Civil society organisations in Sierra Leone led by the Budget Advocacy Network (BAN), Health for all Coalition, Health Alert, FOCUS 1000, Civil Society Alternative for Recovery, WASHNET-Sierra Leone, Save the Children and the media joined the Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN) in promoting the global launch of the #ValueOurHealth campaign on Wednesday 13 April, 2016 at Kona Lodge in Freetown.
The global launch of this campaign was done last week in Washington at the IMF/World Bank 2016 Spring Meeting Civil Society Policy Forum. #ValueOurHealth was first launched in Kampala, Uganda with valued partners, Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group.
In Freetown, CSOs and the media highlighted the lack of budget transparency and participation on national budget discourse that affects women's and children's health. They also called on the Government of Sierra Leone, through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, to prioritise health spending for women and children and increase access to budget information.
The 2015 UN Maternal Mortality estimates show that Sierra Leone has the highest maternal mortality ratio in the world, with 1,360 per 100,000 live births. These figures are unacceptable so we need better spending on reproductive, maternal, neonatal and child health for improved service delivery.
A joint press release states that the Government of Sierra Leone has made some good progress in terms of transparency in health spending even though the country is yet to meet the required target. The 2015 Open Budget states that
Sierra Leone is publishing 6 out of the 8 key budget documents.
These organisations have put together one voice demanding that they have right to this vital information so that they can see how their money is spent.
The Chairman of the program Mahammad Bailor Jalloh, Chief Executive Officer of FOCUS 1000, says that Sierra Leone is going through a critical period-coming out of the Ebola phase from which we have learned key lessons- community engagement and ownership, different interventions, health facilities ambulance etc. but what has been important out of all of these is community engagement and ownership. Mr. Jalloh noted,
As we move on with Agenda for Prosperity, we will not prosper if we do not improve the lives of women and children. We need to look at how to turn around the situation for them for our nation to prosper. Sierra Leone is one of the fastest growing economies in the world therefore we need to know how much is being allocated to improve/impact women and children, the amount allocated how much is released to do what especially to the issues of women and children…
He stressed the need to get accountability to government and communities. For this we need advocacy for; policies-necessary to get the right environment to make a difference for families; high-level commitment and an allocated budget.
OSIWA Country Office Representative Joe Pemagbi at the press conference said that the participation of the public in terms of how much information they know about their budget, type of information and how accurate it is, is key for national development. He continued to say OSIWA looks at health as a human rights issue and must be given undivided attention by the Government. He used the press conference to inform participants about OSIWA’s call for proposals to look at health and education. The closing date is 30 April 2016. He noted,
Let us see how we can partner with each other going forward; health is comprehensive and goes beyond Ministry of Health and Sanitation.
In highlighting some key budget challenges in Sierra Leone, the Coordinator of the Budget Advocacy Network Abu Bakarr Kamara revealed that the pre- budget statement is not published and the government has been failing to make the public budget report available- to show what government has done with money. Bakarr asked,
Total budget 4.6 Trillion- what has this done for Sierra Leone? How much have these resources improved the lives of Sierra Leoneans?
He empahsised their call for a need to ensure that comprehensive information is provided referencing the Open Budget Survey which Sierra Leone scored 31 out of 100 for participation. This shows that the opportunity for citizens to engage in the budget process is weak. BAN Coordinator added that transparency is essential for effective and meaningful participation.
One of the journalists Sallieu Tejan Jalloh from the Times SL Newspaper said the Government signed to commitments relating to health, yet the rates of maternal deaths are still high despite the Free Health Care Initiative.
After the press conference, I can testify that the media have developed interest around budget issues, they have been inspired to report more, make it easy for communities to understand the issues on budget participation and transparency.
Here is a report on Awoko newspaper online after the press conference. Standard Times Newpaper, Africa Young Voices Radio, TV and newspaper also broadcast and publised reports about the launch. The same was done by Star TV and radio station followed by AI Radio.