Sierra Leone Telegraph: 22 May 2024:
Last Saturday 18th May marked the conclusion of six days of Freetown City Council’s (FCC) community engagement with 4,800 residents across 48 communities.
Commenting on the process and outcome, Mayor of Freetown – Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr said: “I was pleased to join the FCC facilitators at EMIMAN Primary School in Jalloh Terrace for that engagement. It was exciting to see women, youth, the elderly, religious and traditional leaders deciding on their development priorities and proposing interventions for FCC to do in their community.
“The results of the 6 days citywide community engagement confirmed that the number one priority for Freetonians is access to water, followed by improved drainage (infrastructure upgrades) and access to basic education and skills development (see graph below).
“Ahead of the next phase of the FCC 2024-2028 Development Plan, FCC held a Roundtable with several of our partners yesterday in which we shared with them the TransformFreetown-TransformingLives framework.”
Participants at the Roundtable included the British High Commissioner, the American Ambassador, the EU Ambassador, the Deputy UN Res Cord, World Bank, Irish Aid, UNCDF, CRS, GOAL, GIZ, UNDP, IGC, JICA, IOM, Aurora representatives and representatives of several other organizations.
“From 23rd May to 6th June, FCC will hold a series Planning Labs during which we will identify key development interventions within the 11 critical pathways that will lead to the achievement of our target – the creation of 120,000 dignified jobs for women and youth by 2028. The critical pathway – improved access to water – will be prioritized in accordance with the results of our community engagement,” Mayor Aki-Sawyerr said.
Adding, “we are looking forward to the continued participation of development partners, NGOs, government MDAs, the private sector and civil society in the Planning Labs as we move to the next phase of the FCC Development Plan process.”
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