December 8, 2021
The New Officer-in-Charge for the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA) Sierra Leone, Ibrahim Sambuli, has on the 7th December,2021 said the UNFPA will continue to give all the support required to ensure the successful conduct of the 2021 Mid-Term Population and Housing Census that was recently proclaimed by His Excellency President Dr. Julius Maada Bio.
He made this statement during a courtesy visit on Sierra Leone’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Francis Kai-Kai, at his Tower Hill Office, in Freetown.
“We want to assure the Government of Sierra Leone of our ongoing commitment to providing the required funding and technical expertise for this 2021 Mid-Term Census. We also want the Minister to suggest ways of improving our relationship with government going forward,” he noted.
Mr. Sambuli expressed his delight at the ongoing regional popularization and awareness raising campaigns on the National Population Policy of 2018 conducted together with the Ministry. He continued to remind the Government of its commitments made at the 25th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD25) held in Nairobi, Kenya on the 12th November 2019.
In his response, Minister Kai-Kai welcomed the new Representative Ad-Interim in supporting the government, noting that the UNFPA has been an important organization to work with, adding that the government valued its relationship with UNFPA.
He said despite the delay the government had started implementing the commitments made at the ICPD25 Summit in Nairobi and that the respective government Ministries, especially the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs were fully supporting the process in achieving these commitments, even though the COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose a serious threat.
Commenting on the Mid-Term Housing and Population Census, Dr. Kai-Kai noted that it was a critical activity for the government, adding that the government continues to be grateful for the support that UNFPA provides in facilitating the successful conduct of the census.
“We are very happy that the Census is a primary activity for the UNFPA and you coming in with such expertise was something I expected. I am looking forward to your continued support. We know you have the people with the expertise and it would be important that we have UNFPA fingerprints on every aspect of this Mid-Term Census process. That is our expectation,” said Minister Kai-Kai.
He called on UNFPA to also provide institutional capacity to the Population Unit of the Ministry to improve on its output.