By Mohamed Massaquoi
Cordaid has signed a cooperation agreement with the Sierra Leone Police to increase its responsiveness and service delivery. The agreement is part of Cordaid’s strategic engagement under the Security and Justice Results-Based Financing (RBF) Project,
The agreement formalizes the relationship and partnership between the Sierra Leone Police and Cordaid.
Cordaid, in collaboration with the Sierra Leone Police, has been implementing the RBF project since January this year.
This agreement aims to enhance the interface between the Sierra Leone Police and citizens through better service outcomes. The project which is in a pilot phase is based in three communities in the Western Area; Waterloo, Grafton and Harbour.
Whiles signing the agreement, the Inspector General of the Sierra Leone Police highlighted the need for such partnerships with state institutions.
The Cooperation Agreement underscored the need for mutual collaboration and equal partnership in support of the strategic aspirations of the Sierra Leone Police to become more responsiveness and effective in delivering police services to the community. It also calls for cooperation in the implementation of the Security and Justice RBF Project, including the establishment a steering committee, project implementation committee and the three Pilot Stations of Harbour, Waterloo and Goderich.
The Country Director of Cordaid in Sierra Leone and Liberia, Mohamed Sesay said the cooperation is a way of changing the narrative on how organizations collaborate with public institutions like the Police.
“All too often, many are busy describing the weaknesses and failures of public institutions such as the Police, but a project like this by Cordaid shows a new kind of thinking based on collaboration and partnership in helping to rebuild our public institutions,” he said.
RBF is a systems strengthening approach pioneered and implemented by Cordaid in the security and justice sectors in about a dozen countries across the world. RBF introduces positive incentives to the public service delivery chain with the aim of stimulating improved performance, responsiveness and accountability of service providers.
RBF links financial subsidies directly to results: contrary to traditional input funding, service providers such as police or courts receive payment based on progress against targets co-determined with citizens.
A monitoring and verification system tracks and rewards performance and community satisfaction. RBF is expected to (re)build the social contract between citizens and the state by aligning the performance of security and justice providers with public expectations.
“Strengthening security and justice systems is critical to improving public trust, security and social contract in especially post-conflict and fragile countries,” Sesay said.
Sesay further highlighted the ‘impressive level of cooperation and leadership’ demonstrated by the Sierra Leone Police since the start of the RBF Project, which has now entered its second cycle with a performance review expected in a couple of weeks on the performance of the pilot police stations of Harbour, Waterloo and Goderich.
The Partnership which is anchored on building trust in the communities and responsiveness of the Sierra Leone Police envisions to empower the Local Police Partnership Boards (LPPB). A key post-war innovation in policing, the LPPBs function as an interface between the Police and Communities providing critical support in strengthening community relations.
In this regard, IG Moigbeh said that his focus is on strengthening community policing because communities differ in their needs and make up.
He said strengthening partnerships and public relations is a strategic priority noted within the National Development Plan of 2023 toward safety and security for the country.
© 2019 Politico Online
