By Saio Marrah
Sierra Leone being one of the four African countries to undertake a targeted review on health governance, will be hosting the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) harmonization workshop to enlighten different stakeholders across the continent on the integration of (APRM) National Plan of Actions (NPoA) into Sierra Leone’s National Development Plan (NPA) for easier implementation of the report and achievement of socio-economic development. This was disclosed by the deputy Minister of Political Affairs, Amara Kallon during the weekly government press conference at the Ministry of Information and Communication in Freetown, on Thursday 5 August 2021.
He said the country will be hosting series of events including a harmonization workshop which will take place from the 10 to 11 August, and the Launch of the targeted review report on Sierra Leone’s Health Governance and Covid-19 Response on the 12th August ,2021, at the Bintumani Conference Centre .
He said in order to share experience on possible avenues to address the key issue of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in member States, the APRM continental secretariat will also bring together member States and experts from other agencies including the UN, in a capacity building workshop on state resilience to shocks and disasters to build on existing research findings, including the targeted review of Sierra Leone on the 13th and 14th August 2021 in Freetown.
The objective of the various events(three in all) , according to the deputy Minister is to look at the underlying objectives of Regional Capacity Building on state resilience to strengthen national and sub-national government capabilities in mainstreaming disaster risk in national development plans.
The gathering will also seek to undertake a sensitization targeted at a wider constituency of the state and non-State actors supportive of building political commitment for more meaningful and constructive public engagement in public policy.
While assessing the depth and magnitude of shocks and disasters as one of the building blocks underpinning their work, key institutions also realized that Member States should be capacitated.
According to the Deputy Minister, the choice of Sierra Leone to host the harmonization workshops comes as a result of it being one of the pioneers to targeted reviews as it was among the first four countries to undertake a targeted review on Health Governance and Covid-19 Response in 2020
Responding to a question as to whether the APRM is intended to isolate Africa from the West, he said that’s not the case but to enhance the continent’s identity, values, norms, and among others. He said the initiative was in place as against most of the claimed peer-reviews done by strangers from the West who most times present the continent’s image negatively to the rest of the world. Kallon stated that the African Peer Review system now allows African nations to review and evaluate each other country’s programmes and give honest assessment.
The mandate of the APRM is to ensure that policies and practices of participating member states conform to the agreed political, economic, and corporate governance values, codes, and standards contained in the African Union Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance.
APRM is a voluntary self-monitoring instrument that fosters the adoption of policies, standards, and practices that lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development, and accelerated regional and continental economic integration through sharing of experiences and best practices, including identifying deficiencies and assessing the needs for capacity building.
Founded in 2003, the APRM was adopted by African Heads of State and Government as a peer learning and self-assessment mechanism originating from the NEPAD foundational document, the Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance (DDPECG).
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