By Crispina Cummings
The UN development programme and the ministry of foreign affairs have launched the 2013 human development index report at Parliament building in Freetown with the theme: “The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World.”
UNDP country director, Mia Seppo said the 2013 HDI listed Sierra Leone along with Angola, Burundi, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Rwanda and Tanzania among countries that made the greatest strides in HDI improvement since 2000.
She said that indicated that the country was making progress in improving the lives of its people, adding that it also meant it had made progress in re-building its data systems and their growing credibility that allowed for comparability across countries.
Seppo said the UNDP was pleased to partner with the government because Sierra Leone had all the ingredients to further accelerate its rise on the HDI report.
She said the 2013 report put the spotlight on major shifts in the international discourse which had huge implications for human development.
She observed that for the first time since the industrial revolution, Brazil, China and India had a roughly equal output to the industrial nations of Europe and North America.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Samura Kamara said he was particularly delighted to co-host the country level launch of this year’s HDI report principally because it also gave an opportunity to examine trends in human development fortunes across the nations of the world.
“As partners of the global south Sierra Leone remains firmly committed to forging partnership in such areas as infrastructure, agriculture, education, energy, water, health, trade and investment under the flagship programmes of the Agenda for change and its sequel, the Agenda for prosperity with the view to improving the quality of life of every Sierra Leonean,” he said.
