In fulfilment of a promise made at a workshop in Dakar, Senegal, representatives from Liberia are on a visit to Sierra Leone to learn best practices of the country’s Civil Society Platform in the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) initiative.
At a stakeholders’ meeting at SUN Secretariat yesterday at the Vice President’s Office, the Head of Department, Health and Nutrition, Action Contre La Faim (ACF), Ellen Poolman Manuweera said, “we are here to learn some lessons in order to have a better understanding of what we should do or should not do in Liberia (in the establishment of our Platform.)”
She explained that Sierra Leone and Liberia share outstanding commonalities in terms of governance structure, culture and the like, adding that ACF is also in Sierra Leone and has been very supportive in the establishment of the Civil Society Alliance (CSA).
“We are here to see what challenges the CSA in Sierra Leone has been able to overcome and we can learn from these challenges and those lessons learnt in order to establish an effective CSA in Liberia,” she explained.
Wondering if cultural dynamics might affect their findings, Ellen said, “it is up to us to conceptualize what would and would not work in Liberia,” also adding, “we would like to see to what extent we can expect the same challenges and what other challenges we may face that might have not surfaced in Sierra Leone.”
In an interview with ACORD’s Administrative Officer, Mulbah Forkpa explained that Liberia has become part of the SUN movement, a global initiative that has elevated nutrition in every country’s agenda. “What we seek to do is to ensure that the CSA is organized and demanding from government to adhere to the commitment they have made and must be pursued to the letter. However, we don’t have the necessary structures, so what we are doing is to learn from other countries; Sierra Leone, being our neighbours has already setup a platform, hence we think we can replicate it in Liberia to our due advantage.”
We are going to learn examples that we can apply in our situation, those needed modification would be modified to meet our needs.
In sharing some of Sierra Leone’s experiences, Focus 1000 Chief Executive Officer, Mohamed Jalloh advised the knowledge seekers that they must ensure that they make the process all inclusive, adding that “role of the different parties must be well articulated.”
SUN Secretariat, Dr. Mohamed Foh explained that the fact that the SUN Secretariat is in the office of the Vice President shows the premium the government of Sierra Leone places on the initiative. He added that one of the major challenges is finance; nevertheless, he said Sierra Leone has done extremely well in dropping stunt rate from 34.1% to 28.8%.
The Director of Foods and Nutrition in the Ministry of Health, Aminata Shamit Koroma also advised that relevant ministries must be involved in the process.
Thursday November 19, 2015
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