Plan Sierra Leone and its partners on Tuesday officially launched its Child Survival and Development project at the Port Loko District Council Hall, Port Loko.
Country Director, Plan Sierra Leone, Augustine Allieu said like any other developing country, access to adequate and quality healthcare continued to be of concern both to the government and its development partners. He said in spite of government’s laudable free healthcare initiative, the country still had among the highest infant and maternal mortality levels in the world. He said that the Millennium Development Goals for reducing child and maternal mortality (MDGs 4 & 5) were unlikely to be met by 2015. He pointed out that although communities around the country shared those experiences, the situation in Port Loko District needed particular attention because there was inadequate geographic coverage of public healthcare services in the district, adding that the district had a poor vaccination distribution system which prevented the timely availability of medicines.
Allieu noted that the overall objectives of the project were twofold: to contribute towards the reduction of maternal and under-five mortality within Port Loko District and to improve the health, cognitive, physical, mental, behavioural and social development of children that are under the age of five in the district. He said the project aimed at increasing access to improved basic health and early childhood care and development in the eleven chiefdoms of Port Loko District. He added that the project aimed at improving the quality of maternal and child healthcare and early childhood care and development services in line with the global objective of the call to contribute to the improvement of the health status of the entire population in Sierra Leone.
The Plan Sierra Leone’s Country Director pointed out that the project would focus on pregnant women, parents and children with the object to improving their health and increasing their participation and engagement with formal healthcare structures while the men would be targeted through pilot fathers’ groups in order to improve their understanding of the benefits of increased gender equality in childcare and development. He said the project would be a partnership between local authorities and civil society organisations working in the health sector.
In his overview of the project, Plan Sierra Leone’s Programme Unit Manager, Port Loko District, Mustapha Kai-Swaray said the project was launched against the backdrop of the following four key challenges in the district: widespread child abuse; inadequate early childhood care and lack of learning facilities; poor performance and dropping out of school by children; and malnutrition and hunger. He said the expected result of the project would include the provision of improved antenatal child survival and development care services; increased geographical coverage of public care services; and improved gender sensitivity, accountability and responsiveness of health service providers.
Plan in the Netherlands’ Resource Mobilization Officer, Meghann Halfmoon underscored the point that Plan Sierra Leone was very capable and experienced with strong capacity in grant management. She said having managed seven European Union (EU) grants with support from the European Plan offices, Plan Sierra Leone had built a good and reliable relationship with the EU delegation, which she said was fundamental in supporting the project through the implementation process.
Halfmoon said the child survival and development project in Port Loko was built using the core of the two successful EU-funded projects in Moyamba and Kailahun. She said a strong gender component was then integrated because Plan and its partners were convinced that the role of men and boys was as important as that of women and girls to realise real change.
Plan is an international child-centered humanitarian organisation operating in 68 countries, devoid of religious, political or governmental affiliation with its Sierra Leone office established 37 years ago. Plan implements projects in child protection, health, education, water and sanitation, livelihood, income generation, and cross-cultural communication. Plan’s vision is of a world in which all children realize their full potential in society that respect people’s rights and dignity.
