November 25, 2021
The Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Francis Kai-Kai says the District Development Coordination Committee (DDCC) initiative is critical to addressing the problems of duplication, service delivery overlap and uncoordinated development interventions in the districts, thereby ensuring effective development accountability and reporting at local level.
He made this statement at the one-day orientation and further roll-out of the DDCC initiative to four (4) additional districts of Bo, Koinadugu, Kambia and Kono to continue deepening district development coordination across the country.
Minister Kai-Kai said the President Bio-led government was committed to the strengthening and sustainability of development coordination by making budgetary provision in the 2022-2023 national budget to sustain this initiative as permanent district coordination structures anchored in Local Councils.
He said with support from UNICEF, the Ministry through the National DDCC Secretariat would continue to provide robust oversight and technical backstopping to enhance the operations of DDCCs in these districts.
“Let me take this opportunity to extend government’s appreciation to our development partner UNICEF in supporting the revitalization and roll-out of DDCC in a total of 12 districts. DDCC implementation has been successful and I congratulate the leadership and all district stakeholders for their demonstrated commitment in re-energizing district development co-ordination”, he said.
Dr. Kai-Kai noted that the roll-out of the DDCC to four (4) additional districts was a critical milestone in the implementation of district development plans and the Medium-Term National Development Plan. He urged the leadership and management of the Local Council to fully own the DDCC concept and ensure it succeeds.
The Chief of Field Office, UNICEF, Andrew Tamba Sellu, on his part, expressed his delight at the effective functioning of the DDCC’s; noting that the discussions have rich, and the committees are becoming gradually stronger.
He said UNICEF commits its continued support to the DDCC initiative, adding that they would also continue attending the committee meetings as much as they could.
Sahr Yambasu, the Chief Administrator, Pujehun District Council, in his experience sharing response admonished the four (4) districts to implement the DDCC initiative by ensuring joint monitoring exercises were regularly conductors in order to bring everyone on board.
He encouraged them to always report DDCC meetings outcomes to the general council meetings and urged council staff to monitor and follow-up on outcomes from DDCC meetings.
The Deputy Director of Rural Development at MoPED presented on the DDCC initiative; Jusufu Kamanda, Head of Finance, MoPED also presented on the Reporting on the utilization and management of UNICEF funds whilst experience sharing and lessons learnt session were conducted by District Planning Officers from: Kailahun, Tonkilili, Moyamba and WARD-C.
Discussions on presentations and lesson learnt from districts with an already set-up DDCC structure were made on success stories, challenges, lessons learnt and recommendations on DDCC. This was to provide practical and useful insights to the four (4) districts for a successful roll-out.