VP Juldeh Chairs Inter Agency Forum Meeting On Social Protection

By Marilyn King

The Vice President of Sierra Leone, Honorable Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh has chaired the two days Inter Agency Forum (IAF) meeting on social protection.
The engagement was held on Friday 9th and Saturday 10th August 2024 at the Albertson Hall in Kenema City in collaboration with National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) with Support from, China Aid, Irish Aid, WFP, UNICF, and World Bank.
The Minister of State Vice President Office (MOS), Madam Mantee Tarawally, said that it is the 3rd meeting of Inter Agency Forum (IAF) on social Protection, and that in the past two meetings they defined social protection and reviewed in their context on the initiatives that seek to prevent and protect citizens against positives on vulnerability and social exclusion throughout the life cycle.
She said they are going to review some of the initiatives and also map out the country strategy to developing social protection systems and in particular the social register.
She stated that social registers are the back bone of social protection system and that the expectation is that they help to organize and interlink the delivery of their social services and gave an example that NaCSA should be in a position to know the people that could be benefiting from multiple initiatives that the government is undertaking.
The Country Representative of World Food Program (WFP), Madam Yvonne Forsen said that ninety-eight governments and one hundred and thirty one partners including, the World Bank, ECOWAS, African Union, have recognized school feeding as one of the most important Social Safety Net programs in the world, and have made bold comments to strengthen and expand the coverage.
She said the school feeding program was included in the National Social Protection policy, Feed Salone as well as the Educational Sector Plan.
The World Bank Country Manager for Sierra Leone, Abdu Muwonge, said the World Bank is working to protect the most vulnerable by way of addressing the challenges by different sections of the population.
He furthered that over the years the government has taken important strides in building the framework upon which the social protection of Sierra Leone hinges.
He said the World Bank Group has concluded a review which is their mission to vision.
He maintained that they have a new score card that has three indicators and that one of the indicators is looking at the number of people benefiting from Social Safety Net Programs.
He concluded that NaCSA is an institution that can play a great role to build the foundation that can put Sierra Leone ahead.
The Chairman of the meeting, Vice President Juldeh Jalloh, said that their efforts is to address poverty and also try to make a transition out of vulnerability.
He noted that their focus is to address vulnerability and reduce poverty, and what they did is to encourage pro-poor policy that will allow Sierra Leone to transition out of that state into a state that will guarantee development.
He stated that since 2018 when they took over governance, they realized and acknowledged that their manifesto is a human capital manifesto which means that their focus is on enhancing the human capital resources of Sierra Leone which is geared towards transforming the lives of the people.
He mentioned that they met the poverty index very high and referenced that in 2018 there was about 1017 women who were lost during child birth, noting that one of the statistics that informed their manifesto.
That when they realized that most kids in the country were not attending school and insufficient nurses in the primary health system, it was what informed their Medium-Term National Development Plan.
He stated that the Inter Agency Forum for National Protection has got immense potential which were to reorganize, come together and talk about extreme vulnerability and how to transition out of it, adding that since 2018, the Inter Agency Forum has been important platform which is used by local and international partners to share ideas in supporting to address vulnerability.
Giving and update on the Productive Social Safety Net and Youth Employment (PSSNYE) project, the Commissioner of NaCSA, Ambassador Ernest Ndomahina said that the beneficiaries are 45 years and above and that the cash they received is $15 per month or $45 per quarter.
He concluded that their targets are in Kambia, Port Loko, Bo, Bonth, Kono, Kailahun, and Bombali.
Presentation on Social Registry and discussions of other MDA’s climaxed the occasion.