What We Do

Save the Children is seeking solutions to the challenges faced by children in Sierra Leone through our development and humanitarian work since 1999. In 2012 we reached 220,915 children directly and 1,759,621directly (Basic Country Information) with our work across Kailahun,Pujehun, Western Urban(13 City sections Rokupa, Kuntolor,Susan's Bay, Mabella, Kroo Bay, Grey Bush, Murray Town, Aberdeen, Cockle Bay, Wilberforce, Dwazark,Kanikay, Connaught) and Western Rural(waterloo,Tombo).In addition 2018, we reached over 280,000 children and over 65,000 adults with programming, advocacy, and support to governemnt agencies across multiple sectors within our four operational district, including emergency preparedness and response.A range of institutional and private donors support our current portfolio. 

Our current Country Strategic Plan covers 2019-2022 and sets out our Overall objectives in six core thematic areas:

1. Health and Nutrition (focus on adolscents and maternal child health)
2. Education
3. Child Protection
4. Child Rights Governance
5. Food Security and Livlihood
6. Climate Change

Which Children:

Survive: SC will focus on girls and boys under the age of 5 years, with a special focus on new-borns and infants in the communities and families who are most deprived and vulnerable to public health issues and threats to survival. This will include Ebola survivors and their families. 

Learn: By advocating for improved access to learning SC will aim to reach all girls and boys across Sierra Leone, not only through traditional and formal education but through creative learning environments and tools. Priority will be on getting the most marginalised children (out of school children, children whose parents or care givers have died due to EVD, street children, child mothers, child-headed households and children from poor households in remote rural areas and urban slum communities) to return to school, stay in school and learn.

Be protected: SC will strive to work with the hidden children in society including those in kinship care or harder to reach communities and slums, out of school children, and those who have been impacted by the recent Ebola crisis. SC will protect them by strengthening community protection and safeguarding structures and linking these with more formal protection systems and services. Gender differences related to children’s vulnerability will be explored and integrated into our programming to serve the needs of boys and girls.

Across all programming: through our advocacy and campaigns SC aims to achieve health, education and protection improvements for all children in Sierra Leone, including child Ebola survivors, by empowering children and CSO’s to hold government to account for their provision of essential services.

Which Contexts:

SC in SL is committed to continuing emergency response and support to the government in preventing and maintaining the EVD eradication in the region. Even at that time our projects will maintain an element of community surveillance support, disaster risk reduction and resilience building, particularly in children. As the country commences its early recovery planning, our projects will support district councils and ministry departments to plan appropriately and implement with partners. SC with partners will use our CERA as a platform to strengthen the voice of children and enable them to monitor progress of the government.

SC will improve the holistic integration of our projects and activities to ensure that children benefit from a range of interventions and strengthened services that are appropriate to them and not in silos activities. To achieve this, our teams will listen to each community of children individually in order to understand their needs and situations better and provide targeted assistance. SC believes in a full spectrum approach to addresses the rights of children as well the range of phases from emergency through to development.

 Our programmes will provide a specific focus on hidden children particularly those affected by the EVD, in urban slum communities, and harder to reach communities in our rural and peri-urban districts. These children are often ignored or left off the agenda because they are difficult and costly to reach.

 The government of SL has fully recognized Civil Society as a key player in democratic processes, creating a more enabling environment for local organizations to flourish. Major challenges for many CSOs, (including SCI partners) however are their weak internal systems and governance structures as well as their limited technical capacities. During the Ebola recovery period, SC will focus on capacity strengthening of our core local partners for them to become strong, well-managed organizations that function as change agents