The Legal Aid Board has concluded planning meeting with the leadership of the Sierra Leone Commercial Motor Bike Riders Union ahead of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)-funded capacity building training for 600 bike riders, commonly called Okada Riders.
The training will be held in five locations, with the first taking place in Freetown on Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 June targeting 180 participants, drawn from the Western Area Urban District. The second will be held in Waterloo on 17 and 18 June, targeting 60 participants, drawn from the Western Area Rural District. These will then be followed by others in Makeni on 19 and 20 June; Bo on 24 and 25 June and Kenema on 26 and 27 June 2024, targeting 120 participants respectively.
The training is dedicated to capacitating bike riders on issues bordering on Human Rights; Road Traffic Regulation; Bail Regulation; Introduction to Legal Aid; the Law and the Police and Public Order offences.
In a brief statement to programme Managers and Executive of bike riders during the meeting, the Executive Director of the Board, Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles, emphasized the need for the Executive to choose full-time bike riders for the training, noting that “the Board does not in any way want to see uncommitted riders as participants”.
Ms. Carlton-Hanciles seized the opportunity to thank the UNDP for its continued support to the Board, stating that the UN agency is also supporting the Board in providing free legal representation to indigent inmates at prison courts, free legal representation to women and girls and capacity-building for legal aid staff on data collection and analysis for monitoring correctional centers.
The President of the Bike Riders, Ishmael Sandy, expressed thanks and appreciation to the Executive Director and the Board, noting that as a union, they have been yearning for such a training for far too long.
He assured that his executive will work hand in hand with the Board to ensure the training objectives are achieved.
Significant developments recorded under the project include the January 2023 disbursement of over $1.6 million to 15 Local District Councils for the implementation of 29 subprojects nationwide, focusing on the rehabilitation and reconstruction of community health centers, schools, markets, and community/town halls. A recent beneficiary satisfaction survey, conducted as part of the ongoing Mid-Term Review, indicated that nearly 90 percent of respondents were satisfied with the quality improvements in their community facilities, due to these investments (with around 37 percent in strong agreement and around 55 percent in agreement).
Other notable activities implemented by the project include capacity building for local council staff in financial management, the preparation and roll-out of revenue mobilization strategies for five local councils that aims to enhance performance in mobilizing own-source revenue to complement central government transfers for both devolved functions and admin grants, and the operationalization of District Development Coordination Committees (DDCCs) to facilitate development transparency and accountability, and minimize fragmented development, service delivery overlaps and waste of scarce resources.
The two-week review mission also includes meetings with key implementing entities such as the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Planning, Audit Service Sierra Leone, the National Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate, the National Public Procurement Authority, the Local Government Service Commission, the Ministry of Local Government, and the Public Account Committee of Parliament.
A Mid-Term Review Workshop was scheduled for Monday, June 10 that convened all key stakeholders to discuss the project’s overall implementation status and identify actionable recommendations on how to improve progress over the remaining years of the project.