By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The District COVID-19 Emergency Response Center (DICOVERC) in Pujehun has expressed frustration over the “lack of support” from international and local Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic.
District Coordinator of the Pujehun DICOVERC, Mohamed K.G Kemokai, told Politico that NGOs have funds set aside for projects in the district but three months on they have not invested much in programs in the district, leaving them with an ever growing challenge to deal with.
“About 70% of INGOs that said they have funds for Pujehun have never visited here since the outbreak. One of such companies is TROCHEA, Solidaridad and plenty more. The few that are also here haven’t done much effort comparatively to the funds that they have declared. Save the Children declared that they have US$650,000 but when you evaluate the efforts that they have done here as of today, you can’t even equate it to $50,000. World Vision are working in five districts, including Pujehun, they have US$ 1million,” Kemokai explained in a telephone interview.
“All of this show that they just want to do their own thing without any coordination. We want to make sure INGOs and NGOs are also held accountable because they get all these funds on behalf of the people of Sierra Leone and specifically their target districts,” he added.
Since last month, the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development (MoPED) have been assembling local and international NGOs across the country to discuss and make sure that their programs are coordinated and aligned with those of DICOVERCs across the country. During these ongoing meetings, funds set aside for COVID-19 response by all NGOs are declared.
Kpakama Jawa-Ngoyama, one of two coordinators appointed by the Development Ministry for NGO COVID-19 related activities in Pujehun District, denied that they were not doing enough. Mr Jawa-Ngoyama, who works for the NGO FINE, told Politico that the major problem is the expectation of the DICOVERC that they are supposed to give them (DICOVERC) cash to implement their programs.
“When the ministry came here the last time we all sat down and arranged. It is not as if we are supposed to give them (DICOVERC) money. Those who are in to training have to support training; those that are in to community awareness raising have to support community awareness raising. Restless Development, Save the Children, Fine Salone and even Red Cross, all have animators who are now doing awareness raising on the prevention, cause and prevention of COVID-19 in these communities,” he explained.
“They expect us to give them money and that is not what we are supposed to be doing. We are supposed to chip in to train people, social mobilization and more,” Jawa-Ngoyama added.
The DICOVERC boss denied the allegations of their interest in NGO funds, saying: “We are not asking anyone of them to give us money. Already we have a district plan. All we want is to make sure their programs are aligned with what we have developed. For example, if we have social mobilization, they support us and it is done.”
Pujehun has gone 35 days without recording a new COIVD-19 case. Kemokai said NGO support is crucial to keeping the good performance in the district in terms of dealing with the virus.
The Spokesperson of the DICOVERC, who has also been interfacing with NGOs working in the district on COVID-19, Mohamed Massaquoi, told Politico: “NGOs are doing clandestine activities and writing big reports and budgets attached to it.”
Eric Massally, National NGO Coordinator at the MoPED, told Politico on Tuesday that they haven’t received any news about the discord in NGO activities or their lack of support to the DICOVERC in Pujehun.
Massally said reports he was receiving from Pujehun showed that everything is ok. However, he said when he formally receives complaints from Pujehun DICOVERC, “we will call them (NGOs) to a meeting, try to understand the problem and urge them to do more, because we know the resources they have set aside for these districts.”
Copyright © 2020 Politico Online
