By: Saidu Jalloh
The Minister of Employment, Labour and Social Security, Mohamed Rahman Swaray, was in Addis Ababa early last week participating in the Fifth Ordinary Session of the Specialized Committee on Social Development, Labour and Employment (STC-SDLE 5).
The session, which runs from July 29 to August 2, 2024, gathered experts and ministers to devise strategies for enhancing social development, labour, and employment across the continent.
The summit aims to adopt strategies and policy measures at continental and regional levels, focusing on social protection, labour migration, youth employment, child marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM), and ending child exploitation and abuse. Experts and labour officials are meeting to discuss and endorse these strategies before submitting them to the ministers for consideration.
In his address, Minister Swaray echoed President Julius Maada Bio’s concerns about the urgent youth unemployment situation.
“Youth impatience is palpable,” Swaray stated, noting the growing restlessness among young people, which often leads to perilous journeys across the Mediterranean. He stressed the need for national governments to adopt a new approach, moving away from business as usual.
He outlined Sierra Leone’s initiatives to address critical challenges. These include expanding social security coverage to the informal sector with support from the International Labour Organization and the World Bank, implementing various social protection schemes, including cash transfers to the vulnerable aged, and developing the Sierra Leone Social Health Insurance Scheme (SLESHI) to enhance healthcare accessibility.
Additionally, the country is working on a National Volunteering Scheme to complement the current National Youth Service Scheme.
Minister Swaray, who is accompanied by the Ministry’s Director of Labour and Employment, Sinneh Bockarie, used the forum to express gratitude to the African Union for its recent support in building capacity of stakeholders for volunteering programs
He also highlighted the creation of a comprehensive job creation policy in Sierra Leone, which is overseen by an inter-ministerial committee, co-chaired by the country’s Vice President and the Minister of Labour.
He concluded by thanking the organizers for the platform and reaffirming Sierra Leone’s commitment to collaborative efforts in addressing these pressing issues.
