Policy Workshop and Valentines HHH

Today was the first day of a three day National Programme Quality Workshop at the National Stadium in Freetown. Although there was already a jam packed schedule planned, I was really fortunate to be able to get a half day with all the Programme Coordinators and Field Officers from the different districts we work in in Sierra Leone - it's a rare opportunity to get them all in the same place so I didn't want to miss out!

The workshop I facilitated was all about one of Restless Development's new strategic approaches called "Shaping Policy and Practice" which I have been working on since I joined the organisation. Traditionally, we've been a very service delivery type of organisation, based on our core volunteer-led programme model which means young volunteers become peer educators (in areas such as sexual health and life skills) to other young people. All great stuff which we still do, but we're now recognising that this kind of approach leads to incremental change (dependent on individual to individual contact) rather than more transformative change (that goes to the root of a problem and tackles it through a more systemic approach). So this often means finding out which policies don't exist (or do exist but are not being implemented) and designing programmes that aim to influence the decision-makers (government, donor or private sector) who have the power to change them. So today's workshop was a mixture of capacity building (so that our teams better understand what the new approach entails) and problem brainstorming to identify what are the main policy problems facing young people in Sierra Leone today. It was great to hear all their ideas and how passionate they are about addressing the issues. 

In the evening it was the Valentines Day run with the Hash House Harriers so we all dressed up in red (some taking it to extremes - see below) and went running in an area heading out of Freetown. At one point I realised that everyone we ran past was shouting "APC APC", which is the name of the ruling political party in Sierra Leone (All People's Congress). Apparently red is their campaign colour. Probably not the wisest of moves during a potentially turbulent election year?! Maybe we'll even it on a St Patrick's Day run in green, the opposition party (Sierra Leone People's Party, SLPP) colour?!