A three-day distribution of about one thousand three hundred Sanitary materials/Dignity Kits to eight selected secondary and primary schools across the Western Area has on Monday 11th October, 2021 been launched by the Guma Valley Water Company and the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs at the Government Secondary School, Kingtom as part of the Freetown WASH & Aquatic Environment Revamping Project.
The beneficiary schools include Government Secondary School (Kingtom), Sengbe Pieh Secondary School, Angola Town Primary School, Kaningo Primary School, Mountain Rural Secondary School, Bishop Johnson Memorial Secondary School, FAWE Secondary School, etc.
Speaking on the objective of the Launch and background to the Freetown WASH & Aquatic Environment Revamping Project (WASHERP), the Deputy Managing Director of Guma Valley Water Company, Ing. Francis Lahai stated that the project aims at contributing 15% increase in access to safe water supply and 7% increase in access to improved sanitation in Sierra Leone.
He said the project also includes measures to institutionalise the Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) approach and in particular provide for sustainable management of the Freetown peninsular water-shed.
“We are working together in a concerted effort to ensure the success of getting more water in the future. Our target for the year 2050 is to have three times the capacity that we have today. Today’s capacity is 90,000 cubic meters a day. But then we want to go to 300,000 cubic meters a day supply, not only for Freetown City Council area, but also the Western Area Rural District”, Ing. Lahai asserted.
The Guma Deputy Chief added that the project which cost about $ 192 million and is expected to run for five years is funded by 8 agencies including the African Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, Saudi Fund for Development, Kuwaiti Fund, Netherlands Development Agency, Green Climate Fund, ECOWAS Bank for International Development and the Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone, as the beneficiary agency, which is also contributing a very substantial part to the success of the program.
Ing. Lahai asserted that when the project is completed, there will be increased water supply and improved sanitation and waste disposal facilities. He said the waste disposal facilities at Kingtom and Kissy will be relocated and there will be waste transfer stations across the city.
Ing. Lahai continued that the launch of the Sanitary Kits is to raise awareness that there has to be a correlation between sanitation, waste management and water supply: “without a clean, safe source of water nearby it is nearly impossible for communities to have adequate sanitation facilities or practice good hygiene. Likewise, without proper sanitation and hygiene, safe water will become contaminated and water projects will no longer work to improve health”.
In his statement, the Director of Gender at the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affair, Mr. Charles Vandy spoke about the Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women Bill which was approved by Cabinet on 26th July, 2021, and is now awaiting parliamentary debates and possible enactment. “Once this bill is enacted, it will advance gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in Sierra Leone”.
Mr. Vandy added that the proposed bill commitment seeks to minimize incidences of GBV in the country and strengthen the mechanisms that protect women and children; improve women’s human rights by enhancing their access to justice through improved knowledge of their rights, legal reforms and enhancement of the capacity of law enforcement agencies; improve Sierra Leonean women’s access to political leadership and decision-making at all levels; encourage sectorial ministries to ensure the integration of gender-oriented goals into fiscal policies, processes and programmes and meaningful resource allocation focusing on women’s needs.
Giving the Keynote address, the Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Nimatulai Bah Chang said the Freetown WASH and Aquatic Environment Revamping Project has decided to work very closely with the President’s flagship program – the free quality education on which Government is spending 22% of the national budget and also, with the office of the First Lady, in terms of prevention of violence against the girl child and their retention in school so as to be at par with their male counterparts in schools and in the country as a whole.
“So, what we are doing on this project is actually collaborating with the office of the first Lady, who has gone nationwide in providing free sanitary pads for our girls, but we realized that not all schools have so far benefitted and this is an opportunity to reach out to some of those schools especially in the Western Area to get their own sanitary kits”.
Madam Bah Chang commended the office of the First Lady for wonderful work she is doing and also thanked the project’s implementing agencies – Guma, Ministries of Gender and Children Affairs, Health and Sanitation, Freetown City Council, Western Area Rural District Council and other partners for making the launch a reality by ensuring that girls stay in school and become high achievers in society.
The International Day of the Girl Child is observed on October 11 every year, following a United Nations General Assembly Resolution in 2011, with the aim of promoting the rights of girls and addressing the unique challenges faced by girls globally.