Leh we make Salone grow! Issue 5

Leh we make Salone grow!
The President 's Recovery Priorit ies New slet t er / w w w.president srecoverypriorit ies.gov.sl / Issue 2 2017
The President?s Recovery Priorities represent a multi-sectoral investment programme, led by the Government of Sierra Leone, focused on
education, energy, governance, health, private sector development, social protection and water. The programme is intended to drive sustainable
socio-economic transformation in Sierra Leone following the twin shocks of the Ebola Virus Epidemic and falling iron ore prices.
Message from Saidu Cont on-Sesay, t he Chief of St aff
In this issue, we are delighted to
bring readers a feature by Dr.
Minkailu Bah, the Minister of
Education, Science and
Technology, in which he sets out
his ministry?s strategy to
modernise the teaching
profession and education
sector, that is being delivered
under the President?s Recovery
Priorities. There is also news about an onion farming pilot
that is making steady progress; information on the
Freetown Dry Season Water Supply Backup Plan and an
update on the progress of the work to upgrade the
Western area electricity network.
The public sector is our country?s biggest service provider
and improving public service delivery positively impacts
millions of people. As we move into the final four months
of the President?s Recovery Priorities, the benefits of our
systematic approach to tracking and monitoring public
service delivery have become increasingly apparent.
The tracking and monitoring process used by the
President?s Delivery Team to ensure quality public service
delivery, is unique to Sierra Leone in that it is a
customer-centric model that combines the complementary
capabilities and cultures of the public and private sectors
with our traditional and local government structures.
Technology has been a key enabler, but so have our
traditional structures and national know-how. A
customised computer programme analyses data from the
MDAs and implementing partners and compares it with
physical on-the-spot checks conducted at a local level by
on-the-ground personnel, including Section Chiefs. Its
development called for national and international
experience, as well as central and district expertise.
In this issue of ?Leh we make Salone grow!?, we explain how
the country?s Paramount and Section Chiefs have been
integrated into this service delivery model. Currently 52%
of initiatives involved in the President?s Recovery Priorities
can be verified by data and in our next issue, we will look at
the importance of capturing reliable and verifiable data to
track the progress of initiatives.
Leh we make Salone grow!
Local onion product ion t o help reduce im port s
Sierra Leone spends around
$12M annually to import onions.
Onions however can grow well in
our climate, and are among the
crops targeted by the President?s
Recovery Priorities to provide
10,000 agricultural jobs across
key value chains.
Eight districts are benefitting from a one-year pilot
programme for onion production which started in
November 2016. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and
Food Security has provided farmers in Bombali, Port Loko,
Bo, Tonkolili, Moyamba, Bonthe, Pujehun and the Western
Area with ten tons of onion seedlings and other agricultural
inputs like fertilisers and watering cans, to cultivate 97 acres
of onion farms. Harvesting will begin in April 2017.
Explaining the economic potential of the project, Henry
Kargbo, the Director of Crops at the Ministry of Agriculture
said: ?Current demand for onions far exceeds local supply.
It is estimated that the pilot project will produce 2,000
metric tons (about 12%) of the 18,0000 metric tons
imported annually.?

Dry season w at er supply plan for Freet ow n.
He assured the audience of the Government?s
commitment to ensuring safe water for Freetown?s
population. ?We are fully conscious of the responsibility
we bear to Freetown and its people. We are fully
conscious of the social and economic impact of the dry
season on households in the city. The key focus of the Dry
Season Water Supply Backup Plan is to ensure a coherent
and integrated response that mitigates these. If all the
men and women of Freetown work with us to make this
plan a success, the measures we have put in place will
support us through this challenging period.?
Flexibility to tackle urgent public service delivery needs has
been built into the design of the President?s Recovery Priorities
process. Working with the President?s Delivery Team, the
Ministry of Water Resources (MWR) and Guma Valley Water
Company (GVWC) have developed a comprehensive dry
season plan in collaboration with the UNDP, DFID, and
UNICEF to manage water supply in Freetown.
The Minister of Water Resources, Momodu Maligi
launched the 2017 Freetown Dry Season Water Supply
Backup Plan at Baoma in Goderich on 31st January 2016,
during a ceremony to hand over the community?s new
solar-powered borehole. The solar-powered borehole is
one of twenty-two around Freetown, that are being
fast-tracked as part of the plan.
Speaking at the launch, the Minister thanked stakeholders
such as development partners, the Ministry of Finance and
Economic Development, the Sierra Leone Water Company,
the President?s Delivery Team, Strategy and Policy Unit,
Freetown WASH Consortium and all of Freetown?s
councillors and community stakeholders for being part of
the planning process.
