Each year, a handful of the Social Income team travels to Freetown to bring our work closer to the communities we work with. Each trip involves a mix of activities, from handling local administration like bank accounts, capturing stories and communications content, meeting recipients and key local stakeholders, to exploring the country firsthand and strengthening the local grounding of our programs.

These visits consistently reconnect us with the purpose behind our mission and remind us why we remain so committed to poverty reduction.

Lumley beach on a Sunday afternoon

As a first timer in Sierra Leone, I was immediately swept up by the colour, sound, and energy of Freetown. It was as electric and as vibrant as the country’s youthful population. We eased into our first weekend, exploring the city’s streets, taking in the Sierra Leone’s National Museum and the beach, and sampling local eateries.

Let’s Get to Work

Come Monday, it was time to get to work. We held Social Income’s first ever retreat with 50 recipients of a Social Income, kindly hosted at Aurora Foundation’s office, one of our local program partners. Our very own Mariatu, who is the operations lead in Sierra Leone country office, opened the day with an animated presentation on mental health, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and our new program exit strategy, all delivered with the flair of someone who could probably start a motivational YouTube channel tomorrow.

Mabel, who is the financial lead for Social Income, led an insightful feedback session, and a representative from Orange Money joined us to demystify digital literacy and mobile payments. The day flowed with laughter, deep discussions, and spontaneous bursts of singing and dancing instigated by Mariatu.

The next few days were a flurry of meetings with potential partners, stints at the bank, recipient interviews, and taking advantage of a number of us being in the same place to do some institutional brainstorming on how to adjust our projects in line with the country’s changing context, give the country office more autonomy, ensure our model reaches those most in need, and expand our reach into rural areas.

Rugged Roads to Sierra Leone's Cocoa Farmers

On Thursday, we set out on a five-hour journey through Sierra Leone’s lush countryside to Kenema in the Eastern Province, the country’s second-most populous city after Freetown. There we were met by some of the team from Lizard Earth, another one of our partner organizations, who guided us further into the villages where our recipient cocoa farmers live.

Cacao farmers in the Eastern Province

We enjoyed a meeting with the farmers, hearing about their experience with Social Income, and reminding us why our work matters. The next day, Lizard Earth treated us to a tour of their cocoa bean sorting facility and soon-to-be chocolate factory (a sweet ending in every sense). 

Visit of the Lizard Earth chocolate factory in Kenema

We rounded off the trip in style on Banana Island, where we basked in the sea, food, a few questionable dart attempts, and reflected on Social Income’s exciting next steps including expanding into new countries in West Africa, upgrading our platform, and further formalizing our processes as we take Social Income to the next level, all while cherishing some last moments together before we all went our separate ways.

Traveling to Sierra Leone

Guide

by Social Income

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