By Ralph Sesay
President Bio has told the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly that development and poverty eradication must be well-planned, inclusive, sustainable, and must transition our nation out of fragility.
The President who was speaking on Thursday, 26th September 2019 in New York in his capacity as Chairman of the Committee of Ten for the Reform of the United Nations Security Council, told UNGA that to this end, his country has partnered with United Nations’ Agencies and development partners to understand the dynamics and severity of poverty, and map out possible approaches to eradicating poverty, SDG 1.
This, according to him, has culminated in the production of a national multi-dimensional Poverty Index, a report on multidimensional child poverty and Sierra Leone’s Population Policy in order to effectively measure and monitor.
‘’The aspirations of Sierra Leoneans are reflected in a detailed and costed Five-Year Medium-Term National Development Plan, titled ‘’Education for Development’’.
The Plan, aligned with the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union’s Agenda 2063, is based on an inclusive nationwide consultative process,’’ President Bio disclosed.
The plan, according to the President, ensures that Sierra Leoneans are at the centre and own the country’s national development trajectory.
The President emphasized that ‘eradicating poverty can only be achieved when we develop and improve on our nations’ greatest resource – the people.
Skilled, healthy, and productive human beings, he noted, are the pathways to global success and prosperity.
As a nation, the President added, we see human capital development as a critical enabler for achieving the SDGs.
‘’My government has therefore allocated 21% of the national budget to education. Consequently, pre-primary to secondary school education is free irrespective of gender, ability, or ethnicity and we now have 2 million children enrolled in schools.
We have expanded opportunities in education for girls by creating safe spaces in schools, campaigning vigorously against early marriage, sexual and gender-based violence,’’ the President disclosed.
President Bio recounted that girls admitted to study STEM disciplines in colleges in Sierra Leone are guaranteed scholarships.
Technical and vocational education centres are now accessible to more Sierra Leonean girls and youth.
‘’We are investing more in school infrastructure, transportation, sanitation and health, feeding and retention programs. We are re-structuring and re-designing our education system to deliver quality education that serves inclusive, sustainable, national and private sector development,’’ the President stated.
President Bio furthered that the focus is to achieve fundamental, age-appropriate learning outcomes in literacy, computational skills and critical thinking.
Through the Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation, the President noted that Sierra Leone has developed a Human Capital Development Incubator with extensive real-time data on education in Sierra Leone and other components of our human capital development flagship programme.
‘Policy interventions and investments in education, healthcare and food security, are increasingly informed by and driven by this real-time data’, the President stated.
He intimated the Assembly that Sierra Leone continues to use the power of data to plan, make policy decisions, allocate resources, guide governance, open new possibilities for private entrepreneurship and drive human capital development.
He concluded by entreating UNGA that Sierra Leone is open to partnerships; open to collaboration; and also open to ideas about how to continue improving the quality of education largely because government believes that our success in a global digital economy in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, is predicated on our investment in the future of our children.
The President who is currently leading a high-powered delegation to the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly is also participating together with his delegation in the margins of the UNGA by holding meetings on Climate Change and Universal Health issues.