By Politico Staff writer
The Port Loko District Council Chairman, Ibrahim Santigie Bangura has commended the relationship between the Non-Governmental Organisations working in the district and the Local Council, saying that the revitalisation of the District Development Coordination Committee meeting (DDCCs) is a significant structure that ensures better coordination among all the NGOs, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as well as non-state actors for efficient and time-bound development in the district.
The Chairman was speaking at a meeting held at the Port Loko District Council organised by the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development (MoPED) to further strengthen the relationship between NGOs, Local Councils, and MDAs on Friday 27th May 2022.
He said together with the partners, they have been able to constantly monitor the implementation of development programmes in the district, which they present at the DDCC meetings regularly.
“These DDCC meetings have ensured there is more development accountability and reporting at our level. This has started to address the problem of duplication and service delivery this council had some time ago. We are grateful to the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development for such a timely initiative”, he said.
He added that the relationship with partners, particularly NGOs has been crucial to solving important social problems in the district, adding that the few NGOs the council is facing challenges with should step up and follow the footsteps of the NGOs performing well in the district.
He recognised the role of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development in guiding NGOs in providing service delivery for the people of the country.
In his statement, the Acting Deputy Director of NGO Affairs, Kelvin Kallay said as a Ministry they have a role to ensure that they strengthen relationships between NGOs and Local Councils in order to effectively deliver services, especially at the local level.
Kallay challenged the NGOs to ensure that their presence in the county is not only felt but impacts positively on the lives of the people they are serving
“The majority of the NGOs are doing a good job in complementing activities of the local council and national government but there are still a few whose activities are wanting and we have to carnage that, so ensuring that NGOs, Local Councils, and MDAs have good relationships among themselves is a step in the right direction”, he said.
He urged the Development Planning Officers to be committed to their work and ensure they make use of the two-day retreat that the Ministry conducted for them on the Service Level Agreement and the use of the Dropbox.
The discussion session for Kambia and Port Loko Districts was moderated by Madam Mbalu Kamara, Deputy Director, Rural Development, MoPED, who engaged the respective participants on what has worked well at both the national and district levels, what has not worked well, and what needed to be done differently in strengthening NGO and Local Council relationship.
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