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Theme: “Collaboration, Sustainability and Local Empowerment”

By Rev. Fr. Peter Konteh

Honourable Ministers, Members of Parliament, distinguished guests, development partners, fellow NGO leaders, ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning.

I am deeply honoured to stand before you today on behalf of Caritas Freetown and our colleagues from both local and international NGOs as we celebrate Global NGO Day under the theme: “Collaboration, Sustainability and Local Empowerment.”

This theme is not just a slogan. It is a call to action.

Across Sierra Leone and around the world, NGOs have become bridges between policy and people, between intention and impact. We work in health, education, agriculture, child protection, youth empowerment, climate resilience, peacebuilding, and humanitarian response. Yet none of us can succeed alone.

True development begins with collaboration.

When government, civil society, faith-based organisations, communities, and development partners work together, we multiply impact. Collaboration allows us to share resources, avoid duplication, strengthen accountability, and respond more effectively to the needs of our people. It builds trust and creates ownership.

But collaboration must go beyond meetings and memoranda. It must translate into coordinated planning, inclusive decision-making, and mutual respect — recognising that every stakeholder, especially local communities, has something valuable to contribute.

The second pillar is sustainability.

For too long, development in Africa has been project-driven rather than people-driven. Sustainability means designing interventions that last beyond donor cycles. It means building local capacity, strengthening institutions, investing in systems, and ensuring communities can maintain progress long after projects end.

Sustainability also demands transparency, accountability, and responsible stewardship of resources. As NGOs, we must continually reflect on our practices, improve our standards, and demonstrate measurable impact.

But perhaps the most important pillar today is local empowerment.

Development cannot be imposed from outside. Communities are not beneficiaries alone — they are partners and leaders of their own transformation. Local empowerment means equipping young people with skills, supporting women’s leadership, strengthening traditional and community structures, and creating economic opportunities at grassroots level.

At Caritas Freetown, we have learned that when communities are empowered, dignity is restored, resilience grows, and change becomes permanent.

Ladies and gentlemen,

We are living in challenging times: economic pressures, climate change, youth unemployment, health crises, and social inequality continue to test our nation. But these challenges also present opportunities — opportunities to innovate, to strengthen partnerships, and to reimagine development that is inclusive and home-grown.

We therefore call on government to continue creating an enabling environment for civil society. We urge development partners to invest more in local organisations. And we encourage NGOs to deepen cooperation among ourselves, embrace learning, and remain rooted in the realities of the people we serve.

Let us remember: development is not about statistics alone — it is about people. It is about children in classrooms, mothers in clinics, farmers in fields, and young people with hope for the future.

In closing, allow me to reaffirm our collective commitment:
To collaborate sincerely.
To pursue sustainability intentionally.
To empower communities courageously.

Together, we can build a Sierra Leone where development is owned locally, sustained nationally, and supported globally.

Thank you, and may God bless our shared efforts.