Catalyst for Peace partnered with the Government of Sierra Leone and the International Peace Institute to hold a side event in September at the United Nations General Assembly entitled: An Agenda for the People by the People: Consolidating Peace and Advancing Development in Sierra Leone.
The event included a panel presentation that featured the National Framework for Inclusive Development and Local Governance. The Framework grew out of long-term work Fambul Tok and Catalyst for Peace developed in partnership with communities in Sierra Leone that puts inclusive community structures at the heart of peace, development and local governance.
The key government ministries that have been central to the Government’s leadership in the Framework were all represented on the panel: Francess Alghali, Minister of State; Tamba Lamina, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development; and Dr. Francis Mustapha Kaikai, Minister of Planning and Economic Development. They each shared how the process outlined in the Framework has already shown promising results in the pilot communities and their commitment to rolling it out nationally.
John Caulker, Executive Director of Fambul Tok and Libby Hoffman, President of Catalyst for Peace shared the conceptual framework and the organizing process and structures at the community and district levels that ensure development priorities are truly community led. The answers are there, right in the communities that need them is a foundational principle for the work and the organizing process that invites communities to come together and identify the issues, resources and strategy for moving forward. The long-term success of this model requires those at every level, from communities, to local government to national government, international agencies and donors to see themselves as part of whole connected system that works together for the good of the communities as defined by the communities themselves.
Jimena Leiva Roesch, Senior Fellow at IPI moderated the panel and offered a global perspective on how this inclusive framework stands out as a lived example of what it looks like to put the UN Sustainable Development Goals into practice. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) offered a regional perspective and his support for Sierra Leone’s leadership.
To read more from IPI to see a video of the event, follow the following link:
“Repairing the Cup”—Consolidating Peace and Advancing Development in Sierra Leone
