Who Does What? A Transparent Look at Our Role in Global Health

When you support HCW’s work in global health, you deserve to know exactly where your investment goes, what our specific lane is, and how local experts are steering the ship. A common question we get from our dedicated donors and supporters is: What exactly is the relationship between Helping Children Worldwide (HCW) and Mercy Hospital? Are the employees at Mercy supervised by HCW? Does HCW make administrative decisions about the hospital?

We want to pull back the curtain and share a transparent look at our operations, our role, and the incredible network of allies we collaborate with to save lives.

Our "Right Lane": We Equip, They Medicate

To understand our operations, it helps to understand a core principle of ethical international development: sustainable impact must be locally led.

HCW does not run Mercy Hospital. We do not hire the staff, we do not admit patients, and we do not make clinical decisions on the ground in Bo, Sierra Leone. Mercy Hospital is completely independent, governed as an autonomous organization, and operated by a 100% Sierra Leonean medical staff  Under the United Methodist Church Sierra Leone Annual Conference Health Board.

Our role is very specific: Helping Children Worldwide acts as a capacity-building ally and technical advisor, supporting hard-working healthcare providers with what they need to save lives.

Breaking Down the Support: What HCW Brings to the TableOur job is to ensure the frontline team at Mercy has the structural scaffolding required to succeed safely and efficiently. We fulfill this role through four distinct pillars:

• Core Funding: We provide essential, consistent financial grants that keep the hospital's lights on, secure payroll for local staff, and make high-quality care completely free to the patients who need it most.
• Technical Advising: We provide specialized advisory support to help leadership optimize hospital operations, financial reporting, data management, and long-term sustainability models.
• Mission Teams: We coordinate and deploy specialized travel mission teams to support hospital special medical projects and conduct clinical training.
• Supply & Equipment Linkages: We act as a bridge to global resources, managing logistics to secure advanced medical equipment and supplies that are difficult to procure locally.

The Power of the Network: Linking Allies to Strengthen the SystemOur impact doesn't end at the walls of Mercy Hospital. Through the Together for Global Health Network, we are able to expand our technical advising far beyond a single facility to a dynamic web of local allies.

Instead of working in isolated silos, this network allows us to provide powerful linkages between organizations—strengthening the entire healthcare ecosystem by connecting those who have a specific need with those who have the clinical solution. For example:

• Junior’s Place of Hope (a specialized school for children with disabilities in Sierra Leone) faced challenges securing consistent healthcare for their students. We stepped in to link Junior's Place of Hope directly with Mercy Hospital, ensuring these vulnerable children now receive dedicated, high-quality medical care.
• Our partnership with the Rural Healthcare Initiative opened doors to a massive community milestone. We connected the Rural Healthcare Initiative with Mercy Hospital, creating a partnership that allowed Mercy to develop a specialized sickle cell program.

Living Up to Our Name: A Global FootprintTrue to our name, Helping Children Worldwide is expanding this exact model of supportive, collaborative empowerment around the world. By providing critical financial support to healthcare organizations in Haiti and Guatemala, we are growing our global footprint without ever compromising our roots.

By remaining anchored in our role as a technical advisor and resource bridge, we ensure that local health systems grow stronger, more connected, and entirely self-sufficient. Thank you for partnering with us to champion a model of global health that respects local expertise and builds true independence!

Yasmine Vaughan

Technical Advisor for Global Health and Missions