BY IBRAHIM JOENAL SESAY
232NEWS, FREETOWN
The European Union funded project implemented by Movement for Assistance in Promotion of Rural Communities (MAPCO) has disclosed that 15, 800 families, 2000 young people, and 400 persons with disability have benefited from the skills development project.
The project supporting community development through vocational training for skills development, agricultural support, adult literary, loan scheme, and business development support for sustainable livelihoods of women, young people, and persons with disabilities is been implemented in Pujehun district, Southern, Sierra Leone.
During a weeklong joint stakeholders monitoring mission comprised of Members of Parliament (MP), CBO members, Village Development Committee (VDC), Ward Development Committee/ Ward Councilors, Paramount Chiefs, Civil Society Organizations, Legal Aid Board, Pujehun District Council and Ministry of Social Welfare in 19 communities in 9 wards and 9 Chiefdoms in Pujehun District are benefiting from the project, they urged the people to take ownership of the project.
MAPCO Program Manager, Abdul Karim Kamara aka AKK said among other things that the project which is helping people in the Pujehun District needs stakeholders’ ownership for development to continue into those communities and beyond because MAPCO will not continue to stay with them and whatever asset they have provided in these communities should be used effectively and efficiently.
“We will continue to engage EU because they funded the project; we want to thank them for such funding and all those that are supporting us,” he said.
AKK outlined their exit strategy and plans for Chiefdom Development Committees (CDCs), and disclosed that the project is a three year one that stared in November 2019 adding that it ended in October 2022 by empowering local communities in Sierra Leone.
He said that for the community engagement stakeholders should come around the community and assess the project.
“We look at what the project has done and we try to link it to the community. The project in Pujehun district covers 19 communities,” he said.
He said the objective of the project is to bring young people and women together as the project is led by women and geared towards good governance from community to local level followed by district to national level.
He pointed out that good governance starts at the community level so it is therefore incumbent to empower the community for them to be able to sit with their Councillors and discuss issues, which is the reason for the project.
That the project came with lots of packages such as loan for business people, farmers through seeds and adult literacy in which they are targeting 1,900 and 380 for vocational skills training for young people.
