UNESCO strengthens cooperation with the Republic of Sierra Leone

On 9 October 2009, Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, Director General of UNESCO, held talks with Mr Minkailu Bah, Minister of Education, Youth and Sports of Sierra Leone on the occasion of the Minister’s participation in the 35th session of UNESCO’s General Conference.

During this meeting, they took stock of the longstanding cooperation between UNESCO and Sierra Leone and discussed ways and means of enhancing collaboration, particularly as Sierra Leone is a post-conflict country. To this end, on 12 October 2009, they signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a view to reaffirm and strengthen the relationship between the Organization and Sierra Leone.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) focuses on reinforcement of capacity-building in the fields of education, sciences, culture and information and communication. The Memorandum also underscores institutional capacity-building as it supports the establishment of a Teacher Services Commission, and it mentions the wish by Sierra Leone to see the Fourah Bay College become a Pan African Centre for regional integration, peace and social cohesion, as a Category II Centre of UNESCO.

In welcoming the Memorandum of Understanding, Mr Matsuura expressed the availability of UNESCO to pursue opportunities of cooperation and mobilization of extra budgetary resources in favour of Sierra Leone in the identified priority areas. “I will be sending a high level intersectoral mission to Sierra Leone with a view to meeting national counterparts to design an Action Plan for the implementation of this MoU”, the Director-General concluded.

Author(s): Office of the Spokesperson - Source: Flash Info N° 198-2009 -  Publication Date: 14-10-2009