Rescue Children’s on 16 Days of Activism on Gender Based Violence

By Benedict Freedom

The 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence campaign is a time to galvanize action to end violence against women and girls around the world.

The international campaign originated from the first women’s global leadership institute coordinated by the centre for women’s Global leadership in 1991 and continues to this day as reminder of the gender-based many women and girls across the world face on a daily basis. 

Gender based violence can be defined as violence directed at an individual based on his/her biological sex, gender identity or perceived adherence to socially defined norms of masculinity and feminity. Gender based violence can take many forms and cuts across all layers of society. It includes physical, sexual or psychological abuse, threads coercion, arbitrary deprivation of liberty; and economic deprivation weather in public or private life.

From the 25^th November-10^th December every year is commemorated as the international day for the Elimination of violence against women and girls. This year theme for the 2017 campaign is ″Together we can End GBV in Education’’.

Rescue Children and Youth Film Foundation is a non-profit organisation headed by Mr. Sammy Baimba a goodwill philanthropist in Sierra Leone. It mission is to provide and engaging a safe environment where underprivileged children neutral abilities can be expressed and nurtured. 

The foundation provides a platform which the children can develop their creativity and enables them to produce something that they can be proud off. We use film, music, arts etc as an advocacy tool to advocate and campaign against Early/Child/Force marriage and other forms of gender based violence.

As part of this year campaign the foundation organised sensitization campaign targeting communities and schools within the municipality of Makeni. The schools targeted were Alagendra secondary school, SLMB and Oxford International Academy. The messages the sensitization targeted are: ‘’My Life, My Body, and My Education’’, ‘’ No education, no progress! Help end gender-based violence in education’’, ‘’ Together we can end gender-based violence in education’’. Amongst others.

Below are Photos of Pupils displaying vanguard of messages to end GENDER BASED VIOLENCE with the Coordinator of Makeni chapter Mr. Benedict AbuBakarr Conteh and Schools representatives.

 

Cartoon on dealing with FALSE NEWS on Social Media

Cartoon on dealing with FALSE NEWS on Social Media

Update on the Say No To Elections Violence Campaign

We live in a country where we are told we are the leaders of tomorrow, and we still have politicians that are encouraging youths to be involved in violence by giving them drugs and alcohol just to ensure that tomorrow never comes.

Let us tell these politicians of the day that the tomorrow they've been talking about is today.

The Election is just a few months away with over 3.1 million registered voters, of which 60% is made up of the youth population.

What does this mean?
It's means the future of Sierra Leone is in the hands of the youth...

Unity For Peaceful Election:
Together We Stand!!

Stay off violence before, during and after election.

#VoteNotFight
#ThinkSalone

_A Truhitz Entertainment Initiative_

World Bank Group Boosts Financing for Power Pool Project

The World Bank Group on November 17, 2017 approved Additional Financing in the amount of US$59.57 million to West African Power Pool (WAPP) - Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea (CLSG) Power Interconnection Project, which aims to increase electricity supply in the four participating countries. The project will interconnect the four participating countries into the 225 kV (kilo volt) regional energy market in West Africa, and will also enable the connection to the WAPP of the planned hydropower plants in Bumbuna Extension, Yiben and Bekongor in Sierra Leone and Mount Coffee in Liberia and other future generation projects.

The Project will provide residents of Greater Monrovia Area in Liberia; Bo, Kenema and the Western Areas in Sierra Leone; and the Forest Region of Guinea, with improvements in power supplies in the short-term. It also pursues a regional infrastructure developmental approach that will provide over the medium- to long-term adequate electricity to the people of the four countries in a more efficient and cost effective way, boosting economic and social development.

Despite the West African region’s large energy endowment, the per capita consumption of electricity is among the lowest in the world with approximately 171 kWh per capita in 2010.To address these challenges,the 15 member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) put in place the WAPP– a cooperative power pooling mechanism for integrating national power system operations into a unified regional electricity market – with the expectation that it will, over the medium to long term, assure citizens of a stable and reliable electricity supply at affordable costs.WAPP identified the CLSG Interconnection Project, which aims to interconnect the four countries into the WAPP System, and help develop the least cost hydropower resources in these countries. The economic development impact of this transmission line is expected to be significant.

“This project will help transform the domestic power system in Sierra Leone, as it will significantly contribute to building the country’s national transmission backbone,” said Parminder Brar, World Bank Country Manager for Sierra Leone. “The project will further boost regional electricity trade and contribute to the creation of an integrated power trade market within the West African Power Pool. It will further contribute to the overall regional agenda for the development of efficient energy trade and is fully aligned with the Government’s strategy for the development of the electricity sector and the expansion of electricity services to the population.”

A 1,349km high-voltage transmission interconnection will be constructed between the four countries.Once the line is operational, it is expected to facilitate in the short and medium term, the import of cheaper electricity from the region, as well as enable in the medium and longer term, the development of Sierra Leone’s hydropower potential. In addition, it will provide access to electricity to large users (mines and others) that have until now had to generate their own electricity.

The original WAPP CLSG Regional Interconnection Project, jointly supported by the World Bank, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the German development Bank Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbrau (KfW), was approved in 2012 with the financing of US$476 million. In the original WAPP CLSG project, the financing to Sierra Leone was provided by AfDB and EIB. This new round of financing is provided jointly by the World Bank (to Liberia and Sierra Leone) and KfW (to Liberia). It will be used to bridge the financing gap caused by exchange rate fluctuations, as well as delays and increased costs of bids brought on by the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea in 2014.

