AYV News, October 13, 2023
The Commissioner at National Commission for Social Action, NaCSA, Ambassador Ernest MBAIMBA NDOMAHINA has paid a courtesy call on the Director, Regional Bureau for West and Central Africa of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Mr. Abdourakuf GNON-KONDE, where they discussed national and global issues on displacement, refugees, and the need to collaborate and advocate to other United Nations agencies to finance NaCSA ‘Tenki Salone’ project.
The NaCSA Commissioner disclosed that the Refugee Operations in Sierra Leone completely phased out in April 2021 with a developed phaseout strategy and a road map to this phaseout, and now looking forward to UNHCR on the next plan.
He further reiterated that a joint assessment was conducted between UNHCR Multi-Country Office (MCO) in Dakar, Senegal in September 2021, and identified 93 socioeconomic infrastructure sub projects in refugee host communities to compensate host communities for hosting refugees over the past 24 years.
The project “Tenki Salone” was developed to implement community socioeconomic infrastructure needs with six (06) sub projects piloted in Southeastern regional settlements with commitment made by UNHCR to advocate for funds to other UN agencies for the complete implementation of “Tenki Salone” in the Southeast and Northwestern regions.
Prior to the phaseout of UNHCR programme in the country and the Government of Sierra Leone taking ownership of the project, NaCSA on behalf of the Government of Sierra Leone facilitated the provision of land to shelter refugees and undertake agricultural activities, integrated locally integrated refugees into national development programmes, adopted the National Action Plan (NAP) to end statelessness in the country.
In his short remarks, the Director Regional Bureau for West and Central Africa of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Mr. Abdourakuf Gnon-Konde, committed to work closely with Residence Coordinator of the UN Country Team and other UN agencies as well as the UNHCR Multi-Country Office in Dakar to organize a mission to Freetown in order to advocate for donor funds to implement the full “Tenk Salone” project for a sustainable phase out strategy of the refugee programme in the country, taking into consideration protracted caseload of the refugees in the country.
