November 20, 2017 By Ibrahim K Turay
Group photo of OPAD members
The Organization for Poverty Alleviation and Development (OPAD) has yesterday officially launched its operations in Sierra Leone.
The occasion took place at the Leisure lodge, Aberdeen in Freetown.
Speaking during the launching ceremony, chairman of the programme, Dauda Tholley said Opad is launching its office in Sierra Lone at a time the country needed such kind of organisation.
He expressed delight that such organisation is coming to Sierra Leone after the country has experienced various turbulences ranging from Ebola to mudslide and flooding, saying that he believes opad Sierra Leone would help alleviate the suffering of people through its strategic programmes of social security, poverty alleviation amongst others.
Mr. Tholley added that in recent times, Sierra Leone was rated as the third poorest country in the world; a phenomenon he said was not good for the country.
International Coordinator, OPAD worldwide, Chernoh Bah, said the organisation is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization, stating that its actively works toward poverty eradication and alleviation by promoting human rights, climate change, and sustainable development.
“Our Mission is to mitigate the problems presented by poverty, promote positive climate change, and support international laws protecting humanitarian values across cultures,” he said.
Mr. Bah said OPAD was trying to reach out to all parts of the globe, hence decided to open an office in Sierra Leone by extension West African Region.
“We want to see how poverty can be reduced in Sierra Leone and the world. We are appealing to the government of Sierra Leone to help us with state land as we are planning to build schools, hospital amongst others across the country,” he said.
Mr. Chernoh Bah said the organisation already has offices in Europe, South America, Asia and Africa, and that their aim is to alleviate poverty through community driven activities for sustainable livelihood.
Nation Coordinator OPAD SL, Ishmael Sallieu Koroma, said the organization strives to see a world free from human rights abuses, ending poverty in all its forms and preserving the environments, amongst a host of others interventions, stressing that change will take place in the development strive of Sierra Leone.
OPAD Sierra Leone will be working in line with the OPAD Global, using national states actors and stakeholders to solving Sierra Leone’s social, political and economic problems.
Mr. Koroma assured all and sundry that they will be working with partners that are working in line with their thematic areas to develop the human power of the nation, thereby sending message to out of school children that OPAD is here for them.
HE expressed thanks and appreciation to OPAD worldwide for the trust bestowed on to steer the work of the organization in Sierra Leone and the entire West African Region as a whole.