During the 2012 presidential and parliamentary general election, the President Dr Ernest Bai Koroma’s manifesto proposed to make efforts on mainstreaming gender equality through institution and capacity building programmes and the provision of incentive where necessary in closing the gender gap and increasing women’s public participation in the country. He reaffirmed his commitment to gender justice issues when, during the International Women’s Day Commemoration at the Miatta Conference Hall on the 8th of March 2013, the President declared the day as a public holiday; stating that ‘violence against a woman is violence against the state’. Indeed, the President has made gender mainstreaming a stand-alone pillar in his strategic document The Agenda for Prosperity.
The government of Sierra Leone has indeed shown great commitment toward gender issues by passing three significant Acts: the Gender Act, the Child Right Act and the Sexual Offences Act. However, there remains a lot to do, especially when it comes to the allocation of finances to the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs, the Ministry which have the responsibility of ensuring the provision of services to the socially marginalized, disadvantaged or less privileged. Their focus is particularly on children, whether in homes or on the street; those affected by the war or in conflict with the law; as well as women, the aged, and the physically disabled (as groups, individual or family units). Essentially, they are responsible for all who need welfare attention in our communities.
If we are to look at the budget distribution for 2012, the government of Sierra Leone allocated a total grant of Le 7,902,300,000 to the various institutions working on gender issues. Out of this, the amount transferred to Freetown City Council for issues regarding social welfare, gender and children’s affairs was Le 480,000,000. The Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs allocated Le 1, 337,700,000 for salary and wages; Le 633,000,000 for the development budget and Le 5,451,600,000 for the non-salary and non-income budget. The four latter figures, when added, make up the total grant of Le 7,902,300,000. When this figure is divided by the 2012 National Budget of Le 1,638,710,000,000 and multiplied by 100%, it gives 0.48% as the proportion of the National Budget that was allocated to these institutions for 2012.
For 2013, the government grant that has been allocated to Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs is Le 8,383,400,000,000. Out of this, the amount transferred to Freetown City Council is Le 554,400,000; while the Ministry has allocated Le 1,630,000,000 to salary and wages and Le 779,000,000 to their development budget. When these three latter figures are combined, they total the overall grant of Le 8,383,400,000,000 allocated above. When this is divided by the 2013 National Budget of Le 1,866,214,000,000 and subsequently multiplied by 100%, it gives a figure of 0.44% as the proportion of the National Budget that has been allocated to the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs for this year.
In actual terms, the money allocated to the Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Children’s Affairs has increased from Le 7,902,300,000 in 2012 to Le 8,383,400,000,000 in 2013. However, it is interesting to observe that the percentage share of the budget allocated to the Ministry has actually been reduced by 0.04%; dropping from 0.48% in 2012 to 0.44% in 2013. This percentage is insufficient when we take into cognizance the challenges facing the Ministry and other institutions such as the Family Support Unit working on Gender and Juvenile Justice Issues, who are presently in dire need of establishing more family support units in the country (they have a mere 44 family support units and 49 social workers nationwide at present).
More attention must also be placed on addressing the issue of Gender Based Violence, particularly on remedying the shortage of safe homes in the country for victims, as there is presently only one such establishment in the country (situated in Makeni). In its National Action Plan, the Ministry highlighted its overall goal to combat Gender Based Violence through a holistic and strategic approach. This comprises: the building of a strong cooperative network amongst institutions and relevant sectors working on gender based violence related issues; enacting and enforcing laws against gender based violence; creating a massive public awareness program; and the provision of preventative, curative and rehabilitative measures, which to some extent are being achieved. However, we think there remains much to do, especially in the area of public awareness, as we rightly heard the Director of the Ministry of Children’s Affairs informing the public that around 100 cases of rape had been reported just for the month of May. Of course, embarking in such a venture entails money in order for it to achieve its goals.
There is also a need for the provision of preventative, curative and rehabilitative measures, as the only organization providing curative measure for survivors are the Rainbo Centers, Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs and Health Poverty Action. The Rainbo Centers and Health Poverty Action are limited to some areas of the country while the Ministry is present in district headquarter towns, but not in all parts of the country.
Another pressing need of the Ministry is the handling of the remand home and approved school which are in need of equipment and learning materials for the rehabilitation of offenders, a vehicle for taking offenders to court for trials, as well as other social development programs.
As an organization seeking the welfare of, and advocating for, women and children, we are asking that the government increase the budget allocated to the Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Children’s Affairs in order to address the issues highlighted above, if they are truly ready to empower women and children in the country.
