By Mohamed M. Sesay (Lucky)
Over the weekend, the United Team of Pujehun District (UN Team) staged its maiden two-day 2024 Annual Work Plan Review Conference and the preparation of its 2024-2030 Development Plan with the theme, ‘Sustainable Transformation and Development for All’’. The Delegate Conference was staged at the Galliness Paradise Hotel in Bo.
The conference's objective was to provide an overview of the implementation progress, highlighting membership and operational updates, updates by the UN Team Secretariat (including cross-cutting issues), discussions on critical challenges during formation and lessons learned, and review and finalize the UN Team Development Plans and Budget for 2024-2030.
The conference's purpose was for the team and all members to meet and update the overall work program and 2024-2030 Development Plan and review and update the implementation and capacity-building plans. The conference was also aimed at tasking the entire UN Team to use this time to finalize concrete members, set a date for the official launching of the UN Team in Pujehun District, project documents, including the structure and the M&E Framework, project management, and administration protocols, including reporting, membership enrolment, disqualification, communication and request channels, monthly subscription and donations, other resources mobilization channels, etc.
In his statement, senior member of the UN Team Alhaji Best Abu, intimated that huge activities in the UN Team would be about volunteerism thereby, encouraging all and sundry to put in their best towards promoting the agenda of the UN Team. He elucidated that the conference was actually meant to rebrand the UN Team and to nurse the spirit of volunteerism in their members. He added that over the years, member of the UN Team had identified challenges in the district which was the more reason they came together to address some of those challenges the district is faced with. Alhaji Best Abu continued that one of the Challenges the district is faced with is education wherein, locals of Pujehun had to travel miles to access education.
Another prominent member of the UN Team Edwin L. Gibao, also considered health as a very serious crisis in the district. He intimated that the conference was also meant to identify the gaps in the health sector faced by the people of Pujehun. He called on all and sundry to pay more attention to the conference's outcome geared towards eliminating maternal and infant mortality in the district. He recalled that the UN Team Pujehun had supported the district, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mohamed B. Kallon, Member of the UN Team, gave an overview that the conference was to bring on young people with like minds to address the socio-economic malaise in the district. Mohamed Kallon also intimated that the conference's purpose was to put out a strategic plan to enhance development for their people in the district. He made a disclaimer that individual delegates funded the conference through individual contributions. Refuted the erroneous claim that no politician or stakeholder in the district gave them money for the conference.
‘We are going to develop an activity plan at the end of the conference, and that activity plan will be extended to the government and potential partners to help address the socio-economic challenges of our people in Pujehun. We want to see where the UN Team will build schools and provide other facilities for our people. Government cannot do it all which is the more reason we have come together to support the effort of government’’, he said.
Key among the activity plans for the conference included, but are not limited to, the development of a Transportation Plan (Commercial Transportation, Health Transportation, Education Transportation, Agricultural Transportation, Development of Communication and Marketing Plan (UN Team Radio & TV Station, Social Media, the establishment of the UN Team Trust and Development Fund, Provide creative and innovative solutions to community initiatives, development of Education Plan (School structure, scholarship, learning materials, teachers, sensitization, debates, advocacy, quiz, monitoring among others.
The Agriculture committee report represented by Nelson Moinama Kallon, encouraged all delegates to Conduct agricultural needs and gap assessment in the district to support sustainable agricultural production, to establish and strengthen collaboration with the Ministry and other Stakeholders in the district to increase productivity, to map out agricultural ecological zones of Pujehun District and develop a production guide for farmers, map out marketing opportunities and Link farmers to market and improve market access, provide training/capacity building support to farmers with on modern agricultural practices, technologies, and techniques, Partner with relevant stakeholders to give the farmers improved farming inputs (tools, seeds/seedlings, fertilizer, establish and maintain high yielding seed banks through collaborative/community farming to increase productivity, establish youth farms in selected chiefdoms and organize an agricultural exhibition to both create market and increase interest in farming, to provide Agricultural mentorship through the establishment of demonstration sites and periodic extension services on improved farming techniques, to train and promote climate-smart agriculture to women and youth farmers in the district among.
Kommentare