The National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) in Sierra Leone has launched a new charter for disaster management service standards, utilising the work and research of Bournemouth University’s Disaster Management Centre (BUDMC).
The NDMA’s Service Delivery Charter was launched at an event in Freetown, Sierra Leone, with BU’s Professor Lee Miles speaking at the event and sharing the university’s long history in working alongside the Agency on disaster management and resilience, contributing to the development of the Charter.
Speaking of BU’s involvement in the Charter, NDMA Director-General, Lt. Gen. (Rtd) Brima Sesay said at the launch, “A notable innovative feature of the Service Delivery Charter is that was also based on evidence and recommendations emanating from the AFRICAB (Driving African Capacity-Building in Disaster Management) and EVALDIS (Evaluating Local Disaster Management in Sierra Leone) research projects, that represented award-winning collaborations of the Agency with Professor Miles and Bournemouth University Disaster Management Centre.
“These projects have been recognised, for example, by the UK Cabinet Office as international best practice in 2024 and were the mainstay of a prestigious global 25 ‘Innovation that Inspire’ award from the AACSB, the world’s largest association of business schools, bestowed upon Bournemouth University in 2023”.
The purpose of the Charter is to set out the service standards that partners, stakeholders and the public should expect from the Agency in an accessible way. Having such a Charter is important since it sets out the vision, mission, core values, responsibilities, policy priorities of the Agency as well as the services that it offers and the standards that it seeks to uphold.
Professor Lee Miles, Deputy Dean of the Business School and Professor of Crisis and Disaster Management at Bournemouth University Disaster Management Centre (BUDMC), said at the launch event, “I was delighted to contribute to the evidencing, advice and support that provided the basis for some of the Service Delivery Charter. It represents yet another successful example of the NDMA’s commitment to best practice and to improving disaster risk reduction, preparedness, relief and response in Sierra Leone. I would recommend citizens across Sierra Leone interested in knowing more about the NDMA and its services to read it as soon as they can”.
The Charter represents an important milestone in improving disaster management in the disaster-prone country that has recently experienced major flooding emergencies across the country and a high-profile building collapse incident in Freetown in 2024. The Charter, which has received significant media coverage in the country, will help the Sierra Leonean public find it easier to understand what the NDMA is seeking to achieve and does in practice to reduce risk, prepare for and organise relief and response to emergencies and disasters. The Charter also outlines key information on how to and where to approach the NDMA for further information, services, enquiries and even make complaints in one accessible document.
NDMA Director-General, Lt. Gen. (Rtd) Brima Sesay spoke of BU’s involvement, saying, “I am convinced that these contributions have helped to make the Charter – as launched today - one of the best and most innovative presently in operation in Africa and beyond”.
For more information about BU’s Disaster Management Centre, visit https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/centres-institutes/disaster-management-centre
