By Sabri Dibaco
The Minister of General Education and Instructions in Western Equatoria State(WES) has called for transparency and accountability in the management of donor funds supporting the education sector.
Speaking to the No. 1 Citizen Daily Newspaper, Gibson Bullen Wande WES Minister of General Education and Instruction emphasized the importance of ensuring that all financial assistance from development partners is properly utilized to improve learning conditions in schools across the state.
“we need to compromise, we need to cooperate, we need to coordinate with the donor body and to ensure that the transparency is being taken seriously, because we know very well when a partner, when a donor gives a fund, they want to see the end result of that financial support, so we need transparent in our work and ensure that whatever is required to be done, let us do it effectively and honestly so that more support can be rendered to the Ministry of Education, both at the national level and the state level” Gibson Wande Stated.
He noted that donors funding remains vital in supporting key areas such as school infrastructure, teacher’s training, and the provision of scholastic materials. However, he raised concerns over possible mismanagement and lack of clear reporting mechanisms in the use of
such funds.
The Minister urged education officials, project implementers, and partners to uphold strict financial discipline and ensure that resources reach the intended beneficiaries, particularly learners in rural areas.
“Transparency and accountability are essential to building trust with our partners and delivering quality education to our children,” he said.
He further called on stakeholders to strengthen monitoring and evaluation systems, as well as ensure regular reporting on the use of donor funds.
The minister made this call as the world bank in partnership with the national ministry of general education came to western Equatoria to access the project world bank is offering to the refuges and the host community to rehabilitate schools, train teachers and also pay the salary of the teacher in the seventeen schools which will benefit from this project.
The minister said that this project is only for the areas which is host the refuges and the host community not the internal displaced persons.
“This project is targeting refugees and host communities, it is about refugees and the host communities, and also in these 17 educational facilities that have been identified, the verification teams are on the ground and If they found that there are schools which are only hosting learners who are only refugees, they will not benefit from the project because they need to be at least inclusive” Gibson Wande said.
He encouraged the community at the state level and the payams to cooperate and coordinate with the body to ensure effective work of mapping exercise verification of information is done so that the project will be implemented.
The Ministry reaffirmed its commitment to working closely with partners to enhance transparency and ensure that donor-supported programs have a meaningful impact on education development in Western Equatoria State.