Our Approach to Empowerment

SLEDT is a charity based in the United Kingdom, registered with the Charity
Commission, and bound by its rules. The majority of the trustees are British and
live in the UK. Their work is primarily about fundraising, managing finances,
developing strategy, and ensuring compliance with legislation and good practice.
All of the direct service delivery is done by a team of volunteers in Sierra Leone
(SL). Underpinning all the charity’s work is our profound belief that those closest
to service delivery, volunteers, service users and local partner organisations,
must be enabled to have a strong influence on the work of the charity. Their
understanding of social conditions and local culture must be at the forefront of
our thinking.
The challenge for trustees, therefore, is how to realise this empowerment in a
country some 4,000 miles away from where the charity is based. We will meet
this challenge in the following ways.

• Developing the involvement of Sierra Leonian volunteers in the work of
  the board of trustees. There are two aspects to this. Firstly, we have now
  increased the number of SL based trustees from one to two. Secondly, we will
  invite SL volunteers to take part in trustee meetings, encouraging them to talk
  about their work, its problems and successes.
• When possible, trustees will visit SL engaging with the work of our
  volunteers and listening to their concerns. There are clear constraints on this
  ambition in terms of money and time. Nevertheless, there is great benefit to be
  had from such face-to-face engagement and it is an aspiration we should keep.
• We will support the collective decision making of the volunteer team,
  supporting their meetings, and encouraging them to make their views on the
  work of the charity clear to the board of trustees. The structure and
  accountability of this decision making is important in the listening process.
• We will build partnerships with SL based not for profits that have similar
  aims to our own.
•  We will give budgetary control of specific projects to our SL volunteers.
  This will need to be within the constraints of the trustees’ legal responsibility for
  the charity’s finances. Nevertheless, there is considerable scope here for
  devolving spending decisions.
• We will be guided by the maxim “Nothing about us without us”. This
  means that when we promote the charity’s work, we strive to give prominence
  to the experiences and voices of our volunteers and service users. We do not
  speak on their behalf when they can speak for themselves

For meeting of trustees on 21 April 2024
Approved 21 April 2024