The Presidents Recovery Priorities (PRP) national conference engagement and convergence jointly organised by the Office of the President and UNICEF starts today at the Bintumani Hotel.
In a joint press conference held at the Ministry of Information Communications yesterday Monday, chaired by the acting Minister of Information, Cornelius Deveaux said the government is serious about the recovery programme and they will use the same mechanism that brought the ebola to an end.
In his short remarks, the Chief of Staff to the President Saidu Conton Sesay said Community engagement goes beyond mobilizing partnerships by organizing individuals, groups and networks in a more sustainable community structure working collaboratively with and through groups of people affiliated by geographic proximity, special interest, or similar situations to enable them to enhance ownership and social accountability and for them to take leadership.
He said the PRP is working with all communities so that they can make decisions on issues affecting their community and to do effective monitoring of all the projects that are on-going in their different communities.
Mr Conton Sesay said as Sierra Leone embarks on the road to recovery, deepened community engagement, bottom-up action for accountability and transparency by strengthening existing community based structures and groups, especially the youth, women and civil society have been emphasized and recognized across government strategies as vehicles for implementing change.
He said the purpose of the national conference on ‘Community Engagement is to look at the EVD legacies and the way forward together with community engagement across various sectors and to explore the diversity of approaches employed during the EVD response with a view to identify successes and challenges.
“We must examine the applicability for the recovery process, and to establish a common understanding of activities, interventions, and approaches and develop a shared vision, framework, and strategy for social mobilization towards community engagement.”
The Chief of Staff averred that they will agree on strategies for community engagement to enhance service delivery, governance and accountability, and to contribute to foster successful and harmonized community ownership in the recovery process.
The UNICEF Representative Geoff Wiffin said they are working with the PRP because they want the children of Sierra Leone to be healthy always and to make sure the little things that they applied during the ebola is brought back.
“We all remember that during the ebola we were using the hand washing methods, the sanitization system and production of clean water. We will make sure that these processes are brought back and work with the PRP to ensure that the recovery process is successful and reposition Sierra Leone once more on the road to prosperity.
The two-day conference will start today and President Koroma will give the keynote address. Many stakeholders across the country will be in attendance as they plot the way forward for a better Sierra Leone.
Tuesday August 30, 2016
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