma
dengn Beach festival where:

Joe Yaskey Arts & Craft Centre

Sober Women’s Block & Tiles makers (traditional)
Tarbornoh women’s weavers
Zizer Catering Services
Binkolo Growth Centre

Joe Yaskey Arts & Craft Centre

The arts centre did a presentation on local Sierra Leonean village setup as a background
feature in the stall wooden artifacts, weaved hats and individual portraits commissioned
by customers. The presentation was very colorful particularly the background pictures and
drew lots of attention from onlookers.

Weaved hats Background picture in stall Sign by

vendor
Sober Women’s Block and Tile Making
They displayed samples of the different blocks and tiles they produced. These decorative
blocks and tiles are used on balconies, garden etc.

Tarbornoh women’s weavers

The group came along with local and traditional equipments used to do the weaving and
demonstrated on how they were used to produce there commodities. Products included
African weaved clothing such as dresses, shirts, tablecloth, bedspreads and batiks.
Presentations were done for interested customers who wanted to know how the process
was undertaken.

Woman weaving

Zizer Catering Services

The catering service prepared and served excellent traditional Sierra Leonean cuisine to
show customers what it really means to eat good sierra Leonean food. There food was
splendid, well prepared and served. The food and service was the most talked about
during and after the event as the best catering services at the festival.

Smoked grilled fish

Binkolo Growth Centre
This group produces process and package cassava, yams; in to fine first grade quality
finished products, such as gari, foofoo, cassava and yam flour etc. People where curious
as to how the agro processing was done and packaged. The festival was advantageous for
them as they met potential investors who where interested in joint venture, sharing ideas
on how to improve there products.

“Speaking to some of vendors after the festival, they were appreciative of the efforts
made by UNIDO to commission the stalls which gave them the opportunity to showcase
their products, one particular vendor, Mr. Yaskey visited me personally to thank UNIDO
and its staff and that due to our contribution he has secured some more contracts for his
artistry work, said Antonia Caramba-Coker, Business Counsellor for UNIDO Enterprise
development Investment Programme (EDIP SL)”.

Ma dengn beach Festival was a huge success for our vendors and a positive image of
Sierra Leone was presented. A lot of interest and future opportunities on the Sierra
Leonean culture and tradition was enhanced and this in turn will have positive impact on
the social and economic development of the country.

Compiled by : A Caramba-Coker