ACCORD, in its 18 years of finding African solutions to African challenges has moved from experience to excellence in being one of the first Non-Government Organisations to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the government of Sierra Leone.
On Friday 30 April, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Sierra Leone, Mrs Zainub Hawa Bangura officially signed the Memorandum with Executive Director of ACCORD, Mr Vasu Gounden during a visit to the ACCORD offices in Mt Edgecombe, Durban. Members of the Sierra Leonean community living in South Africa witnessed the signing.
The MoU between ACCORD and the Ministry of Sierra Leone covers a 4 year period from 30 April 2010 to 30 April 2014. It outlines the objectives of the partnership, responsibilities and outputs as outlined in the ‘scope of work’ below:
Scope of Work
- Assistance with the implementation of the recommendations of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission;
- To assist with strengthening the institutional capacity of the National Commission on Human Rights to foster and strengthen a culture of human rights;
- To assist with developing strategies to address issues related to security of land tenure, equal access to, and ownership of land, ultimately leading to the development of a national land policy;
- To compliment the strengths of the Anti-Corruption Commission through leveraging partnerships;
- To facilitate the development of linkages for youth employment and development initiatives;
- To assistance with strengthening the civilian dimension of Sierra Leone’s Peacekeeping operations.