The 2017 Freetown Dry Season Water Supply Backup Plan
was developed as part of the President?s Recovery
Priorities process. Learning from the experience of
previous dry seasons, MOWR and GVWC started planning
in September last year, to ensure that regular access to
safe water around Freetown would be maintained.
The plan entails implementation of a robust water
rationing schedule to ensure that water supplied through
the network is equitably distributed around the city.
Additional water sources include the construction of
twenty-two new boreholes in areas like Gloucester,
Leicester, Old Wharf, Calaba Town, Allen Town, Wellington
and Kissy. These complement a programme of
rehabilitating 20 existing boreholes and protected wells,
and the construction of four industrial boreholes in
Babadorie, Brookfields and Kissy.
Communities not connected to the GVWC network will be
kept supplied with water by bowsers. To reduce the
significant water loss resulting from ?created leaks?or pipe
cutting, dedicated rapid response teams have been
established to monitor and repair leaking pipes quickly
and efficiently along the ten zones in Freetown, and a
freephone number - 246 - set up to allow the public to
report any concerns.
He outlined the complex causes of the city?s water
shortages saying: ?The Guma Dam is the source of 98% of
Freetown?s water. It is backed up by other smaller sources
? Allen Town, White Water, Blue Water and Babadorie.
Freetown?s dilapidated water supply infrastructure and the
severe environmental degradation of crucial water
catchment zones around dams like Guma Valley and
Babadorie, mean that current water supply cannot reliably
meet the needs of Freetown?s rapidly expanding
population.
Added to this is the widespread practice of cutting water
pipes or ?created leaks? which allows 40% of the water
supplied by Guma Valley to be wasted.?

Tow ards a m odernised educat ion syst em w hich can m eet t he challenges
and opport unit ies of our fut ure
By Dr. Minkailu Bah, the Minister of Education, Science and Technology
Our population is a
young one - over
40% is below 15
years old. An
increasingly
youthful
population is not
exclusive to Sierra
Leone. Africa has
more people aged
under 20 than
anywhere in the
world. UNICEF
estimates that over
the next four
decades, 40% of
the world?s children
and roughly 25% of
the global
population will be
in Africa. The possible implications of this trend have
polarised commentators. One camp frames our youthful
populations as a great opportunity; the other as a great
risk. In the first scenario, our youth bulge is a competitive
advantage that sets us apart from industrialised countries,
many of which have rapidly aging populations.
Those who take the opposite position argue that in an
environment of unemployment, low wages, and the need
for substantial ongoing investment in health, education,
and infrastructure, our overwhelmingly youthful
population is a potentially significant risk to political and
economic stability.
For my Ministry and its stakeholders in the education
sector, this is a time of great challenge, responsibility and
opportunity. We know that education has the power to
change nations. It can help prevent poverty and social
exclusion, ensure human and civic values are maintained
and help tackle all forms of discrimination. Educated
citizens have the necessary skills to succeed in the labour
market. They are key to improved economic growth and
employment in Sierra Leone and in the sub-region.
Progress in recent years has been encouraging.
Seventy-six percent of students finish primary school,
which is above the average for Sub-Saharan Africa, and
77% of these advance to JSS level. Yet too many of our
young people, especially in rural areas, still lack adequate
access to really high quality learning and teaching.
Take for example, the high level of repetition in primary
schools. At 15.6%, this indicates a need to increase the
quality of our teaching and schools. The Ministry of
Education, Science and Technology and the Teaching
Service Commission are collaborating with national and
international stakeholders and partners, to accelerate the
modernisation of our education system. As part of this
strategy, a Le257 billion ($34.3 million) investment in a
series of urgent initiatives is being delivered under the
President?s Recovery Priorities.
These are intended to rapidly improve learning outcomes.
They include the construction of 500 classrooms in
schools across the country to reduce severe over-crowding
in the worst affected schools; visiting schools nationwide
to ensure they meet standards to be certified as
Government approved; and a national school-feeding
programme for all GoSL/GoSL assisted primary schools.
The Accelerated Teaching syllabi that we produced in
August 2015, was a successful response to the time lost
due to Ebola. We are building on this with new lesson
plans in language arts and mathematics, across all
primary and JSS school grades. These give teachers the
support they need to cover each element of the national
curriculum and are complemented with training for
in-service teachers.
