The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in partnership with the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development (MoPED), on Wednesday 14th August 2024 officially launched the 2023 Situational Analysis (SitAn) Report on Children, Adolescents and Women in Sierra Leone at the Foreign Service Academy Conference Hall of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Tower Hill in Freetown.
The report provides an in-depth look at the conditions and challenges facing the country’s nearly four million children and adolescents in addition to providing detailed analysis of the current situation and proposes recommendations to improve the well-being of Sierra Leone’s young population, which, with a median age of 19 years, is also one of the youngest in the world.
Officially launching the report, the Minister of Planning and Economic Development (MoPED), Madam Kenyeh Barley enlightened that unlike in the past, statistics about the Country have improved in recent years, revealed that government’s big five game changers are human capital development, engaging youths, employment of 500 youths by both government and the private sector, technology and infrastructure and public sector transformation for effective service delivery.
She also appealed to stakeholders to breakdown the Mid-Term National Development Plan (MTNDP) into years, underscored that the launch of the report is a continuation of government’s development efforts, that the report mirrors what is in the MTNDP, affirmed that the country has made some progress but lamented that poverty remains widespread especially in the rural areas impacting children, adolescents and women.
According to the Minister, implementation of the report is the collective responsibility of all stakeholders.
Mr. Gilles Fagninou, UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa underscored that if stakeholders do not know the situation they cannot address the problem, reiterated that children are the future, that the report is the evidence that would be used to make strong decisions, disclosed that although there are still challenges, Sierra Leone has made tremendous progress to address issues affecting children, adolescents and women highlighting the political commitment and financial support.
Mr. Gilles Fagninou furthered that the findings in the report would be used to develop solutions for children, adolescents and women to among others break the circle of poverty.
The Minister of Information and Civic Education, Mr. Chernor Bah lamented that his childhood was stolen during the country’s brutal civil war, but noted that children now have access to free quality education citing the school completion rate that has increased from 49-101%, that maternal deaths have reduced, enactment of the Child Rights Act that would be reviewed to ensure justice and ban on Female Genital Mutilation.
The Minister of Gender and Children’s Affairs, Dr. Isata Mahoi underlined that the well-informed report would be studied but noted that Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is still a challenge and a menace, assured that child protection mechanisms would be strengthened and informed that government has established One Stop Centres for GBV victims in the regional headquarter towns.
Dr. Mahoi also revealed that they had formulated male involvement strategies, town hall meetings nationwide, toll free lines for GBV cases to be reported stressing that anybody who hurts a child, hurts her and government and appealed to partners to provide the relevant services.
Earlier, the Chairman of the event, Mr. Charles Vandy, Deputy Chief Director, Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs revealed that the report would accelerate child growth, that Sierra Leone is a signatory to several international treaties, noted that the figures in the report had been recently used at a United Nations Conference and underscored that the report is vital in addressing issues of children, adolescents and women.
Mr. Vandy went on to state that Sierra Leone is making progress, but stressed the need to consolidate the gains made.
Highlights of the event were presentation on the SiTAn key findings, skit performance titled ‘Our Rights’ by UNICEF Youth Advocates and the closing remarks by Khadijah Posuwa, UNICEF Youth Advocate.