In 2007 Hastings, UK and Hastings Village in Sierra Leone signed an official twinning arrangement, ‘Hastings Sierra Leone Friendship Link’. This link is supported by Hastings Borough Council but remains independent. The council has recently made steps to strengthen its links through a capacity building project.

The link started in 2003, as an informal friendship link based on a humanitarian initiative and instigated by a request for help from Hastings in Sierra Leone. Initially, a Christian charity was involved in education and infrastructure projects in Hastings Village. The twinning link was set up to ensure continuity when the charity went on to a new project.

Hastings Borough Council has been involved since the link’s inception with several partners. At home, the council works jointly with the London-based Sierra Leonean diaspora. The link involves 6 schools as well as some individual churches and a mosque. Overseas partners also include health groups and Freetown’s Fire Service.

Through Hastings Borough Council’s affiliation to the Commonwealth Local Government Forum, the partnership has now evolved to a council-based Good Practice Scheme (GPS) project.

GPS projects are managed by the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) and seek to improve the delivery of local authority services through the spread of good practice. CLGF matches UK councils with an overseas partner and help them to implement capacity building projects.

A scoping mission was undertaken in Hastings, Sierra Leone in March 2010, which included a range of visits to councillors and received extensive coverage by the local media. The GPS project is likely to focus on capacity building around waste management.