Helping Children Worldwide
Transforming lives, strengthening communities
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Helping Children Worldwide is strengthening communities in Sierra Leone, one of the poorest countries in the world, by providing vulnerable children and their families with opportunities for education, health care, and mentoring. The programs of Helping Children Worldwide are especially focused on education, family stability, maternal and infant mortality, and childhood malnutrition. By partnering with local government and child advocacy organizations in Sierra Leone, we help children and families stability and self-sufficiency. NGOs like Helping Children Worldwide (HCW) work at the grassroots level, but often disconnected from others around the world doing similar work. HCW’s Global Advocacy seeks to connect with practitioners around the globe to exchange knowledge and to create broader awareness of the work on the ground. We believe that we have a responsibility to advocate on the policy level, and to work in coalitions to build networks of solidarity among other global actors.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Child Reintegration Centre
Originally launched in 2000 as a street feeding program during the Sierra Leone civil war, the Child Reintegration Centre (CRC and former Child Rescue Centre) now serves more than 600 extremely vulnerable children, youth, and their families through education support, medical care and mentoring. The CRC works with local communities to reintegrate children living separate from parental care, supports family integrity and stability through a microfinance program for the most economically distressed families, and provides graduates of secondary school with the opportunity to pursue university degrees or vo-tech education.
Mercy Hospital
Mercy Hospital in Bo, Sierra Leone, is a 25 bed primary care hospital that provides care regardless of ability to pay. It opened in October, 2007 and now serves over 10,000 patients a year in one of the poorest countries in the world. Mercy Hospital provides vital medical care and treatment to women and children living in rural villages surrounding the city of Bo through its weekly village outreach program.
Global Advocacy
HCW's Global Advocacy mission is to lead and engage in policy conversations with other leaders within the global community in order to exchange knowledge, research and best practices in child welfare and public health.
Where we work
Affiliations & memberships
Global Social Service Workforce Alliance 2018
Christian Alliance for Orphans 2022
Standards of Excellence 2022
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of youth receiving services (e.g., groups, skills and job training, etc.) with youths living in their community
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people, Children and youth
Related Program
Child Reintegration Centre
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
The Child Reintegration Centre provides access to education, healthcare, and resources that lift extremely vulnerable families with school age children out of poverty and crisis.
Number of families graduated microfinance program
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Families, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Child Reintegration Centre
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
The CRC taught small business and budgeting strategies to families enrolled in the program, and provided them with a microloan to start or improve a small business.
Number of villages served by medical outreach
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Mercy Hospital
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Mercy Hospital serves villages and communities without access to medical services through mobile medical outreach.
Number of pregnant women receiving early and adequate prenatal care
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Mercy Hospital
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Mercy Hospital provided prenatal care to women through in-hospital and mobile outreach clinics.
Number of people tested and treated for malaria
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Mercy Hospital
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Mercy Hospital tested and treated children and adults for malaria.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Educate children and youth, encouraging them to stay in school and achieve their full potential.
Focus on girls, who are at greater risk of dropping out of school.
Encourage each student to pursue a vocation that will make them employable and contributing members of their community.
Raise up servant leaders who will transform their nation of Sierra Leone.
Reduce the maternal and infant mortality rate, and provide quality medical care to anyone who needs it regardless of their ability to pay.
Help families stay together and become financially independent and self-sufficient.
Advocate for the adoption of best practices.
Provide technical expertise to help build replicable programs.
Establish networks and participate in collaboration and dialogue with other global leaders.
Engage in the larger development community regarding issues of education, child welfare and healthcare.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
The CRC provides financial support to cover school tuition, education supplies, healthcare, counseling and spiritual guidance. Particularly vulnerable families may be provided additional food support, and access to microfinance training and small business micro-loans, as well as parenting workshops and family counseling support.
Mercy Hospital provides care to patients both at the 25-bed hospital, and utilizing a robust community-based outreach program to deliver healthcare to people unable to get access any other way, with a special focus on maternal and infant survival.
HCW hosts an annual policy conference drawing participants from around the world, serves on Advisory Councils at USAID, Faith to Action and the Better Care Network, submits publications and presentations at national and international conferences, and participates in global public health and child welfare coalitions for the exchange of ideas, tools and best practices. By doing so, we add to the’ knowledge base to strengthen the safety net for all those we serve around the globe.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
We partner with the United Methodist Church of Sierra Leone and coordinate with in-country leadership at both Mercy Hospital and the Child Reintegration Centre to ensure that solutions fit into the larger context of the community in which these programs are located. Helping Children Worldwide measures program impact through robust monitoring and evaluation designed not only to assess impact, but to also provide feedback that ensures that programs continue to thrive and grow. We provide accountability and transparency to donors invested in our work through regular reporting mechanisms.
We are members of CAFO, Transform Alliance Africa, 1MILLIONHOME National Accelerators, Faith to Action Advisory Network, USAID Care Leaders Council. We also partner with universities and other international organizations including Strengthening Families and Children, World Without Orphans, Changing the Way We Care, Lumos, Maestral, Ekisa, Cherish Uganda, and Collective Calling.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Over 800 children are receiving access to healthcare and education, including 40 student currently in post-secondary programs. More than 13,000 patients have received quality healthcare through Mercy Hospital in the past year. The Child Reintegration Centre plans to increase efforts to reintegrate children living separate from parental care into safe and loving families and to ensure permanence through case management. Additionally, the CRC plans to expand the impact of its family strengthening programming (including microfinance and attachment training) to more families in Bo and beyond, and to train other organizations in reintegration, case management and family strengthening.
Mercy Hospital will continue to focus on reducing the infant/maternal mortality rate. The addition of two operating rooms completed in 2019 have made it possible to provide Cesarean-sections to women in need, as well as providing other surgical interventions not otherwise available to those who cannot afford treatment at other facilities. In 2022 18 successful c-sections were performed in the Mercy operating theatre. Additionally, Mercy is studying its outreach program so as not to duplicate efforts of other organizations, seeking to refine its service area to underserved and remote villages where people have no access to doctors, hospitals or clinics.
HCW recently hosted its fourth annual policy conference, shared research on orphanage transitions among global child welfare organizations, and developed and shared tools for churches and other organizations to educate and advocate for transition to family-based missions. HCW has developed and launched a coalition of individuals and organizations committed to health care in low resource environments. This group is called Together for Global Health and represents people working in health care in 16 different countries. The Table Fellowship for Church Congregations was so successful, HCW launched a version for young adults which is in use at university events. HCW began a podcast called Optimistic Voices, to begin dialogues with experts in the fields of child welfare, global health, and effective mission deployment.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, It is difficult to get honest feedback from the people we serve
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Helping Children Worldwide
Board of directorsas of 08/03/2023
Mr. Rick Auman
EVP, Consulting Services Health Companies International
Term: 2020 - 2023
Craig Hiserman
Retired
D. Paul Monteiro
Howard University
Alan Larson
Covington & Burling
Carol McIntosh
Grenada Ministry of Health
Mary Ann Gilkeson
Pam Piester
CATHEXIS
Francis Conteh
DSA Development SL Ltd
Allan Ballenger
Floris UMC
Gene Murphy
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data