On Thursday 7th August, the Letsema Network was celebrated with a reception at the Lehakoe Executive Club in Maseru, in an effort to raise its profile and spread awareness.

Letsema, initiated by the Department of Social Welfare and funded by UNICEF and Sentebale, is a network of organisations working with orphans and vulnerable children in Lesotho. The network promotes cooperation, communication, and collaboration within the OVC sector through a website, monthly Letsema meetings, and a quarterly newsletter.

Directors of OVC organisations and other key stakeholders gathered at the reception to learn more about the network and the opportunities it offers for collaboration. The evening reception offered an opportunity for the more than 50 organisations in attendance to meet each other and start a dialogue on joint planning to benefit OVCs in the future. Local press representatives were also invited.

Honoured speakers included UNICEF Representative, Ms. Aichatou Diawara-Flambert, Sentebale Director, Mr. Harper Brown, Director of Social Welfare, Ms. Limakatso Chisepo, and esteemed guest and Sentebale Patron, Prince Seeiso Bereng Seeiso.

Ms. Diawara-Flambert shared the history of Letsema, starting in 2005 when the Department of Social Welfare and UNICEF created a hard-copy directory of OVC providers. Then, realising the list required updating, the directory evolved into a Letsema website, newsletter and forum, which now includes more than 120 organisations.

Harper Brown elaborated on the unique features of the website, which include multiple search options, OVC-related news stories, and an innovative interactive map of Lesotho, showing specific organisations, projects and services. The map already includes 104 organisations and 184 project sites. This will be a valuable visual tool for understanding the breadth and nature of Lesothos response to OVCs.

The Director of Social Welfare, Ms. Limakatso Chisepo discussed how the Letsema network is essential to the fulfillment of the National OVC Strategy Plan 2006-11, which requests groups to co-ordinate on all issues concerning children in the country. Ms. Chisepo explained that Letsema serves as a central information point for all OVC stakeholders, and especially to the Government of Lesotho, which will be using this site as a reference point. She reminded the group that Letsema is also a monthly meeting forum, during which key issues, such as the need for national standards of OVC care, are discussed.

Finally, Sentebale Patron, Prince Seeiso Bereng Seeiso spoke on his support of the Letsema Network. He highlighted the scale of the disaster facing children in Lesotho and the increased need for a collaborative response from the Government, donors, NGOs, CBOs and all other stakeholders. He inspired attendees to take action and use Letsema as a tool for change.

Overall, the reception was a success. Prince Seeiso left organisations with a mandate to act towards sustainable change to serve and protect the rights of the most vulnerable children in Lesotho. The Department of Social Welfare urged organisations to come together, share best practice and develop new, collaborative approaches to the crisis we are facing. Sentebale will continue to develop and update the Letsema website with hope that organisations will continue to contribute information and increase their involvement in the network to make it as useful as possible.