According to Mr. Hindowa, Tim Strawson is from the United Kingdom and he is in country to undertake the development financing exercise.” The consultant is in Freetown to meet with key stakeholders especially development partners of which ODA is not an exception”

In his statement, the Director of ODA, Dr. Kallay Musa Conteh said the Office is the hub for coordinating Diaspora related activities; noting that it has a mandate to capacities the public sector with Diaspora human resources, formalizing remittances and promoting friendly investment environment for Diaspora investors.

“The ODA was established to engage the Diaspora towards national development, the Government want to intensify it effort in engaging it Diaspora constituents for the development of the country. And this was evident in president Bio’s speech during the state opening of Parliament that they will review the mandates of the ODA,” Dr. Conteh said.

ODA staff and the UNDP Consultant further deliberated on issues such as the contribution of the Diaspora in the private sector/ investments, skills transfer and Diaspora intervention during emergencies.

Tim Strawson, UNDP Development Finance Consultant in his brief statement, thanked Dr. Conteh for explaining about the activities and priorities of the ODA. He also requested for key documents like the National Road Map on Diaspora Remittances, which was developed by ODA and ACP-EU.

Meanwhile, the Government has requested UNDP to support a development financing assessment (DFA) exercise as an integral part of the means of implementation cluster of its ongoing national development planning process. The assessment aims to facilitate a deeper understanding of the development cooperation landscape and emerging opportunities for the domestic revenue generation. The DFA exercise will lead to the design and establishment of an Integrated National Financing Framework for the National Development Plan. Tim Strawson is hired by UNDP to lead the DFA exercise.