Our teachers are the backbone of a strong and vibrant
education system and the Teachers? Payroll Verification
and School Mapping Exercise will help our work in this
area. It will support MEST in capturing, protecting and
providing reliable information in the electronic
environment. It is a critical step towards a strong financial
and information management system which will lead to
more effective teacher remuneration and professional
development. This is essential to ensuring that we are
allocating teaching and learning resources appropriately,
where, how and to whom they are most needed. MEST
also uses a Situation Room to monitor progress at an
individual school level using indicators such as: pupil and
teacher attendance, condition of WASH facilities, and
school feeding, etc. This allows us to identify and resolve
impediments to teaching and learning. The successful
implementation of these initiatives will give the education
sector an even stronger base from which we can progress
towards the goals that we set out in the Agenda for
Prosperity.

Four t ransform ers arrive as part of w ork t o upgrade Freet ow n?s elect ricit y net w ork
The rapid construction of the 66kV Wellington Express line
ensured that 26,000 customers in the Western Area, remained
connected to power during upgrades to the local network.
Work continues with the arrival of four transformers earlier
this year.
On Tuesday 24th January 2017, a special cargo ship
docked at Queen Elizabeth Quay to offload four custom
built transformers. These will support, the President?s
Recovery Priorities?initiative to double operational power
generation capacity from 75MW to 150M. The largest of
them is 40MVA while the other three are 20MVA each.
They will be installed in four locations - Kingtom,
Wilberforce, Ropoti, and Wellington. it is expected they
will increase the transfer capacity of the distribution and
transmission system; boosting EDSA?s operational and
commercial performance and supporting access to
electricity across the Western Area.
transformers will break down and convert energy supplied
from hydro and thermal sources to a required minimum
before transmitting to homes, businesses and offices:
?This is a very important step in our energy sector
strategy. These transformers will not only provide quality
electricity but also connect more customers and provide
backups in times of power outages in the city,? he said.
According to Henry Macauley, the Energy Minister, the
President ?s Delivery Team enlist s Sect ion Chiefs t o support dist rict delivery
In Kholifa Rowalla Chiefdom in Tonkolili, Old Town Section
Chief Amadu Lakkoh has full details on the new
classrooms that are being built for TDC Girls? Primary
School. The work is expected to be completed by 30th
June this year. Chief Amadu Lakkoh can check up on the
progress because the President?s Delivery Team has
shared this information with him.
As part of a strategy to further decentralise the President?s
Recovery Priorities process and verify public service
delivery in the districts, the President?s Delivery Team is
sharing detailed section level information on a number of
initiatives to be delivered by the Ministries of Health;
Education, Science and Technology; Water Resources; and
Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security. So like all the
other section chiefs in the country, Chief Amadu Lakkoh
also has precise information on boreholes, toilets, and
insecticidal nets, if and when reforestation will occur, or
drying floors will be constructed, which schools are
entitled to school feeding and a range of other indicators.
This allows the section chiefs to track delivery and report
any issues such as delays or other challenges, to the
President?s Delivery Team.
Eighty-three percent of donor funding for the President?s
Recovery Priorities goes directly from the funding partners
to implementing partners. Encouraging the Section Chiefs
to personally verify that these implementing partners
have carried out the work they have been contracted to, is
an important strategic development that supports
improvements in public service delivery, increases
confidence in the President?s Recovery Priorities process
and its data, and empowers the district governance
structure. Towards the end of last year, the President?s
Delivery Team organised a tour of the districts where
district representatives from the Ministries of Water
Resources; Education, Science and Technology and
Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security, shared detailed
information on initiatives taking place under the
President?s Recovery Priorities, with Paramount Chiefs and
their Section Chiefs.
Between 22nd November and 9th December, the PDT
visited 12 districts. At these events, 830 pages of targets
at chiefdom and section level were distributed to 141
Paramount Chiefs or their representatives and 997
Section Chiefs or their representatives. Chiefs heard
presentations from priority sector MDA personnel and
were able to share feedback and concerns. Many had
never before received such detailed information on public
service initiatives in their communities.
Commenting on the further decentralisation of the
President?s Recovery Priorities, Saidu Conton-Sesay, Chief
of Staff, says that the inclusion of traditional structures
into the public service delivery process increases its
likelihood of success: ?The traditional governance
structure is an important reference point for large
sections of the district population. It allows us to cascade
important information on the Recovery Priorities into the
districts as well as receive valuable feedback and verified
data from the ground. By incorporating our Chiefdom
structures within the President?s Recovery Priorities, we
create a better environment for successful public sector
delivery.?