Ban Ki-Moon appoints 27-year-old Sierra Leonean
Barely a week after UN Secretary General appointed current Health Minister, Zainab Bangura Under Secretary General for Sexual Violence in Conflict regions; he has once again turned to Sierra Leone for leadership by inviting former Children’s Parliament Speaker, Chernor Abdulai Bah to serve as a member of his Global Initiative on Education High Level Steering Committee. He will be representing the youth in this committee. (Photo: UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon)
C Bah who is currently working with the United States’ hugely popular sporting brand, Nike as its Youth Advisor, in his appointment letter written to him by the UN Chief, “will provide strategic direction to this important initiative which will be launched in the margins of the UN General Assembly on September 27.
Responding to his appointment, C Bah said, “I am humbled and honored in equal measure. I think back to my very humble background starting from being born in that “small pan bodi” in Kanikay to teacher parents, attending public schools and surviving a long brutal war. To be singled out among thousands of leaders around the world is a great responsibility and I will treat it the way I have all other solemn duties.”
He promised, “With hard work, honesty, dedication and a sense of solemn duty. I will work with the young people around the world to make sure that I truly represent them and hope that my actions will help the Secretary General achieve his important ambitious goal of universal education.”
C Bah, who holds a Masters from the prestigious University of Notre Dame, USA, where he read International Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution, according to his longtime friend, Barrister Francis Ben Kaifala, has already achieved a lot. “When he was only 15 years, he founded and was the first President of the Children’s Forum Network, the country’s closest version of a Children’s Parliament. He was later appointed by the UN as Junior Executive Producer for the ground breaking Voice of Children Radio Program that gave young people a platform in post war Sierra Leone.”
The young Sierra Leonean prodigy, this medium gathered; worked for the UN Population Fund as a Special Youth Fellow in New York and later as a special Youth Advisor in Liberia. He has also served on the Board of the Women’s Refugee Commission and is a member of the Inter Agency Network on Education in Emergencies.
The initiative seeks to promote the education that responds to the challenges of the 21st century and foster global citizenship and according to Bah, “The high level committee which will comprised of the heads of UNICEF, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNDP, World Bank and UN Women.
Osman Benk Sankoh
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