Sierra Leone

Your Excellency, Vice-President Berewa,
distinguished members of the Cabinet,
distinguished Government officials,
distinguished representatives of bilateral and multilateral organizations,
distinguished Civil Society representatives,
ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to address this meeting. On behalf of my colleagues in the UN System, I wish to extend our congratulations on convening this meeting of the Development Partnership Committee. We believe that regular DEPAC meetings contribute to enhance the dialogue between all the partners and they help strengthen the Government’s leadership role in the coordination of development and peace building initiatives.

On the side of the United Nations System, we have now concluded the formulation of our Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) for the period 2008-2010 and we see this as an indication of our confidence in the stability and future of Sierra Leone. The UNDAF is the result of the forward-looking strategic dialogue that we have maintained with the Government and I specifically refer to the initial consultations that we had with you, Mr. Vice-President, in March 2006 to initiate this process. In addition to our confidence in the future of Sierra Leone, our dialogue is also premised on national ownership, a realistic assessment of what the United Nations System can do, a deliberate focus on few priorities, the importance of peace building, the crucial role of strong development partnerships, and the over-riding imperative to work towards gender equality and women empowerment.

With respect to the empowerment of women, I was particularly touched by the strong message from the women of Sierra Leone, delivered on the commemoration of International Women’s Day a few days ago, and their call for the effective improvement of the human rights situation of women in Sierra Leone.

It is also part of our vision that we will focus on specific measures to enhance Government’s capacity to broaden and deepen the policy dialogue, to enact critical legislation, and to improve the delivery of basic services. We are also ready to contribute to an improved policy dialogue between Government and all donors by convening a one day retreat in the very near future, preferably in Bonthe, to further discuss issues of trust, respect and a better understanding of each side’s constraints. We should focus on how we can strengthen partnerships to reach results in the crucial areas of accelerated programme and project disbursements, predictable funding, public accountability, and capacity building in the critical institutions. These issues are essential to achieve poverty reduction. That retreat may also help to forge a common approach to an Aid Policy. It may thus be a relevant step in the Aid Policy formulation process.

I would be negligent if I did not here refer to the successful voter registration that has just been completed, and to congratulate the people of Sierra Leone with the high degree of participation in the voter registration process. While the final figures are not yet available, the preliminary results indicate that 85% of eligible persons did register. This is by far one of the best performances for countries in a similar phase of peace consolidation and development, as Sierra Leone.

Mr. Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen, I again welcome the opportunity to be part of a positive and forward-looking dialogue on the many development and peace building challenges that bring us together here today.

Thank you.