About us
Our Vision
We envisage a vibrant Sierra Leonean society, active in the promotion of social and economic justice, a population where the rights of women and youth are respected and, in their turn, desirous to perform their roles and responsibilities in their communities.
Our Core Values
- We believe in ‘distributism’ that is: ‘’the widespread ownership of the means of production/productive assets by members of our communities, not concentrated’’ as described in The Return to Common Sense (G. K. Chesterton) and in Rerum Novarum (Pope Leo XIII);
- We believe in the ‘rural economy’, the ‘family’, the integrity of work on the land and the strength of communities to transform their circumstances (also in tandem with African Communitarian values)
- We believe in inclusive development irrespective of gender, origin, race, tribe, religion or disability
- We believe in capacity building. the foundation of sustainable development
Our Mission
- Support rural youth to acquire technical and vocational skills to improve economic opportunities in their rural communities and stem youth migration from rural communities to urban centers;
- Support the establishment of an International Chesterton Academy (ICA) primarily focusing on girl-child access to formal education in Sierra Leone;
- Increase access to clean drinking water and hygiene in rural communities;
- Mitigate the impact of mining on rural communities;
- Build community capacity to advocate for better services in rural communities and facilitate the redistribution of wealth to rural communities in Sierra Leone.
Our Goal
To ensure that the SLCC is able to supply relevant longstanding high quality support to rural communities who vastly comprise of women, youth and children living in difficult circumstances resulting into sustainable improvement in their living conditions.
Organizational Profile
The Sierra Leone Chesterton Center (SLCC) was
founded in Oxford in 2000 and registered in Sierra Leone in 2006 as a
community-based organization (CBO). Our vision and work are centered on G.K.
Chesterton’s economic philosophy of ‘Distributism’–the wider distribution of
resources and the means of production to as many members of our communities as
possible. The SLCC has been present in Kono district, eastern
Sierra Leone, since 2011 supporting communities highly
impoverished by a brutal civil conflict (2001-2002) and environmental
challenges caused by decades of unregulated exploitation of mineral resources
(diamonds and gold). Our work is conducted in
artisanal small-scale mining (ASM) affected communities and supported by Manos
Unidas. The support provided by Manos Unidas and our mentor, Aidan Mackey, has
been crucial in providing seeds, tools, agronomic and marketing skills to hundreds
of smallholder farm families in 40 ASM communities.
In line with SLCC’s mission, our work contributes in ensuring food and nutritional security.
We do this by organizing smallholder farmers in mining affected communities into Cooperatives; build their capacities to transition from over reliance on
We engage local duty bearers to improve the framework conditions of farmers including access to productive assets such as land, basic infrastructure including water and sanitation services. Over 60% of SLCC’s beneficiaries are women and girls-engaged in the production and marketing of various food chains including maze and vegetables. SLCC’s activities are guided by the organization’s strategic plan (2021-2023) which was last updated in September 2020 to take into account the emerging development challenges and opportunities and builds on its mandate of actualizing ‘distributism’ in rural Sierra Leone.
“Our vision and work are centered on the British writer G.K. Chesterton’s economic philosophy of ‘Distributism’–the wider distribution of resources and the means of production to as many members of our communities as possible..”
