expanded social protection and social security for households with children, child protection, health and education programmes at the centre of the next generation of development. Moreover, the plan prioritizes the allocation of increased and sufficient public funds and the development of effective systems to sustain the universal implementation of the envisaged programmes, particularly in the hardestto-reach areas of the country where vulnerability is shaped by multiple deprivations (Government of Sierra Leone: Agenda for Prosperity, 2013). 17. In terms of the Agenda for Prosperity, the GoSL has set a path to become, by 2035, an inclusive, green, middle-income country in which:  socially, economically and politically empowered women contribute to national development in various forms;  hunger is eradicated;  less than 5 percent of people seeking jobs are without work;  over 80 percent of the population live above the poverty line;  free and compulsory education is available for every child;  over 90 percent of the population is able to read and write;  all have access to affordable housing;  a health-care delivery system is available within a 10-kilometer radius of every village;  there is an effective and efficient child and family welfare system;  people may expect to live to 70 years, and where every mother has access to a modern hospital in which she can give birth without fear and loss of her child;  there is less than 11 percent of stunting among children under 2 years of age;  there is an independent and accessible judiciary enjoying the confidence of the people;  there is modern and well-developed infrastructure with reliable energy supplies; and  there is an effective environmental management system in place that protects the country’s biodiversity and is capable of pre-empting environmental disasters. 18. This report documents the developmental journey taken by the GoSL towards the protection, promotion and fulfilment of the rights of all of its children as protected by the ACRWC. It briefly covers the first generation of post-war measures aimed at addressing the immediate needs of its most vulnerable children affected by the war, after which it describes the progressive emergence of the universal child welfare and development framework that underpins the current Agenda for Prosperity. The report charts the development of the GoSL’s emerging holistic child protection system, a system which is grounded, first, on the fundamental recognition of the interdependence of children’s rights and, secondly, on the recognition that children’s protection and other rights depend on the elimination of the social and economic determinants of their vulnerability as well as the provision of services and support to nurture their survival and development to their full potential. 19. This report has drawn and built on the State’s most recent (2006 and 2012) periodic reports on the fulfilment of its obligations in terms of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The CRC reports were developed through a consultative process which included extensive engagements with different line ministries and agencies, independent institutions, civil society organizations as well 1. Introduction  5