December 3, 2015 By Memunatu Bangura in Kabala
Fambul Tok and Catalyst for Peace, in partnership with Koinadugu District Ebola Response Centre Tuesday, 1 December, ended a two-day district dialogue meeting to strengthen and embolden community leadership and capacity at the Koinadugu District Council hall in Wara Wara Yagala chiefdom, Koinadugu district.
Executive Director at Fambul Tok, John Caulker, said the meeting was a dialogue and provided space to talk on different ways to approaching the post-Ebola recovery plans of the country.
He said the government, non-governmental organisations and other development partners planning to take development to communities must first seek the consent of the community in order to maintain sustainable development.
Caulker said Fambul Tok would complement the effort of the government in the post-Ebola recovery programme and in maintaining zero Ebola in Sierra Leone.
He asserted that women and children suffered the most during the Ebola outbreak, adding that they must be included in the post-Ebola recovery plan and developmental programmes in their communities.
He said Fambul Tok had been advocating on behalf of communities, women and children for years and has moved to empowering communities to talk for themselves.
“Communities must be included in community development plans because they are the people using the facilities, so they should be involved,” Caulker said.
He recalled that after eleven years of brutal armed conflict in Sierra Leone, communities were broken because members were not included in the post-war planning, noting that the post-Ebola recovery plans would be different.
Host Paramount Chief, Gbahuru Mansaray III, said Fambul Tok had worked closely with the people of Koinadugu in maintaining peace and sanity in chiefdoms and the district as a whole, spanning years.
Chief Mansaray noted that but for the intervention of Fambul Tok after the war and during the Ebola oytbreak, communities in his chiefdom could have started a new round of conflict.
He pleaded with NGOs and other development partners to include local people in their planning and implementation in order to to achieve sustainable development.
District Officer in Koinadugu, Alfred Lahai, said Fambul Tok and other development partners were working assiduously in engaging communities in Koinadugu district to achieving ‘a people owned’ development.
He maintained that communities have a role to play in healing and repairing to achieve sustainable development in the district.
He urged residents to revive their communities and repair the country and to avoid duplication of projects that may lead to waste of resources and time.
Fambul Tok district chairlady, Balia Koroma, said women’s participation was critical in the post Ebola Recovery plans.
She said women and girls are the main users of basic facilities in communities, adding that NGOs and development partners must seek their consent before implementing projects meant to improve their lot.
“Women must be part of developmental plans, we are part of the community and we are mostly affected so we must be included in developmental projects,” she said.