Dear Friends,

Welcome to the Sierra Leone country website of the World Bank!  Our mission worldwide and in Sierra Leone is to fight poverty with passion and professionalism.  The Bank’s engagement with Sierra Leone goes back to 1962 when Sierra Leone joined the World Bank a year after independence. Since then we have been supporting the Government of Sierra Leone and other players in addressing the challenges of poverty, underdevelopment and nation building. 

Sierra Leone continues to make strides since the war ended in 2002, with notable achievements in child immunization and school enrolment, among others.  We are pleased to have contributed to the progress before and since the war through provision of financial resources, technical assistance, and policy advice.  In particular, the Bank’s support has provided critical financial resources for the budget which has helped deliver basic services and build infrastructure.  Despite the recent progress made by the country, there remain severe challenges. 

Our current support is in the areas of human development, infrastructure, and the productive sectors.  You can learn more about our work in Sierra Leone by looking at our Joint Country Assistance Strategy (JCAS), and finding out about our various programs.

In the last three years from 2008-2010, the Bank’s assistance to Sierra Leone as at October 2010 was US$308,800,000 in the form of IDA grants and interest-free credits."  As a global institution, the World Bank is uniquely positioned to help our member countries including Sierra Leone learn from best practice and our data, knowledge and analytical work.  For example, see our product on Adding Value through Trade for Poverty Reduction.  We work in close partnership with the government, other development partners and civil society.  We deeply care about development results – after all that is the business.   

We take pride in being a learning institution and look forward to receiving your feedback on the Bank’s work in Sierra Leone.  You can also contribute your ideas by participating in any of the many of the Bank Blogs depending on your area of interest.  We hope that your visit to our country site will provide you with information about our activities in Sierra Leone.

Once again Wuna Kusheh en Kabor as said in Krio.

Vijay Pillai, World Bank Country Manager in Sierra Leone