Implemented in parallel with ongoing and planned World Bank projects in the country – such as the Energy Sector Utility Reform Project (ESURP) and the Western Area Power Generation Project (WAPGP) – the WAPP CLSG project aims to boost overall access to electricity and strengthen the energy sector in Sierra Leone. It also facilitates the integration of renewables, in line with the World Bank Group Climate Change Action Plan (2016).

US$10 Million Supplemental Financing to Support Landslide and Flooding

The World Bank Group has approved a Supplemental Financing (SF) in the amount of US$10 million to help the Government of Sierra Leone meet immediate needs associated with the landslide and flooding disaster that struck Freetown on August 14, 2017.The SF is a grant, provided as a supplemental budget support operation that will flow directly into the Government’s budget. The funding, under the First Productivity and Transparency Support Credit (PTSC-I), will ensure that the reforms supported under this operation remain on track and are implemented without the risk of delays due to competing capacity or budgetary priorities arising from the post-disaster recovery. It will also help with the rebuilding of critical infrastructure destroyed during the landslide and flooding.

Since the end of the Ebola epidemic, the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) has initiated substantive reforms to boost productivity, restore fiscal stability, and gradually rebuild buffers. The Government initiated substantive reforms, focusing on agriculture, fisheries and energy, supported by the First Productivity and Transparency Support Credit (PTSC-I), to boost productivity and start rebuilding the country's buffers. Unfortunately, a landslide of a rare magnitude hit the country's capital city, leading to significant loss of lives, productive assets and public infrastructure.According to the Office of National Security (ONS), 1,141 persons were reported dead or missing. The flooding in the other areas killed 15 people with some 2,000 households affected.

The disaster adversely impacted economic activity and livelihood in several communities, increasing basic fiscal expenditures which have created an unanticipated financing gap. The landslide also caused significant infrastructure damages in the Western Area. Major destructions included houses and real-estate, public infrastructure, including roads, bridges, electricity equipment, water and sanitation facilities, health facilities, and schools. A total of 900 buildings were affected.

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED), on August 15^th 2017, approached the World Bank requesting financial support for dealing with this crisis as well as undertaking an immediate Disaster and Loss Assessment that would inform the recovery effort. In response, the Bank deployed a specialist Disaster Management Team in Freetown to work with the Government, United Nations Agencies and other international and local organizations in a coordinated way to assess the immediate needs in the short to medium term. Two World Bank Disaster Management Specialists led the team, and around twenty other Bank sector specialists worked on this assignment along with experts of other agencies. The team concluded its work and presented its findings and recommendations to the Government on September 8, 2017.

“This funding is very crucial in helping the Government meet immediate needs, as well be used for rebuilding critical infrastructure destroyed by the landslide and flooding,”said Parminder Brar, World Bank Country Manager for Sierra Leone. “The Bank will continue to engage with the Government on priority areas for deployment. These areas could include environment protection, urban planning and improved land management.”

The overall financing needs for the recovery was estimated at US$82.2 million or about 2.2 percent of GDP, including US$15.7 million short term recovery needs. The US$10 million SF will support the GoSL in its post-landslide relief and recovery.

The Bank Group, with funding from the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, is also supporting the country to strengthen its capacity for disaster management. An on-going Community-based Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Project supports the Government to strengthen its policies and programs on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) through mainstreaming activities related to the country’s climate resilience and disaster risk mitigation priorities.

Cartoon on the recent ECOWAS Ruling

Cartoon on the recent ECOWAS ruling on the serious matter between President Koroma and (sacked) VP Sam Sumana...

Cartoon on the Government's response to the CRC Recommendations.

Cartoon on the Government's response to the CRC Recommendations.

ACC and Audit Service To Promote Accountability In Public Office

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL) on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at promoting transparency and accountability in public office.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Auditor General Lara Taylor-Pearce described the Audit Service as watchdog of the public purse.  She said members of the public are concerned about issues of transparency and accountability in the public sector, noting that the two institutions should continue to work together to curb misuse of public resources.

The Auditor General said the MoU will ensure that suspected acts of corruption detected during audit exercises are reported to the ACC immediately. “If these two institutions work together, we will make huge gains in securing public funds”, Mrs. Taylor-Pearce noted. 

The Commissioner of ACC Ady Macauley Esq. also stressed that the “call for transparency and accountability from the public is getting louder,” noting that “action must be taken” to address the misuse of state resources. He made reference to the Anti-Corruption Act 2008, which provides for the Commission to collaborate with other agencies, adding that the ‘complementarity principle’ in the fight against corruption calls for support from all sectors. The ACC Commissioner said if the two institutions work together public confidence will be strengthened. 

Earlier, while speaking on the objective of the MoU, Deputy Auditor General Tamba Momoh said that though the mandates of the two institutions are different, they share similar objectives- to protect public funds from misuse. He said the signing of the MoU at this time of the year will put the two institutions on a good footing at the start of 2018.

The MoU provides for the two institutions to “collaborate with one another to ensure that any request made by one party, to the other shall be promptly attended to.” The MoU also states that: “In the conduct of an Audit or a review, where the Audit Service Sierra Leone is of the opinion that fraud or financial malfeasance has occurred, the Audit Service SL shall duly inform the ACC for on-the-spot intervention prior to the submission of the said Audit Report in line with Section 78 (1) (d) of the Anti-Corruption Act 2008.”