IFAD in Sierra Leone
Since the organization initiated its first project in the country in 1980, IFAD has provided a total of US$ 78.7 million in financing for six loans and three grants for programmes and projects with a total cost of US$144.8 million.
Operations were suspended during the civil war, and started up again after the war ended in 2002. At that time IFAD and the African Development Bank (AfDB) established a joint programme coordination unit (JPPCU) to facilitate management and increase cost effectiveness of operations in agriculture and the rural sector.
The IFAD portfolio in Sierra Leone currently comprises two projects:
- the ongoing Rehabilitation and Community-based Poverty Reduction Project (RCPRP) which is twinned with an AfDB project (the Agricultural Sector Rehabilitation Project (ASREP)
- the Rural Finance and Community Improvement Project (RFCIP), which was approved in 2007. Through IFAD’s debt sustainability framework the organization has provided US$10.0 million in grant assistance to Sierra Leone to support the RFCIP. IFAD intends to introduce the financial services associations (FSA) model in Sierra Leone through the RFCIP. An ongoing FSA pilot project, launched in 2007, is laying groundwork for the establishment of the 30 FSAs to be created under the RFCIP.
IFAD’strategy in the country
The country strategic opportunities programme (COSOP) for Sierra Leone for 2010-2015 will continue to support the Government’s rural poverty reduction goals, which are closely aligned with the Millennium Development Goals and foster agriculture as the ‘engine’ of socio-economic growth. This COSOP is also fully aligned with the second poverty reduction strategy paper and the new National Sustainable Agricultural Development Plan 2010-2030 launched in October 2009.
IFAD’s strategy focuses on three main areas:
- support to agriculture –smallholder farmers’ access to irrigation, technical skills and market is improved;
- support to rural finance – the rural poor have access to reliable and sustainable financial services (savings, credit, transfers, remittances);
- support to local development – the rural poor increase their level of participation in the management of local decentralized institutions.
Country strategic opportunities programme (COSOP)
Source: IFAD
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