Communities in Sierra Leone are Turning to Digital Tools in Response to Climate Risks
2025 LOCAL ADAPTATION CHAMPIONS AWARD FINALIST
Sierra Leone is no stranger to hardship. Prolonged civil conflict, an Ebola outbreak, and entrenched poverty have left its health system under immense strain. But in recent years, climate change has been rising fast as a new challenge.
For coastal and flood-prone communities like Kroo Bay in Freetown, climate shocks have become a part of daily life. Torrential rains regularly submerge fragile homes built along waterways, while poor drainage systems turn neighborhoods into breeding grounds for waterborne and vector-borne diseases. Each rainy season brings fresh waves of malaria, cholera, gastrointestinal illness, and skin infections. Rising heat and erratic weather patterns intensify these risks, while families already living in poverty face impossible choices, such as paying for medicine or buying food, and repairing a damaged roof or sending children to school.
At the heart of this crisis is inequity. The very people most vulnerable to climate change are also those excluded from formal healthcare and financial systems. Without insurance or savings, even minor health costs caused by climate shocks can spiral into catastrophe. For many, illness is not just a medical issue. It is a trigger for deeper cycles of debt, displacement, and despair.
A Critical Lifeline: The Micro-Health Wallet and Mental Health Ambassadors
SalCare’s initiative was born in response to this predicament. More than a health project, it is a community-driven response to a crisis that is at once environmental, economic, and human. By blending digital innovation with local leadership, SalCare offers a way forward through its mobile-based micro-health wallet tool. With it, families can save tiny amounts of money, purchase affordable micro-insurance, and pay directly for healthcare services, all from a basic phone.
From the start, it was co-designed with the very people it serves: low-income families, rural women, unemployed youth, informal workers, and persons with disabilities. Through focus groups, community forums, and one-on-one interviews, residents described what they needed most. Their input shaped everything, from the size of savings options to the inclusion of local languages and offline accessibility. Even for those with limited literacy, financial flows are explained in simple and accessible ways. This participatory model builds confidence, strengthens financial literacy, and ensures that communities have a stake in the initiative.
By partnering with trusted local clinics, pharmacies, and community health workers, SalCare ensures that savings translate into real care. The system reduces financial shocks, expands access, and builds a foundation of predictability in a world defined by climate insecurity. A fisherman can now access affordable care even when rains wash away his livelihood. Furthermore, informal workers, youth, and people with disabilities are all included.
“With the SalCare mobile health wallet, I can now save small amounts from selling charcoal, buy affordable micro-health insurance, and take my daughter to a nearby clinic when she gets sick, without begging or borrowing,” says Mariatu, a mother in Kroo Bay. “This initiative is saving our lives, not just from disease, but from despair.”
The initiative also trains local youth as peer mental health ambassadors. These ambassadors are a lifeline to families coping with the trauma, grief and anxiety brought on by the threat of floodwater destroying their homes and where loss has been constant. These young leaders hold small group sessions, visit families, and counsel neighbors struggling with their mental health. They remind their peers that their lives have value and help them find strength in times of despair.
Putting Healthcare Access in the Hands of the Most Vulnerable
The challenges faced by Kroo Bay of flooding, disease, and exclusion from financial systems are not unique. Communities across West Africa and beyond face similar threats. SalCare’s success demonstrates that when digital innovation is combined with structured and intentional community involvement, proposed solutions may better respond to the needs of the people they are meant for.
By putting tools directly in the hands of those who need them most, SalCare turns despair into strength when challenged with climate hardships. Mothers like Mariatu no longer have to beg to take a sick child to a clinic. Communities once not able to access health insurance, counseling and saving schemes in the face of climate risks are now directly involved in shaping them. SalCare’s initiative is much more than healthcare, it is about agency. Putting healthcare access within reach of the most vulnerable when challenged with climate insecurity.