Stakeholders on Thursday, 5th February held a one-day consultative Forum in Freetown on Action/2015 which seeks to fight against poverty, inequality and climate change. Youth Partnership for Peace and Development (YPPD) in collaboration in partnership with the Campaign for Good Governance (CGG) is coordinating this initiative at the national level together with the Action 2015 Taskforce.
The Forum was organized by Youth Partnership for Peace Development (YPPD) in collaboration with Campaign for Good Governance (CGG) at the Civil Service Training College in Freetown.
Sierra Leone Action/2015 Campaign Coordinator, Musa Ansumana Soko, said Action 2015 is a global movement of citizens set by various institutions around the world that hopes to build a global movement for change. ‘’In 2015, two inter-governmental processes on climate change and the post-2015 sustainable development agenda provide a powerful opportunity for collective and decentralized large-scale, public-facing actions aimed at compelling governments at all levels to commit to ambitious and transformative action to end poverty, address inequality and ensure sustainable development,’’ he said.
According to the Senior Planning Officer at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, M.K Lebbie, the high level participation of youths in the forum underscored the great importance they attached to the post 2015 development agenda. He said one needs to know that the world has undergone far-reaching changes in the past two years, adding that significant progress in many fields that are important for human welfare has been made through national and international efforts.
‘’Developing countries, including Sierra Leone, are still facing serious economic difficulties and an unfavorable international economic environment, and the number of people living in poverty has increased,’’ he stated.
Lebbie noted that the key challenges for government are to ensure that commitments by partners and private sectors are realised in a timely and transparent manner. Representative of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Aiah Wurie Kembay, stated that EPA-SL in an institution charged with the responsibility for the effective protection and management of Sierra Leone’s environment, adding that environment and development are in extricable. ‘’Development is a process of improving the quality of all human lives,” he said.
He said empowerment as a policy approach to sustainable development should be prioritized in all sectors within Sierra Leone.
Sahr Kendema of the Campaign for Good Governance (CGG) said development has been a relative term as most countries across the world share similar characteristic.
He said most of these countries are underdeveloped because the problem of poverty, inequality, environmental problems, injustice, accountability, rule of law and illiteracy has not been met.
He disclosed that most countries are yet to achieve all the goals set out in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).