By Joseph Lamin Kamara
Government of Sierra Leone, in partnership with Statistics Sierra Leone and some nongovernmental organisations, has launched a study based on assessment of the multi-sectorial impact of Ebola on gender dimensions in the country.
Launching the project yesterday at the gender ministry in Freetown, the minister of social welfare, gender and children’s affairs, Moijue Kaikai, said the study was primarily “for data collection in the field that will not make us rely on fictitious information.” He added that “it will help us in terms of statistics to properly plan gender-responsive policies that will better enable us to address the dimensions of the Ebola spread.”
He said the data collection exercise would help them meet people who had survived Ebola, “to know their situations particularly as men, women, boys and girls,” and the figures they would obtain would help government in terms of statistics.
Kaikai said they would “include all staff of Statistics Sierra Leone in all fourteen districts of the country,” and they would not use just facilitators but also monitors to ensure efficiency.
Statistician General Mohamed King Koroma said the exercise was timely and would be a primary research. “It will give a lot of credence to my institution, which is charged with data collection, management and evaluation in the country.”
Koroma urged potential researchers to be attentive, ask as many questions as possible and do their work diligently, adding that his office appreciated their partnership with the ministry of gender.
Giving an overview of the assessment project, programme coordinator at United Nations women’s unit, Baindu Massaquoi, said they would immediately convene training for the exercise which would be followed by the research work in all the districts across the country.
She said the Ebola outbreak had affected more women than men, adding that women were care-givers at homes and therefore the disease “has affected 52% women in the country.”
Massaquoi said the exercise would give in-depth information on the impact of Ebola on women in the country and that it would help government streamline its gender issues. She said UN Women was pleased to be part of the exercise and had planned to launch a report at the end of the study.
Konima Borbor Kamara, representing the UK charity Oxfam, said they were a partner in the project and their interest was to eradicate poverty in the country. She added that they were committed to fighting Ebola but noted that one of the things that had been left out in the fight against the disease was “gender”. She urged government and its partners to include issues “affecting men and women in anything they do.”
© Politico 27/11/14
