REGISTRATION OF POPULATIONS RESIDING IN DISASTER-PRONE AREAS IN SIERRA LEONE

NaCSA District office, Kenema; 5th September 2022- The National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) in partnership with the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), and the various city and town councils has commenced the collection of data on households residing in disaster prone areas. The registration will cover geographical locations based on the at-risk areas identified by NDMA and the Councils.

The registration exercise DOES NOT attract any immediate payment of benefit but will serve as means of identifying potential beneficiaries for targeting and enrolment for social protection support in case of an emergency. The data will serve to speed up disaster preparedness and hasten the process for targeting emergency assistance to victims of disaster. The data collected will be used to expand the Social Protection Registry for Integrated National Targeting (SPRINT) at the National Social Protection Secretariat (NSPS).

During the registration exercise, details of both household heads and next of kin (alternate) are captured and basic data including economic and demographic details of the entire household. This is to ensure that in the event of a disaster, the household may still receive program support even in the absence of the household head.

A population estimate of approximately 700,000 people in 108 communities will be covered based on the 2015 population census. A total of 364 enumerators have been trained and deployed in teams of two for highly populated areas and one in sparsely populated areas. The enumerators will use both manual (paper) and digital Open Data Kit (ODK) tools to collect the data.

Residents of the targeted communities are cautioned that no one should offer or pay anything to anybody before, during and after the registration. It is totally free as far as you fall within the targeted communities and any attempt to include non-household members in the household roster will lead to automatic disqualification of the household. Any attempted extortion or corrupt practices must be reported to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) using the toll-free number 515 or directly to ACC Community Monitors or other ACC officials.

For further information on this and other matters, please contact Umaru Samai, Project Officer- Information Education and Communication on +23277022709/+23276378993/ umarusamai@nacsa.gov.sl