The Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) has provided a total of $348,397 to support the fight against the coronavirus pandemic in Sierra Leone. When converted at the official Bank of Sierra Leone exchange rate of Le 9,600 the amount is equivalent to Le 3,344,611,200 (three billion, three hundred and forty four million, six hundred and eleven thousand and two hundred leones).
It is repurposing two facilities in Bo to serve the southern province, while also refurbishing the isolation facility at the Kambia Government Hospital to bolster the border district’s capacity to treat positive COVID-19 cases. The facilities are to be handed over next Friday.
Work on the structures in Bo and Kambia will be done in partnership with the case management pillar of the National COVID-19 Response Committee (NACOVERC), District Medical teams and the National Medical Supplies Agency (NMSA) for relevant supplies to complement OSIWA’s investment.
The impact of the outbreak is being worsened by the lack of a robust health infrastructure, poor Water and Sanitation (WATSAN) systems across the country and a weak economy.
$165,422 was a direct grant to national non-governmental organizations, while $132,975 was repurposed from already approved grants.
OSIWA is also providing $50,000 in-kind to support the refurbishment of facilities in the Bo Government Hospital and the Bo Children’s Hospital, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and bolster the Kambia District Health Medical Team’s capacity to contain the coronavirus pandemic. “OSIWA’s multitier approach focuses on supporting the government’s operational response and treatment capacity in badly-needed locations (Bo) and support civil society organization’s capacity to monitor, document human rights situations especially of women, girls and persons with disabilities during the State of Emergency and provide the platform for Government-CSO partnership to effect systemic changes aimed at improving the emergency and health infrastructure systems”, says Joe Pemagbi who heads OSIWA in Sierra Leone.He said the focus of the organization was on supporting civil society to monitor, document, objectively report and provide evidence-based analyses and public policy propositions on the economic, political and social impacts of national COVID-19 responses on human rights and fundamental freedoms and informal economies.
OSIWA is supporting the Center for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL) to monitor and document human rights violations, ensuring transparency and accountability in the management of Covid19 response funds and undertaking effective social mobilization and public education activities to help stem the spread of the virus and ultimately end transmission.
With OSIWA’s funding, ADVOCAID will continue to provide legal support for women and girls in conflict with the law, monitor and report by social workers and paralegals to identify instances of disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on women and girls. ADVOCAID will also provide some basic welfare support for women and girls in contact with the law and establish a post-correction support for women and girls.
Sierra Leone recorded its first case of Covid-19 on 30 March 2020, and has so far registered over 1,085 positive cases, 50 deaths and more than 642 recoveries. The government of Sierra Leone has also opened bank accounts for solidarity support. This account is managed by the Ministry of Finance, and disbursements from the account are triggered by requests from NACOVERC.
OSIWA’s support to Radio Democracy is helping the organization to partner with existing networks of CSOs to track transfers of both funds and supplies to various treatment/health centres in the project’s operational districts, identify and remotely train monitors who will track Covid19 response funds, procurement process and access to goods and services by the target beneficiaries, including health centres, health care workers, and the sick.
The partnership extends to five key community radio stations across the country, which constantly connect to Radio Democracy’s flagship programmes to disseminate information on the prevention and management of COVID-19 across the country.
Leveraging its community mobilization approach, OSIWA is also supporting The Playhouse Foundation in Kono district to help reduce the chain of transmission of Covid-19 by raising awareness amongst the target beneficiaries of the dangers of Covid-19 through strict adherence to the national public health emergency guidelines on social distancing, staying at home during a lockdown and frequent washing of hands. With OSIWA’s support, the organization will distribute hands-free washing stations in public places, monitor border crossing and points of entry and public markets and train key stakeholders on infection prevention and control (IPC) in partnership with the District Health Management Team and other key stakeholders.
OSIWA’s investment and use of innovation to the response is channelled to Fix Solutions, a national Information Communication and Technology (ICT) company to complement and strengthen the current ICT infrastructure at the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) in the overall response to COVID-19 in Sierra Leone. Based on previous experience and extensive expertise in providing IT solutions to both private and public sectors, Fix Solutions brings specialized technical skills to the national COVID-19 response managed by the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), in partnership with the Directorate of Science and Innovation (DSTI).
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