Soroptimist International South Africa

Project SIerra: A family and a future

Through Project SIerra, Soroptimist International (SI) will support vulnerable children in Sierra Leone, West Africa. It is SI's contribution to the United Nation's Millenium Development Goals. All South African SI clubs are called upon to support this international quadrennial project that aims to raise GBP 100 million by 2011.

Project SIerra will enable vulnerable families to become self sufficient, and children to grow up in a safe family environment. It will improve the life chances of young women, and improve their ability to care for their own children and other children in their care, helping to prevent child abandonment. SI's international partner, Hope and Homes for Children, has worked in Sierra Leone since 1996, and in other countries in Africa and Central and Eastern Europe.

Project objectives

Improve the health and life chances of thousands of women and children living in extreme poverty
Promote stability and self-reliance in post-conflict society by integrating the most vulnerable children and young women into a stable family and community life
Provide education, training and small business support to enable families to become self-sufficient and face their futures with confidence
Build the capacity of local childcare professionals and create models of excellence.

The project is made up of three programme elements:

Integrated child and family support
This project targets the most vulnerable children and their families within individual communities. The aim is to strengthen families that are at risk of breakdown due to extreme poverty, illness or death of a parent. Beneficiaries are identified by working with local community leaders and organisations. The support for each family is individually tailored to that family's needs. The overall aim of this project is to work with an individual family to enable them to become self-sufficient. As one family leaves the programme a new family will join.
Children living alone
The project targets the most vulnerable children who are living on the streets of Freetown. Support focuses on children between the ages of six and 12, with the aim of reunifying them with their family, extended family or wider community.
The project will help these children return home. However, reintegration into family and community life can be difficult and requires ongoing guidance and support. When they join the project the children are counseled, given access to healthcare and provided with nutritious meals. Emergency placements are available when deemed necessary. Meanwhile, the project will work with the family and community to mediate the child's safe return and assess whether the family requires extra support. Once the reunification has taken place, social workers monitor each child's progress and care.
Young mothers
Working with 150 young mothers in the areas of Bo, Makeni and Freetown, there are approximately 300 beneficiaries at any one time.
This project targets vulnerable single young mothers who are living alone. The scheme aims to reintegrate these young mothers with their families or to empower them to be independent, active members of their community.

Together these give a full package of support for the most vulnerable children, mothers and carers in one of the world's poorest countries.

While the focus of the project is on Sierra Leone, its overall impact will be much greater as it will provide a best practice model that can be replicated in other countries with similar problems.

For more information, visit projectsierra.org