By Mabinty M. Kamara
The Budget Advocacy Network (BAN) has supported quarantine residents in 22 communities in Pujehun District, southern Sierra Leone, with food and non-food items worth Le138 Million.
The support, according to BAN’s Senior Program Officer, Abdulraman Morlson Sesay, is to complement the government’s effort in the fight against the Coronavirus disease through their Health Legacy Project supported by Christian Aid Sierra Leone.
The goal of the Health Legacy Project is to strengthen community and district structures to work towards a healthy budget that is adequate and effectively managed to improve on maternal and new-born healthcare. However, the initial focus of the project has now been shifted from community engagement to direct livelihood support so as to meet the livelihood needs of the communities.
The distribution exercise was done at the District Coronavirus Emergency Response Centre (DiCOVERC) in Pujehun Town, in the presence of a cross section of district stakeholders and beneficiaries.
The donated items included 25kg bags of rice, bags of onions and other condiments. They also include thermometers, Veronica Buckets, hand sanitizers, liquid soap and locally produced facemasks.
Other supports were also given to the Social Mobilization Pillar and the District Civil Society body to monitor border crossing points and to give situational updates on the coronavirus to the DiCOVERC and to the communities through radio discussion programs, for which a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with Radio Wanjei, and Radio Wanjama for ten (10) radio programs.
In his statement, the District Coronavirus Emergency Response Centre Coordinator, Mohamed Kpana Gbato Kemokai, said that the support came in at a time the inter-district lockdown has had a serious economic effect on the people, noting that it would go a long way in salvaging the basic food needs of beneficiaries from those 22 communities.
Ibrahim Swarray, Chairman, Civil Society Forum, stated that the district is currently experiencing economic hardship which is not unconnected to the inter-district lockdown. He noted that activities such as petty-trading, fishing, farming and periodic marketing, which used to support their livelihoods, have all scaled down due to restriction on public gathering and in compliance with the social distancing rule.
BAN is a coalition of seven civil society organizations in Sierra Leone working on budget and budget policies in a bid to enhance policy making and implementation for sustainable and equitable development. This is done to ensure greater inclusiveness in the budget process, increase access to information and improve responsiveness geared towards achieving gender sensitive budgeting, pro-poor budgeting and programs.
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