The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has launched the community kitchen pilot at Portee Wharf in the nation’s capital Freetown. The event was graced by the Director of Natural Resources Governance of the agency, Paul Lamin, on behalf of the Executive Chairman.

It was noted that, the Community Kitchen Pilot at Portee Wharf, is a cornerstone of the “Beyond the Networked City Research Project,” which is a collaboration between the University of Bristol, Loughborough, Cape Town, and Makereke and the Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre.

They maintained that, the Initiative is a shared commitment to sustainable urban development that goes beyond academic study to become a powerful tool for change, improving the supply of crucial services such as energy, sanitation, and water to  various underserved communities adding that, the project’s innovative mixed economy and off-grid solutions coincide with the fundamental objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as the National Medium Term Development Strategy and the EPA Transformation Strategy’s focused directives.

The director appreciated the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) for their generous support of this revolutionary research, which has ignited an exciting undertaking and inspired hope for a brighter, more equitable future, adding that, the project will serve the actual purpose of boosting the communities in making them self-reliance and get the basic requirement they needed. It can also help in their self-empowerment especially the women.

He assured the Sierra Leone Urban Research Center that the agency is eager to explore additional partnerships that reflect the ethos and goals of projects like this one, demonstrating the agency’s dedication to collaborative innovation as well as working harder to see that these initiatives are sustainable in helping the actual beneficiaries.

He called on the stakeholders and the community people to own the project and institute positive monitoring scheme to making sure that, the target goal is achieved.