Quiet wins are leading to big change in Sierra Leone

You know that at HCW, we love the stories where a child gets home, a family is reunited, or a caregiver achieves financial independence.  Those are the obvious “wow” moments of the work we support around the world.  As the Secretariat for the Sierra Leone Coalition for Family Care (SLCFC), I get to witness from the sidelines some different success stories.

What I’m sharing today is a different kind of “wow” moment.

These don’t have beauty shots of a child in the loving embrace of his family, or a microfinance recipient proudly standing in front of her shop.  But they are the kinds of behind-the-scene wins that can shape how an entire nation cares for its children over time.  This is the “build the scaffolding so the house stands for decades” kind of work.

And honestly – I’m at least as excited about these updates as I am about many of the others we’ve shared with you this year.  And I’m not even going to apologize for “geeking out” about this.

New Momentum with the UK High Commission of Sierra Leone
In October, members of the SLCFC met with representatives of the UK High Commission, and a few really important things came out of that conversation:

• The High Commission is connecting Coalition members to Sierra Leone Communities of Practice focused on Gender-Based Violence (GBV).  That matters because family care, child protection and GBV are deeply linked.  You can’t talk about keeping kids safe in families without also talking about the safety of women and girls in those same homes and communities.
• The High Commission has also asked to stay informed and in the loop on the Coalition’s child-safeguarding work.  That kind of ongoing relationship and engagement – where partners don’t just meet once and disappear, but where there is a genuine desire to follow along – is a sign of trust and recognition.

It might not make headlines, but these kinds of relationships help position the Coalition as a serious partner in protecting children and strengthening families at a national level.

A Promising Beginning with the Irish Embassy
SLCFC members also had a really encouraging meeting with the Irish Embassy that included their new Ambassador in Sierra Leone.  They are actively looking for meaningful projects and causes to champion – and they’re very interested in what the Coalition is doing.

In particular, they want to understand the Coalition’s work around:

• National care reform that prioritizes families over institutions for orphans and vulnerable children.
• What it would take, in real terms, to build a system that supports family-based care at scale.
• The Coalition’s Theory of Change for shifting the national ecosystem toward family solutions.

In other words, they’re not just asking, “what are you doing?”  They’re asking, “how would your work change the way Sierra Leone cares for its children – and how could we walk alongside that?”

It’s not a photo of smiling child in her mother’s arms, but having an Embassy team say, “we’re very interested in your national care reform work and how you see this playing out long -term” is a big step toward the kind of political and diplomatic backing that can move care reform from “good idea” to “national priority.”

Potential Pilots: Two Members Ready to Launch Emergency Foster Care
Of course, none of this matters if children on the ground don’t experience something different and better.  That’s why I’m especially excited about this next update.  

Two of the SLCFC organizations – Princess Promise and Child Reintegration Centre – have now completed training to become emergency foster care providers.  

Here’s what that could mean:

• Each org is ready to launch emergency foster care programs in Sierra Leone.
• These could serve as pilot programs and proof of concept for what a future national foster care system could look like.
• They can help demonstrate that, with proper training, standards, supervision and collaboration with government; formal emergency foster care can be a safe, realistic alternative to placing children into institutions.  

This is where the high-level vision of “family for every child” becomes a real child in a real home with a real caregiver – and where government can see an actual working model on the ground.

Why These “Quiet Wins” Matter
I know that these kinds of updates can sound boring and technical: embassies, communities of practice, theory of change, pilot programs, meetings, meetings, meetings….

But here’s why I’m sharing them anyway:

• A reunified family story is often the result of years of this kind of work.
• The systems change that makes reunification normal – not exceptional – comes from meetings like these, from pilots like these, from slow, patient, coalition-building.
• When diplomatic partners, local organizations, and government all start pulling in the same direction, that’s when you see a country shift from “orphanage-first” to family-first care.

These are the small but significant turns in the road that, over time, can change the direction of the nation’s entire care system.

What’s Next?
In the months ahead, the SLCFC will be:

• Sharpening and refining a Theory of Change for care reform that puts families at the center for all children.
• Developing a communications strategy to share with government and embassy partners .
• Continuing to build and deepen relationships with partners like the UK High Commission and the Irish Embassy who want to walk alongside this work.
• Supporting Princess Promise, CRC and other partner as they launch and learn from foster care pilots that could pave the way for something bigger nationally.

If you’ve been wondering whether the slow, often invisible work of coalition-building actually matters – these wins are a clear “yes.”  

They may not appear on the face as dramatic as a single powerful story of a family strengthened to independence.  But taken together, these are the quiet, steady shifts that can someday make it true to say: in Sierra Leone, children grow up in families – not orphanages.