By: Audrey Raymonda John
Every two years the Government of Germany together with the Government of Sierra Leone conducts government negotiations to outline their cooperation, priorities, successes and challenges as well as commitments.
In line with this, the German Delegation has visited its funded projects across Sierra Leone and observed its implementation prior to the negotiations.
Ambassador of Germany to Freetown, Jens Kraus-Massè said: “Our visit to Sierra Leone is to assess projects funded by the Germany Government with taxpayers’ money through various sub-units in Sierra Leone, including CARE and NaCSA among others”.
Head of Cooperation, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Freetown, Johannes Behrens said: “In two days’ time we are going to have inter-governmental negotiation with the Government of Sierra Leone, the first inter-governmental negotiation in 32 years. Sierra Leone has just developed a partnership with Germany and that also means we are getting into more intense dialogue with the government and with also our partners here in Sierra Leone.
“To that end, we also need to see what has been achieved within the last years as we are planning the project for the next four years. So we thought it fit to first come and assess the first phase before commencing the second phase. I think the quality is high, off course you can do so much as long as you have money. From the few regions we covered, I think the quality of what we achieved here is quite high and it is something we can build on. Until now, we are looking on short term support and now looking on more structural support but we have already achieved something with the project here by the regional scale,” he said.
Fatmata Janka Daboh, a Midwife Tutor and Deputy Head of School said: “It is very important that GIZ is here to really assess what we have been doing since the inception of the school. If not for funding from them, the school would not have been where it is today.
“We received funding from BMZ which is based in Germany and GIZ is the implementing partner. One of the numerous benefits we are counting from this project is the refurbishment of the solar panels, which are now working and providing electricity for us,” she said.
Leonard Dudgbay, Team Lead for Agriculture and Finance Consultant, an implementing partner for employment for programs working with GIZ in Sierra Leone said: “Our job is to mainly give demand delivering training not only for farmers but to youth, which can help them create self-employment opportunities. We are working with 4,500 farmers along four value chains: cocoa, coffee, vegetables and rice.
“So, after the training we also do some business coaching to help them take farming as a business. In Africa, most of our farmers do not see farming as a business, instead they take farming as a job for the poor, whiles in developed countries, and most of the rich people are farmers,” he said.
Ambassador Ernest Mbamba Ndomina, Commissioner of NaCSA said: “We have a project called the GPC 3, it is fading out and then we have the GPC 4 which is actually for communities like where we are in Rokel.
“Off course we are in Bonkeh Maria, there we did the green store and the road leading to Bonkeh Maria. Today we are here in Rokel where we also did the green store with support from the German Corporation,” he concluded.