A cross section of US leadership visitors alumni
Dozens of Sierra Leoneans who have visited the United States as guests of the State Department met on Saturday in Freetown to work towards registering themselves as a charity.
They include journalists, civil servants, medical doctors, NGO workers and university lecturers.
The alumni of the International Visitors’ Leadership Programme (IVLP) elected a six-member interim executive led by Isaac Massaquoi a lecturer at the Mass Communications Department at Fourah Bay College.
Other members of the executive are Zainab Conteh in the ministry of health who is based in Makeni, civil society activists Mohamed Warisay and Ensah Bockarie, Mrs Junietta Macauley proprietress of Columbia Davies and Aminata Jalloh an Ebola psychosocial worker based in Bo.
The alumni also set up a team to work on the organisation’s constitution led by journalist Umaru Fofana. Other members include university lecturer Rev. Gibrilla Kargbo, civil society activist and teacher Rev James Lahai, gender rights campaigner Marie Bob-Kandeh and Ensah Bockarie representing the executive.
They are to get a constitution ready by end of March.
In late May the group is to hold a national alumni congress in the provinces following its registration and other formalities.
“This is a move to give to our society what we gained from our visit to various US institutions - both public and private” says interim chairman Massaquoi.
“We have professionals in our midst who are willing to put into practise the many good things we learned in the United States including the spirit of volunteerism and style of governance which we were impressed by while on our visits” he adds.
The group plans to hold a wide range of activities including providing career counselling in schools and colleges some of which some of the alumni are already doing in their various activities. “This will coordinate it properly and make it have more impact on our society” says the interim chairman.
The IVLP alumni comprise people who have attended various US government-funded visitors’ programmes including on youth and women’s leadership like YALI, SUSI and TechWomen, as well as on media programmes like Edward R Morrow and on investigative journalism. Fulbright scholars are also part of the organisation which is to be called States Alumni - Sierra Leone Chapter.
(C) Politico 09/03/16
