The Honourable Vice President Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh who doubles as the Chairman of Inter-Agency Forum on Social Protection on Friday 9th August, 2024 presided over the third Forum meeting at the Albertson Hotel Conference Hall in Kenema City. In his remarks, the Vice President described the 2018 manifesto as human capital driven, with government focus on human capital development of Sierra Leone. He noted that President Bio believed that the pathway to carve development was to embark on human capital development as a vehicle to transform the lives of Sierra Leoneans, noting that key indicators/sectors clearly outlined in the first Medium Term National Development Plan were the social sector including other governance sectors that gained prominence.

Dr Jalloh stated that government effort was aimed at addressing poverty, and transitioning out of vulnerability. He said that the poverty index in 2018 indicated that one thousand and seventeen women died annually while in labour between 2016 to 2018, adding t
hat New Direction Manifesto was informed by maternal mortality statistics.

The Honourable Vice President informed that the purpose of the first Medium Term National Development Plan was for Government to address poverty and reduced vulnerability, government therefore encouraged pro-poor policy that transitioned the country from vulnerability to a state that can put Sierra Leone to a reasonable position that allowed development.

He said government realized that the Inter-Agency Forum for Social Protection has got immense potential. The first potential Dr Jalloh explained was to reorganize the protection space. Secondly, to come together and discuss about extreme vulnerability and ways to transition out of the vulnerability. He buttressed that since 2018 the Forum has been a very important platform for local, national, and international partners share ideas on ways to support vulnerability, and transition out of it.

He disclosed that certain key decisions implemented today were taken during the 2018 first In
ter-Agency Forum held in Makeni, furthering members of the Forum visited communities of social safety net beneficiaries while attending the meeting in Makeni. He informed that the team also visited a community where individual women who received envelopes from NACSA transformed the money into micro credit business. From the visit to the communities, the Forum decided to transition from production to the productive social safety net stage. He said the giving of envelopes support for people to buy food, and the enhancement of their livelihood skills to embark on business are the two tracks of social safety net.

Vice President told the audience that through his engagement with the World Bank country representative in Sierra Leone, the Bank increased the social safety net portfolio from twenty to twenty-two million dollars in 2018 to forty-two million dollars of recent.

He noted that the decision to expand special baby care units in all district except the Falaba and Karene emanated from the first Makeni Forum.
He explained that the special baby care units expansion decision was meant to prevent new born babies from dying in Sierra Leone. He said the reason for explaining the divided of key decisions of the first forum was to emphasized the importance of the Inter-agency Forum meeting, noting that decisions taken at the forum can be integrated into national policy and outcome.

Dr Jalloh revealed that one of the objectives of the present Inter-Agency Forum is a stock taking exercise on the productive social safety net, and another objective is that its serves as an opportunity to review the initiative and mapped out the full perspective of the social protection landscape. He maintained that the rationale of the meeting to get the best of the social protection process and packed the lessons learnt into policy and action.

Vice President Jalloh expressed concern for the repositioning of NACSA to a pure social action institution. ‘Social protection is conceived as a pro-poor vehicle’ he reechoed, noting that people can
not be transitioned by mere cash transfer but should be juxtaposed with government other government activities like improving the economy.

The Honourable Vice President disclosed that coordination is one of the achievements he is expecting at the conclusion of the two days forum because of the series of social protection works that are done in various ways. He noted that the establishment of the National Social Protection Authority is essential for the enhancement of coordination, promotes effectiveness, and avoid duplication. With limited resources and interventions, there will be the best of interventions.

He described social protection as the bridge between President Bio’s first and second terms by increasing domestic food production, opportunity for young people to have jobs, and continuation of the human capital development. He explained that positioning social protection within the Big Five Agenda, it means the government is moving from supporting consumption to supporting livelihood, and expanding to
the productive social protection.

Komba Sam, the Mayor of Koindu New Sembehun City Council lauded NACSA and World Bank for providing jobs for about three thousand four hundred youths with the cash for work short term employment He said that the money received by the youths was used to address various issues at home and contributed to the city’s economy. He recalled over five thousand vulnerable households especially the aged received direct cash transfer immediately after the 2023 general elections, noting that the cash transfer brought smile on the faces of the recipients. He thanked NACSA and the World Bank for the great work they are doing in his city, and personally praised the Commissioner of NACSA for his continuous engagement with his council, describing him as the only government official that has engaged his council more than any other government officials in Sierra Leone.

Giving an overview of the PSSYE (Productive Social Safety Net and Youth Employment) Project, the Commissioner of NACSA (Nationa
l Commission for Social Action) Ambassador Baimba Ndomahina disclosed that the project is a five years duration with forty-two million dollars fund from the World Bank and a counterpart fund of fifteen million Leones. He stated that the Green Public Work (GPW) is a pilot project undertaken by the Freetown City Council (FCC) is part of the PSSYE project. He added that the FCC Mayor made presentation of the GPW for her colleague Mayors from the provinces to learn from her experience. He noted that the GPW project is providing about thirteen thousand jobs for youths especially female youths to empower them for livelihood. Ambassador Ndomahina stressed that the NACSA jobs for the youths is part of the five hundred thousand jobs promised by President Bio. He reiterating that the GPW project will provide seven thousand jobs for provincial youths when it commences.

Source : Sierra Leone News Agency