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DFID Sierra Leone
c/o British High Commission, Spur Road, Freetown, Sierra Leone
Tel: 00 232 22 233 620 | Fax: 00 232 22 235 769
Map courtesy of the FCO
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Sierra Leone
Overview
Sierra Leone is an amazingly rich country and yet the vast majority of its 5
million people are living in poverty. Plagued by civil war from 1991 to 2002, there has been
remarkable progress in consolidating peace and rebuilding the country’s
infrastructure since the end of the conflict.
Sierra Leone is blessed with
huge potential wealth in the form of vast mineral deposits, yet is struggling to
use these riches for the benefit of the majority of the population - the country
is rated last of 177 countries in the 2007 UN Human Development Index.
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Political and Economic Summary
Mining the wealth of minerals which Sierra Leone possesses provides a crucial
source of income for the majority of rural households as well as the political
and economic elites. For the poorest, this is often combined with subsistence
farming and agricultural wage labour.
Alluvial diamond mining remains the major source of hard currency earnings,
accounting for nearly 90% of Sierra Leone's exports. The continued growth in the
economy is highly dependent upon the maintenance of political stability, and
increasing private investment both domestically and from abroad.
Elections held in August 2007 passed peacefully and were generally considered to
be free and fair. A second round presidential run off in September 2007 was won
by Ernest Bai Koroma of the All People's Congress (APC). A peaceful transition
to an opposition party represented a notable success for the consolidation of
democracy in Sierra Leone.
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DFID in Sierra Leone
 The national Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) forms the basis of
DFID’s partnership with the Government of Sierra Leone and our goal is to work
with others to improve the prospects of Sierra Leone achieving the MDGs. The UK
is Sierra Leone's largest bilateral development partner, currently spending £40 million
a year in the country.
DFID’s support to date has focused on security and governance, but the new
draft Joint Country Strategy with the European Commission (EC) identifies the
main challenges facing Sierra Leone in the medium term as:
- Translating peace and security into effective delivery of basic
public services;
- Building capable government institutions;
- Maintaining social and political stability through democratic and
accountable government; and
- Job creation through economic growth.
While DFID and the EC will continue to support and build on gains in
improving security and governance, more needs to be done to stimulate and
sustain economic growth, improve infrastructure, and improve service delivery to
poor people.
Approximately one-third of the UK’s assistance goes directly to the Government’s
budget in the form of direct budget support. The levels of budget support are
assessed against progress against the benchmarks agreed between the budget
support donors (DFID, World Bank, EC) and the Government of Sierra Leone, which
are updated annually.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Sierra Leone and UK
Governments, confirming a ten-year partnership arrangement, was signed in
November 2002. The MoU details commitments that the Government of Sierra Leone
needs to achieve to ensure continued financial assistance from the UK
Government. DFID and the EC are together producing a joint country strategy to
cover the period 2007 to 2012.
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Sierra Leone and the Millennium Development Goals
Whilst the Government of Sierra Leone is committed to meeting the eight Millennium Development Goal
(MDG)
targets, limited progress has been made. The most recent figures from the
2003/04 household survey found that 70% of the population lived below the
national poverty line (£0.52p a day) and 26% of the population lived in extreme
poverty.
In the education sector significant improvements have been reported in the
aftermath of the war, with recent figures from the Ministry of Education showing
an increase in the number of children in primary schools rising to 1.28 million.
However, despite this impressive progress, Sierra Leone is far from reaching the
target of all primary aged children completing a full course of primary
schooling by 2015, and more needs to be done to improve female participation,
especially in rural areas.
A concerted effort is required by the Government and donors if it is to get
on track and meet the MDGs by 2015. A positive step forward in the country’s
efforts to achieve the MDGs was seen in 2005 when the Government started to
implement its Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). A new PRSP is planned for
2008.
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Links
Last updated: 4 April 2008
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