FSU officers across Bo, Freetown, and soon Makeni are being trained in survivor-centered approaches, child protection law, and investigative technique part of a push to transform how Sierra Leone’s police handle its most vulnerable cases.
In police stations across Sierra Leone, the officers who answer first when a woman reports a rape, or when a child is brought in after an assault, work under the Sierra Leone Police’s Family Support Unit. For years, the FSU has operated as the country’s frontline institution for Sexual and Gender-Based Violence catching cases that the broader system too often lets fall through the cracks. Now, in a structured partnership with UNICEF, the SLP is investing in the people who staff those frontlines.
A nationwide capacity-building programme is currently underway, with training sessions running simultaneously in Bo and Freetown. Officers drawn from various police divisions are being brought together for sessions that go well beyond procedural refreshers the curriculum addresses the full landscape of SGBV response, from survivor-centred investigation techniques to the specific legal frameworks that govern how Sierra Leone handles its most sensitive cases.
Makeni is next. A follow-up training session is scheduled to begin on Monday, May 4, 2026, extending the programme into the northern region and moving the initiative closer to its goal of nationwide coverage.
The training curriculum is deliberately broad, reflecting the complexity of the cases FSU officers encounter daily. Participants are working through SGBV prevention and response mechanisms, the provisions of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, and key sections of the Child Rights Act with particular attention to diversion processes, which determine how juvenile cases are channelled away from formal criminal proceedings where appropriate.
Child-friendly justice systems are also on the agenda, as are FSU Standard Operating Procedures, case management protocols, and the fundamentals of investigative technique. Facilitators say the approach is deliberately practical and participatory built not for the classroom but for the realities officers will face once they return to their stations.
The emphasis on survivor-centred approaches is notable. In SGBV cases, how an officer first receives a victim whether with empathy or scepticism, whether procedures are explained or simply imposed can determine whether a survivor continues to engage with the justice system at all. Training that embeds these principles at the FSU level could have meaningful downstream effects on reporting rates, case progression, and ultimately, accountability.
The training sits within a broader institutional vision set by the Inspector General of Police, who has placed the protection of women and children at the centre of the SLP’s reform agenda. The ambition, as articulated by the SLP, is a shift from a traditional policing model rooted in force to one grounded in service defined by professionalism, accountability, respect for human rights, and the rebuilding of public trust.
These are not small ambitions. For many Sierra Leoneans, particularly women and children in rural communities, the police have historically represented a source of anxiety as much as protection. Rebuilding that relationship requires institutional change that goes beyond policy statements it requires the kind of sustained, skills-based investment that programmes like this one represent.
UNICEF’s involvement reflects the international dimension of this commitment. The UN agency’s partnership with the SLP signals that this effort meets a threshold of seriousness that external child protection institutions are willing to support with resources and technical expertise.
The SLP is not working in isolation. The police say they are coordinating closely with the Ministry of Social Welfare, the judiciary, healthcare providers, and a network of development partners to build a response to SGBV that goes beyond what any single institution can deliver alone. That coordination also extends to prevention community engagement and public awareness initiatives designed to interrupt cycles of violence before they reach the point of criminal reporting.
This multi-sectoral approach matters because SGBV cases rarely live only in the police system. A survivor may need immediate medical care, psychosocial support, safe shelter, legal aid, and social services often simultaneously. When the institutions responsible for each of those functions are not coordinating, survivors fall through the gaps. When they are, the system becomes something closer to what victims deserve.
Sierra Leone’s record on sexual and gender-based violence remains a serious concern. The country has one of the highest rates of child marriage in West Africa. Sexual violence, particularly against girls and young women, is widely underreported a product of stigma, distrust of institutions, and the genuine fear of retaliation. The legal architecture exists: the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, the Child Rights Act, the Sexual Offences Act. The question has always been implementation whether the people responsible for enforcing these laws have the tools, the training, and the institutional culture to do so effectively.
Initiatives like this one do not resolve those structural challenges overnight. But they address something real: the competence and orientation of the officers who are the first point of contact for survivors. If an FSU officer in Bo or Makeni handles a case with greater skill, greater empathy, and greater awareness of the law because of this training, that is one survivor better served. Multiplied across the country and sustained over time, it adds up.
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The Makeni training begins May 4. The SLP says more sessions will follow as the programme moves toward complete national coverage. Sierra Leone will be watching and so will the women and children whose safety depends on whether that promise is kept.
