By Mohamed Massaquoi
The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has at its Management Segment Meeting under agenda item 4 elected by acclamation twenty-four (24) Experts including Sierra Leone’s Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education and Chief Innovation Officer, Dr. Moinina David Sengeh, as members of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA) for a four-year term starting from 1st August 2021 and ending on 31st July 2025.
Dr. Sengeh and the 23 other Experts were nominated by the United Nations Secretary-General, H.E. Mr. AntónioGuterres, and appointed by ECOSOC, charged with the mandate of providing policy advice and programmatic guidance to ECOSOC on issues pertaining to governance and public administration, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and support of the implementation and progress reviews of the Sustainable Development Goals.
It is worthwhile to note that CEPA was established by ECOSOC in its resolution 2001/45 and CEPA meets annually at the UN Headquarters in New York.
Before his appointment as the first Chief Innovation Officer of Sierra Leone and Minister, Dr. Sengeh worked as a Research Manager at IBM Research Africa, where he led the healthcare team to design, and implement applied Artificial Intelligence systems for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and management of disease in Africa.
Prior to joining IBM, Dr. Sengeh completed his PhD. at the MIT Media Lab where his research was at the intersection of medical imaging, computer-aided design and multi-material 3D printing. He invented low-cost, wearable mechanical interfaces that improved prosthetic comfort for amputees.
Furthermore, Dr. Sengeh has published several academic journals and is a holder of patents in the prosthetics and AI fields. Dr. Sengeh is also a co-Founder and was the President (10 years) of Global Minimum (gmin.org), an international NGO that develops platforms to foster innovation and learning, focusing on high school students in Sierra Leone and Kenya. He is also an Obama African Leader, a Senior TED Fellow, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, and a recording Afrobeat artist.
The Permanent Mission of Sierra Leone to the United Nations in New York is pleased to have facilitated and efficiently coordinated the endorsement of the Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education and we wish him the absolute best on his new assignment.
