The Young Men Christian Association (YMCA) Sierra Leone, has held it 7th Triennial Business meeting of it National Council of the association at the Dohas Conference Hall in Bo on November 21st 2015.
The meeting was attended by delegates from the east, south, north and western (rural and urban) regions on the theme: “Troubled but not Destroyed.”
The YMCA is an ecumenical Christian Association enhancing the capacity of young people in Sierra Leone, using collaborative approaches for self-reliance and holistic development with it vision: Empowering Young People for the African Renaissance.
The Triennial meeting brings the national council together every three years to receive reports of the performance of its officers and institutions, do presentations and adopt the reviewed version of its constitution, and give fresh mandate by way of election of officers who are tasked with the responsibility of upholding the vision and mission of the association for another three years term and detailing successes achieved, challenges faced and evaluates the overall health of the association.
Resolutions were also approved in dedication to continued service to humanity especially young people in their various communities in order to transform their lives and they in turn contribute to societal development.
Also in this year’s meeting, one of the strong changes in the constitution which was adopted by delegates is the issue of terms of office of their officers. It had been adopted by delegates that they will be holding their business meetings where elections of officers will be conducted in every four years which automatically changes from triennial (every three years) to quadrennial (every four years).
Delivering the association’s report for 2012-2015, the National General Secretary, Christian Martyn Kamara said many new developments, extraordinary events and desperate moments occurred in Sierra Leone, with particular reference to the outbreak of ebola that caused them as an Association to alter their operational plans and re-direct their energies, human and financial resources to curb its spread.
He said the outbreak of the ebola disease succeeded in scaling down their operations, giving them the opportunity to join the fight in eradicating the virus from the country, adding that their programmes were skewed towards supporting communities to cope with the spread of the outbreak through social mobilization, focused on prevention from contracting the virus and supply of food and non-food items.
Mr. Kamara said the theme of the meeting was deliberately chosen in not only addressing the current reality as a country but also in reflecting on the association’s common challenges; financial constrains to support staff remuneration, provision of emergency support and meeting other unbudgeted operational costs occasioned by the outbreak of the virus, adding that consequently, most programme activities were put on hold.
He lamented that in spite of the recent challenges, the Association strived to maintain its relevance by initiating and churning their activities, projects and programmes to meet with the changing and competitive world.
Addressing delegates during the business meeting, the National Chairman for the year 2012-2015, Mr. Ethelbert Tejan, who has been elected again as Chairman of the association for 2015-2019 said one of the objectives of the meeting is to give account of their stewardship, explaining that when they took up the mantle of leadership as a team in 2012-2015, they promised to deliver on certain thematic areas “and I am sure we lived up to those promises.”
“Nationally, we are high up on the Government of Sierra Leone development agenda. Internationally, we continue to epitomize good leadership, accountability and development. This has yielded more funding allocation by our partners in our quest to relocate the National Headquarter and towards our infrastructural development initiative.
The the incoming Executive which constitutes: Ethelbert Tejan, National Chairman; Foday Musa, Deputy National Chairman; Aiah Kpakiwa, National Treasurer and David Kamanda, Deputy National Treasurer thanked it delegates and pledged allegiance to continue to expand on their reach and ensure that their vision is strictly sustained.
By Emmanuella Kallon
November 24, 2015
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