Bridging Knowledge & Policy

Ahead of the 2023 elections, political parties and candidates are busy developing their party manifestos and plans on which they expect citizens to vote for them. On Tuesday, 23rd May 2023, the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party launched the People’s Manifesto in Kenema. It is expected that other political parties, including the opposition APC, will follow suit in the coming week.

This week we sit down with Mr. Kalilu Totangi from NaCCED (National Council for Civic Education and Democracy (NaCCED) to discuss youth and electoral ignorance in Sierra Leone. In particular, recent surveys from IGR have revealed a striking amount of ignorance regarding the PR system despite its recent adoption, a switch from first-past-the-post (FPTP). Youth make up approximately 50% ...

This week we continue our prior week’s discussion with Charlie Hughes to discuss the BioMeter (BM). The BM is an initiative funded by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) to evaluate the campaign promises of President Bio that were made in 2018. All in all, President Bio made a staggering 536 promises in the Sierra Leone People’s Party “New Direction” Manifesto. So IGR has tracked and ...

This week we continue last week’s discussion with IGR’s Governance Officer, Emmanuella Sandy, to further build on our previous episode that discussed the demands of citizens as it relates to citizen policy priorities within the context of the Citizen’s Manifesto (CM). The CM was first introduced in 2018 as a way to identify citizen policy priorities and the desires of citizens that should be taken on...

This week we sit down with IGR’s Governance Officer, Emmanuella Sandy, to further build on our previous episode that discussed the second iteration of the Citizen’s Manifesto (CM). The CM was first introduced in 2018 as a way to identify citizen policy priorities and the desires of citizens that should be taken on board by political parties. In this week we discuss what are the demands of citizens in...

This week we sit down with IGR’s Executive Director, Andrew Lavali, to discuss the second iteration of the Citizen’s Manifesto (CM). The CM was first introduced in 2018 as a way to identify citizen policy priorities and the desires of citizens that should be taken on board by political parties. Now in 2023, the CM is back, but this new iteration now looks at not only national policy pr...

IGR speaks with Executive Director, Ibrahim Tommy, of the Center for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL) on the often overlooked issue of electoral justice and its relationship to elections and democracy. Mr. Tommy unpacks the complex nature of electoral justice and how it transcends both formal and informal aspects of electoral politics to demonstrate that how electoral justice is c...

IGR speaks with its Executive Director, Andrew Lavali, on Proportional Representation and its tendency to lead to violence. By looking at the evidence and trend lines on PR, will PR help mitigate the issues that often lead to violence in Sierra Leone? Or will PR accentuate these issues and lead to a new round of election-related violence in 2023?

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IGR speaks to its own Research & Policy Director on the recent adoption of the 30% law in light of the switch to proportional representation (PR). What does this 30% law mean for women in light of the recent PR switch for the upcoming elections? Can women achieve 30% in light of the new legislation, and what are the challenges and obstacles women still face in Sierra Leone?

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