By Donstance Koroma

It is a true honor to stand before you today reflecting on a journey that began over a decade ago with the ReBuild project, a journey that has shaped me both personally and professionally, and one that continues to impact the way I approch my role today as Minister of Technical and Higher Education .

We’re the words of Dr. Haja Ramatulai Wurie’s keynote on ReBuild for Resilience mini symposium, the Place Resort, Tokeh village, Western Rural District.

She continued that she had no idea what it meant to be a qualitative researcher when she first joined the ReBuild project.

“But what ReBuild did for me and for many others like me, was offer an opportunity for growth. The project didn’t just conduct research , it’s also invested in the people conducting the research” Dr.Wurie noted.

She disclosed that the project build her capacity, nurtured her curiosity and instilled in her an understanding of how qualitative research can unravel the complexities of health systems, especially in setting like Sierra Leone where systems resilience is not just theoretical but a matter of survival.

She further, through ReBuild, she learned to engage with communities, listen to stories that spoke of both suffering and resilience, and to find patterns that could inform better policy.

I learned that qualitative research wasn’t about simplying but about understanding the multifaceted dynamics of a health system that had experience shocks from conflict to epidemic, she said.

According to the minister, she found herself leading and collaborating on multiple research initiatives, that is, she continued, moving from an inexperienced researcher to serving as principal Investigator on several projects.

I understood that capacity building was not just an outcome,it was a driving force for sustainable change. It is this belief that inspired me to champion capacity building initiatives at the Sierra Leone medical school, ensuring that our institution became not just a beneficiary but a contributor to global health systems research, she stated.

Dr.Haja Ramatulai Wurie further disclosed that in 2022, her role took another turn when she became a Kofi Annan Global Health Leadership Fellow.

She discribed such an opportunity as incredible that further develop her leadership skills and deepen her understanding of what it’s means to manage and lead transformative health programs across Africa.

“ Shortly after completing the fellowship, I was appointed as Minister of Technical and Higher Education in Sierra Leone, a role she said allowed her to translate all of these experiences into broder national development “ Dr.Wurie.

Reflecting on my transition from being a health system strengthening researcher to serving as a minister, several key experiences like evidence based decision making, system thinking, Stakeholder engagement, capacity building and empowerment , resilience and problem solving, gender equality and social inclusion, long term vision among others has facilitated the shift.

She disclosed that as a minister, her experience as a multi disciplinary researcher has been invaluable.

I approach challenges in the education sector with the same systems thinking I learned through ReBuild, she added.

She further stated that the interconnectedness of research, policy and community engagement quides her work.

“ It is not enough to build infrastructure- we must build human capacity, it’s enough to create policies – we must ensures they are informed by evidence and shaped by those they are meant for, Dr.Wurie said.

She disclosed that one of the most significant aspects of her work has been developing a strategic plan to reform the Technical and Higher Education sector.

The said plan, she noted has at it core the principles of equity, inclusivity and sustainability.

She added that ReBuild for Resilience was more than a project, it was a family, a movement and a vision for a better future as the project equipped them with tools that she noted went beyond research methodologies and taught them how to navigate complexity, how to remain resilience and how to be both students and teachers.