Ireland Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Claire Buckley has stated that Ireland has provided more than €200 Million in assistance to projects in Sierra Leone between 2005 to date.

She made this statement at a news briefing yesterday at the Irish Embassy in Freetown on the eve of St Patrick Day celebration. The national holiday in Ireland is in honour of the Irish patron saint dates back to the 5th century.

The sum of £200m, Ambassador Buckley said had been spent since 2005 to date, and a budget of approximately £67 was in place to be rolled out in a four year period (2019-2023) .

The funding she said was channelled through Irish Aid Programme in Sierra Leone in close collaboration with government, UN and NGO (Non-Governmental Organisations) partners.

A good chunk of the money, the Irish Ambassador went on, was also released directly from Irish Aid headquaters to such NGOs as Concern Worldwide, Trocaire, GOAL, Christian Aid Ireland, World Vision, Plan International Ireland and the Irish League of Credit Unions among others. Irish Aid which has an established presence in the country’s 16 districts is the Irish government’s official development assistance programme managed by Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs.

The Irish support has produced wide-ranging results for the people of Sierra Leone. The engagement of strategic stakeholders by the Irish Embassy has resulted to the enactment of the Breast Milk Substitute Act of 2021. The result owed it to the close partnership the embassy had with World Health Organisation, Focus 1000, the Directorate of Food and Nutrition and the SUN (Scale –Up Nutrition) in the Office of Vice President.

The support for the country’s  radical inclusion policy for girls out-of-school, boosting government’s flagship project through the World Bank-led Multi-Donor Trust Fund, strengthening support to SGBV (Sexual and Gender-Based Violence) through support to Rainbo and one-stop centres among others are key interventions the Irish Embassy has made to Sierra Leone.

The Ambassador further noted that eight Sierra Leoneans are currently benefitting from the Irish support to higher education.

“The number of students will be increased to 10,” the Irish Ambassador promised.

After eight years, she further assures, the programme will have supported 2 Sierra Leoneans with a full masters scholarship for study in Ireland. The programme nurtures future leaders, develop in-country capacity and builds great links between Ireland. “We have seen graduates return to the country and bring that knowledge and those connections with them,” Ambassador Buckley told Sierra Leoneans.

It is through well-planned development strategies that the Irish Aid gives out unfolds their aid packages to Sierra Leone with the 2019-2023 strategy being the latest.

The strategy focuses on empowerment of Sierra Leonean women and girls and   seeks to ensure that women and children have improved nutritional status, realise their potential and rights, more girls access and benefit from quality education.

Citizens, especially women, according to the strategy, were to be more empowered for inclusive and accountable democratic institutions and processes.

The Irish strategy for development aid to Sierra Leone is tailored towards supporting government achieves its SDGs, and reducing inequality remains at the core of the embassy’s work.

“Gender equality, nutrition, food security, education and the protection of human rights and good governance are also priority areas Ireland would support.

The 2019-2023 Irish strategy is very much aligned with government’s Mid-Term National Development Plan (MTNDP) which slated to run between 2019 and 2023.

The embassy works in close cooperation with government since the objectives contained in the strategy are in line with the MTNDP particularly around the delivery of free quality education.

The budget which is captured in a five-year  strategy to be managed by  Ireland’s Embassy in Freetown is a  five-year programme that showcases Ireland’s ambition  to deepen bilateral, political, economic and cultural cooperation with Sierra Leone.