Sierra Leone

For a long time Sierra Leone was on an encouraging path towards political stability and democratic rule. The West African country was seen as an excellent example of conflict resolution with international support and the successful restoration of governmental and societal structures. President Julius Maada Bio, who has been in office since 2018, was pursuing development-oriented reform policies which actively involved civil society. Since August 2022, however, there have been growing signs that a change towards a more autocratic system of government is underway.

In 2021, Sierra Leone was given the status of a bilateral partner country under German development cooperation. Since 2006, the country had been benefiting from regional support provided by Germany via the “Fragile States of West Africa” fund.

Advertising sign at the border of Sierra Leone — Straight to

Since the end of the civil war in 2002, fair and peaceful elections had taken place regularly in Sierra Leone. That changed with the elections in June 2023, which were won – according to the official records – by the incumbent president Bio. The independent coalition National Election Watch expressed doubts about the election results and they were not recognised by the opposition. The elections were also deemed not transparent and not credible by the donor community.

Talks between the government and the opposition were only resumed after the Commonwealth and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) mediated between the two sides, with a declaration of national unity being signed in October 2023. The declaration envisages, among other things, the establishment of a cross-party electoral commission and an investigation into all three levels (presidential, parliamentary and municipal) of the 2023 elections.

It appears, however, that political tensions in the country have not abated. On 26 November 2023, the government reported an attempted coup. The highly challenging societal context, the high level of poverty among the population and a precarious food situation with regularly occurring famines continue to threaten political stability and social peace.

Peace not yet sufficiently secured

Sierra Leone’s recent history has been marked by huge suffering and distress. Between 1991 and 2002, the country experienced one of the most brutal and violent civil wars Africa has seen in recent decades. Tens of thousands were killed or seriously injured, children were abducted and forced into combat, women and girls were subjected to sexual violence, and 60 per cent of the population was displaced. Much of the country’s infrastructure was destroyed.

In 2014, just twelve years after the end of the civil war, an Ebola epidemic broke out in Sierra Leone, with disastrous consequences for the economy and society. The country had not yet fully recovered when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, putting an additional strain on development. The impacts of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine are also making the severe poverty even worse.

The current United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) ranks Sierra Leone 184th out of 193 countries. More than 20 years after the end of the civil war, peacebuilding structures have still not become sufficiently well established to exclude a descent back into organised mass violence.

German development cooperation with Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone has been a bilateral partner country for German development cooperation since 2021. Cooperation focuses on the following core areas:

Sustainable economic development, training and employment
Areas of intervention: technical and vocational education and training, private sector and financial sector development
Health, social protection and population dynamics
Area of intervention: health, pandemics and One Health

Germany has been supporting the country’s reconstruction after the civil war since 2010. In order to firmly establish peace and get young people into employment quickly, the German Development Ministry (BMZ) is particularly involved in activities to do with vocational education, promoting the private sector and rural infrastructure.

More than 50,000 young people have meanwhile been trained in a wide range of vocational skills and have been able to increase their incomes. Around 1,000 hectares of land used to cultivate rice have been rehabilitated and are now contributing to food security. Around 4,000 people have taken part in training for agricultural work and for municipal organisation just since 2020, whilst more than 2,500 businesses have benefited from a wide variety of advisory services. Support has also been provided to assist with the construction of deep wells, rice mills and grain silos with solar panels, as well as for the rehabilitation of markets and rural access roads.

At the government negotiations in November 2023, Sierra Leone received commitments of 37 million euros in order to continue projects in the aforementioned core areas.

In addition to bilateral cooperation, the BMZ is also supporting a responsible commodities policy in West Africa via a regional project. The member states of the Mano River Union – Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire – receive support with the aim of helping to increase government revenue from natural resources, improve working and production conditions in the extractive sector, monitor the activities of mining companies more effectively, and increase the transparency of payment flows.

Germany also supports numerous NGOs working in Sierra Leone, in particular in the areas of training and education, health, land rights and the rights of women and girls.

Coconut seller at Lakka Beach ferry terminal

The aim of German activities in the action areas of vocational training and private sector and financial system development is to promote the training and employment of young people, improve incomes and develop rural value chains (vegetables, cocoa, coffee, poultry feed, forestry, ecotourism) whilst also taking the social and environmental aspects of economic development into account.

Patient at the Princess Christian Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone

The healthcare system in Sierra Leone has serious shortcomings. Healthcare services are underfunded, and there is a lack of medical staff and technical equipment. In response to the Ebola crisis in 2014/15, the BMZ has been promoting projects aimed at strengthening the healthcare system and improving epidemic prevention as part of a One Health approach.