By Bampia James Bundu
About 150 civil society organisations have assembled in Freetown to discuss progress in the implementation of pillars in the poverty reduction approach to development.
In September 2012, two organizations were elected by the wider civil society constituents to serve in the working group of each of the proposed eight pillars in the preparatory phase of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper 3 (PRSP III) tagged the ‘Agenda for Prosperity’.
According to a memorandum of understanding signed by the elected organisations, it was agreed that a progress report be given to the wider CSO constituents on a quarterly basis, highlighting contributions and interests of people in the PRSP 3.
The meeting observed that so far work had been done in the proposed eight pillars and the first draft had been submitted to the Core Technical Committee.
The gathering, which met at a one-day CSOs-pillar feedback session, aimed at allowing representatives to update their colleagues on their work within the Pillar Groups and to get feedbacks from the wider CSO constituents for possible recommendations to the core technical committee and to ensure the finalisation of the national document.
Non-state actor coordinator, Amadu Sidi Bah, informed his audience that citizens’ inputs were very important and commended the fact that the pillar working group members had lived up to expectations.
He added that civil society members must be willing to fill in priority gaps for the benefit of the nation, noting that there was a need to monitor and document issues in order to correct some of the mistakes made in the past, including CSOs failure to give a thorough assessment and report on the PRSP 2.
Program Director at ENCISS, Alpha Sankoh, told participants that agenda-setting was very important in policy-formulation.
He admonished them to ensure that the voices of the voiceless should be heard, while continuous stakeholders’ engagements, by making their priority areas become a reality in the document, were necessary.
Keynote speaker and policy analyst at State House, Dr. Sheku Kamara, described the PRSP 3 as a national document owned by all Sierra Leoneans.
“It is not a government document or any document developed by somebody, rather it is a national document that needs the effort of all, including civil society. Governments can come and go but CSOs stand forever,” he said.
He said the country was moving towards improving its finances and resource management for a brighter future.
The policy specialist said that CSOs had a great role to play to ensure the ‘Agenda for Prosperity’ was completed and its content implemented so that generations yet unborn would benefit.
