Protracted civil war destroyed Sierra Leone’s physical and social infrastructure. By some estimates, more than 25 percent of the population was displaced and 30 percent of the primary schools and 75 percent of health facilities were destroyed. By 1998, the country had the world’s highest under-five child mortality rate.
The peace agreement of July 1999, while not conclusive in hindsight, provided an opportunity for the World Bank to prepare a program of support for economic rehabilitation and recovery. A series of three credits provided quick-disbursing post-conflict support to finance governance reform and stimulate economic growth, to implement a transitional safety net allowance for adult ex-combatants, to finance public services, and to import essential commodities -- including food products, petroleum products, and raw materials and intermediate goods needed to kick-start the economy.
The country’s post-conflict recovery was driven, among other things, by dynamic growth of donor-financed imports, large-scale resettlement and reconstruction activities, major increases in land under cultivation, and increased investor confidence.
Highlights:
- Real GDP grew by an estimated 9.3 percent and 7.4 percent respectively in 2003 and 2004.
- A local government act was passed in 2004, followed by the first local government elections in 30 years; staffing in 19 councils was completed.
- A transparent and competitive investment code was enacted.
- Annual public expenditure tracking surveys were conducted.
- A financial management and accountability system was introduced.
- Civil society participated in budget preparation and execution. Budget oversight committees were established nationwide at the district level.
- An anti-corruption commission, a national procurement authority board and independent review panel were established.
- Macroeconomic improvements have translated into improvements in some human development indicators: for example, primary enrollment increased 39 percent in 2000/2001 due to free primary education in grades 1-3 and improved school accessibility in rural areas.
- Assistance helped Sierra Leone move from the transitional phase of peace-building to the medium-term phase of meeting its poverty reduction goals.
- Three credits amounting to US$121 million 2000-04.
- Credits were part of an active effort by the World Bank to deliver peace “dividends” as quickly as possible: in 2000-05, IDA financed a total of US$329 million worth of development projects, policy reforms, and analytical work.
- The design of Bank support for policy reforms benefited from integration with the efforts of other active donors. For example, there was tight coordination of public financial management reforms supported by the United Kingdom (UK), the European Commission and IDA; decentralization supported by IDA and UNDP; procurement reform supported by IDA and UNDP; the investment code supported by IDA, IFC’s Foreign Investment Advisory Service (FIAS), and the UK; and the mining cadastre supported by IDA, the UK and UNDP.
With the establishment of a full Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper covering 2005-2007, there is now consensus among the major donors that the best way to make progress in Sierra Leone is through a framework for multi-donor budget support and a clear and consistent set of conditions that flow from the Poverty Reduction Strategy. This framework was put into place in November 2006 and underpins a new series of development policy grants for governance reform and growth.
RSS