The Population Secretariat in the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development (MoPED) on Thursday 13th November 2025 ended a day’s stakeholders’ engagement on the Annual Review of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Commitments for Sierra Leone at the Ministry’s conference room, Tower Hill in Freetown.
The objectives of the engagement were to foster national ownership and collective responsibility in the implementation of Sierra Leone’s renewed ICPD commitments which have been developed through a broad-based consultative process and are fully aligned with the Medium-Term National Development Plan (MTNDP) Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The session featured presentations, panel discussions and stakeholder deliberations aimed at strengthening collaboration, enhancing understanding of the ICPD linkages to national and global frameworks as well as promoting shared ownership of the commitments to advancing Sierra Leone’s human capital development and inclusive growth agenda.
The engagement attracted over 48 participants drawn from the Inter-Religious Council of Sierra Leone, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Ministries of Health and Sanitation, Gender and Children’s Affairs, the Institute of Population Studies at Fourah Bay College, pupils from the Prince of Wales and Freetown Secondary School for Girls, the physically-challenged, market women, Statistics Sierra Leone, the National School of Midwifery, traditional leaders, Members of Parliament, the media and other stakeholders.
In his welcome statement, the Deputy Development, MoPED, Mr. Osman Conteh enlightened participants about the purpose of the engagement which he underscored is to assess progress made, strengthen partnership and renew the determination of Sierra Leone to achieve the transformative commitments made as a nation under the ICPD framework.
He also assured that the government of Sierra Leone remains firmly committed to advancing human capital development, gender equality and reproductive health as central pillars of the country’s MTNDP and vision 2035 articulating that the ICPD commitments are not mere policy declarations but represent a national promise to improve the lives of the people nationwide and ensuring that they have the opportunity to live a healthy, dignified and productive lives.
The Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Planning and Economic Development, Hon. Musa Fofanah asserted that the engagement is to reaffirm the country’s commitment to improving the quality of life for all Sierra Leoneans through inclusive, evidence-based and people-centered development planning.
He continued that the ICPD framework provides a strong foundation for aligning population dynamics with sustainable development reiterating that Parliament views the process not only as a policy imperative but a national obligation, one that seeks to ensure that all sierra Leoneans, especially women, adolescents and young people, can live healthy, productive and dignified lives.
Among the recommendations, participants unanimously resolved that stakeholders must increase the contraceptive prevalence rate among women, aged 15-49 from 21% to 20% by the end of 2030, that government commits to contribute up to $1.5 million annually towards the procurement of Reproductive Health/Family Planning (RH/FP) commodities in partnership with UNFPA starting 2025 and that government reduce maternal mortality ration from 443 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2024 to 219 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2030.
Participants also resolved that government increase cervical cancer screening coverage to reach 70% of women of reproductive age by 2030 through nationwide awareness, community outreach and improved diagnostic and treatment services, expand the midwifery workforce by training and employing 3,000 qualified midwives in government health facilities nationwide by 2030, aimed at strengthening maternal and newborn health service delivery, improving quality of care and reducing preventable maternal and neonatal deaths.
It was also agreed that government must strengthen the pin-coded midwifery workforce by increasing its size in public health facilities by 50% by 2030 to promote equitable distribution, enhance retention and ensure sustainable deployment of skilled midwives across the national health system, reduce the prevalence of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) from 83% in 2024 to 40% by 2030 with significant reductions in high-prevalence districts, draft and enact an Anti-FGM Law by 2026 that explicitly prohibits the practice and establishes penalties for those who facilitate or perform FGM, reduce the prevalence of teenage pregnancy from 20% to 10% by 2030.
Other recommendations are for government to raise awareness and promote the implementation of the Child Marriage Act in all 190 chiefdoms nationwide by 2030 and reduce the proportion of girls married before the age of 18 from 30% to 15% by 2030.
Highlights of the well-attended event were PowerPoint presentations of the Progress of the Commitments of Sierra Leon 2024 to the ICPD Framework, 2025-2030, the Interactive Plenary Session: Feedback from the Stakeholders on the Presentations, Recommendations and Next Steps for Updating the Status of the ICPD Commitments, Joint Stakeholders’ Declaration in Support of the 2024 ICPD Commitments and the question and answer session.
The vote of thanks was rendered by one of the participants.
