China’s capacity building efforts in Sierra Leone

John Baimba Sesay

The Sierra Leone Telegraph: 26 May 2014

The leader of Sierra Leone’s ruling APC party’s women’s group – Madam Elizabeth Manns, is in Beijing, capital of the People’s Republic of China, attending a seminar on ‘social management capacity building for female officials from English speaking African countries’.

The seminar is also being attended by Madam Nancy Tengbeh – the permanent secretary of the country’s ministry of tourism.

The capacity building programme is organized by the China Women’s University, and is sponsored by the Chinese ministry of commerce.

Visiting the Embassy of the Republic of Sierra Leone in Beijing, where both officials paid a courtesy call on the deputy Ambassador – Madam Kumba Alice Momoh, they spoke of their favourable impressions of China’s tourism sector and the revenue being generated.

Madam Nancy Tengbeh said that lessons learnt in China could be useful in developing Sierra Leone’s tourism sector.

Madam Elizabeth Manns spoke about her passion for women’s issues. She said that what she has learnt will be taken to Sierra Leone to promote women and gender issues.

Envoy Kumba Momoh welcomed Madam Manns and Madam Tengbeh to China. She encouraged both to continue giving their best to Sierra Leone’s growth, as in her words; “Sierra Leoneans are proud of your contribution to the country’s development.”

Madam Momoh described both Madam Manns and Madam Tengbeh as “women of substance that Sierra Leone relies on.”

Sierra Leone’s director of energy in the ministry of energy and power – Benjamin Kamara is also in the People’s Republic of China, attending a training programme for developing nations, on ‘the Development of Renewable Energy Technology’.

Organized by the ministry of commerce, People’s Republic of China, in collaboration with the foreign economic cooperation centre, and the training division of the ministry of agriculture, the programme draws participants from Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Tanzania, Egypt, Philippines and Vietnam.

The training programme looks at various issues involving the development of energy, especially utilising biomass, and solar power for the electrification of rural communities.

Benjamin Kamara has visited various renewable energy institutions in China, and is currently in Chengdu to see other energy generation institutions, showcasing the use of renewable energy technology for sustainable development.

The programme is mainly geared towards the reduction of co2 emissions “in an effort to have a clean development mechanism”, said Benjamin Kamara, as he compares the renewable energy policies and technologies of china to that of Sierra Leone.

Also heading for China, are four broadcast media practitioners from the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Cooperation (SLBC) to take part in a six weeks long training programme.

Alpha Amadu Bah – producer of news and current affairs at the SLBC Radio and TV; Fatu Kamara, Ibrahim Mansaray, and Hawa Tucker are all attending a training programme in TV Broadcasting, organized by Beijing’s CRTV.

The training will introduce broadcast media practitioners from English speaking developing countries to digital media technology, including engineers, journalists, technicians and video editors.

The development of media cooperation between Africa and China is one
of the major pillars of the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) framework.

In 2012, during the Fifth FOCAC ministerial conference in Beijing, both China and Africa agreed to continue with efforts aimed at enhancing exchanges and cooperation in press and media; encourage press and media organizations of both sides to step up objective and fair coverage of each other, as well as intensify the communication of information on FOCAC.

According to the Beijing Action Plan (2013-2015), a China-Africa press exchange centre will be established in China.

This will facilitate and promote mutually beneficial exchanges and visits between Chinese and African journalists and media professionals.

China also agreed to share its experience and good practice in the digitalization of radio and television with African countries, and provide support in personnel training and technology application.