By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The Country Director of Plan International, Evariste Sindayigaya says they will continue to collaborate more with the Government of Sierra Leone to advance the campaign for children’s right across the country.
Sindayigaya made the statement during the presentation of office equipment worth more than Le 200 million to some government ministries, departments and agencies (MDA).
The donation was part of the fulfillment of a Memorandum of Understanding between the organization and the beneficiary MDAs to support them with technical capacity which will in turn increase their ability to be efficient, especially in support of girls.
Plan is a nongovernmental organisation that strives to advance the rights of children globally, especially girls.
The donation covered the ministries of youth and children’s affairs, as well as the National Civil Registration Commission. Plan officials said a similar donation targeting the Office of the First Lady was planned for next week.
The items donated included executive tables and chairs, computers, printers, projectors, and stationery.
“We care about anything that has to do with girls. All our work around the country is about advancing the rights of girls”, Sindayigaya told journalists following the donations on Friday.
She said they were “committed to a strong partnership between us and the ministry. We know we cannot do it alone. We believe in working in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Welfare and Ministry of Youth. They are the line ministries for our work,” he added.
The support comes when the children’s ministry is in dire need of capacity building and support. In May this year a division of the ministry was burnt down following a fire accident, leaving the division of Children’s Affairs stranded. The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry, David Banya said this was the first of such support they had had since the fire incident.
Joyce Kamara, Acting Director of Children’s Affairs, told Politico that this would make a significant difference in the work they do.
“I am so happy, the stationery, the computers will all make a great difference to our work. We do a lot of paperwork here regarding children, this couldn’t have come at a better time,” Kamara said.
Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Andrew Sorie also told Politico that the items would help in the effective delivery of services.
“This support will definitely help speed up our work and improve our efficiency in terms of service delivery,” Sorie said.
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