An MP in the Parliamentary Committee on Development and Economic Planning, Hon. Unpha Sorie Koroma says: “poverty in Sierra Leone is man-made”.
The MP made the assertions during an engagement between UNFPA; Parliament and Civil Society Organizations, in a program sponsored by the Ministry of Development and Economic planning at the Administrative Building in Parliament.
According to Hon Koroma; SDG goal 1 speaks about reduction of poverty in Sierra Leone, adding that the country has not done much better in terms of poverty alleviation.
He said the government has good projects and policy actions to address the issues affecting Sierra Leoenans.
He said as MP from the opposition want some of these policies translated into to actions.
He spoke that the country must be able to boost some of these SDGs especially goal 5 which talks about Gender Equality.
The purpose of the engagement is for the relevant authorities to contribute to the 2024 Voluntary National Review on the Sustainable Development Goals in Sierra Leone.
According to the Ministry of Development and Economic planning every year the country will evaluate itself and give a status report at the UN level on how Sierra Leone is progressing on the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Ministry says the government through the Ministry of Development has reviewed the medium development plan by looking at the education especially on the areas of enrolment in schools, in the health sector with the infant mortality rate as well as reviewing all cases in the justice system which are all attached to SDGs.
The Ministry informed the media that as state guarantors they have made significant progress on sectorial targets linked to the SDGs.
The Ministry has also spoke on the challenges faced during the implementation of these SDGs.
“As a country we want to start the Voluntary National Review on the Sustainable Development Goals in Sierra at national and then cascade it to the district levels,” the Minister of Development and Economic planning said.
Some of these implementation arrangements for the SDGs point to the Feed Salone, Human Capital Development, Youth Empowerment Scheme; revamping public services architecture and the technology and infrastructure respectively.
In his statement the Member of Parliament from Tonkolili district, Hon Aruna Papay Larkoh commented on SDGs goal 10 and 5 and how Sierra Leone had made progress on of those SDGs over the years.
He also highlighted some challenges in the implementation of these SDGs.
The Chairman of the Committee on Development and Economic planning in Parliament, Hon Peter Yamba Koroma pointed out the significance of the engagement and how it would ignite the zest for proper implementation of the SDGs.
But some members during the engagement also outlined how Sierra Leone is behind schedule and spoke on focusing relevant policies implementation on gender mainstreaming and why gender equality matters.
They also deliberated on universal access to information, the wellbeing of children and adolescents among others.
And many Representatives from Parliament, CSOs and other agencies committed to working with each other to ensure that these goals are addressed especially at community levels.