By Abass Jalloh
Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio has spoken highly of the National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) for supporting food security and entrepreneurship for vulnerable people and depressed communities in Sierra Leone.
President Bio who joined general workers and management of NaCSA at Bank Complex in Freetown last Friday to commemorate the commission’s 20th anniversary said its community-driven development focus had been tailored to address vulnerability and social protection problems in what he called community-specific ways.
He said “this targeted approach means that communities are carefully selected across the nation based on needs assessments to deliver specific development interventions.”
He spoke about the commission’s provision of small microenterprise grants and loans that provide livelihood for poor families, and the skills development projects that had uplifted vulnerable groups, including persons with disability.
President Bio noted that NaCSA’s operations had made Sierra Leone succeed in scaling up the provision of social and economic infrastructure and services in communities across the country, adding that “there is hardly any district or chiefdom that has not benefited from schools, markets, community centres, health centres, bridges, rural roads, potable water systems, renewable energy installations, and other social infrastructure built by NaCSA.”
He recalled former president, Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, establishing the commission to coordinate reconstruction, resettlement, and rehabilitation across the country, noting that NaCSA was designed to implement social protection programmes for a very vulnerable population in the wake of the mass displacement and destruction of the civil war. He said he was proud of its achievement.
“Twenty years down the line, NaCSA’s commitment to delivering sustainable development outcomes and ensuring community resilience is not in doubt,” President Bio stated.
The Commissioner of NaCSA, Dr. Sao Kpato Hannah Isatta Max-Kyne, also expressed her conviction that the commission has played a “pivotal role” in nation building, expressing satisfaction over their continued efforts in providing essential support to people living with disability, particularly the vulnerable groups.
She said the commission has contributed to peace consolidation after the war with keen attention to young people and other forms of interventions across the country
Copyright ©Politico Online (20/06/22)
