Sierra Leone
USAID's Strategy in Sierra Leone
An 11-year civil war that ended in 2002 left the country devastated,
but Sierra Leone has made remarkable strides toward growth and
stability and continues its steady transition from war to peace.
Burnt-out buildings and limbless children and adults are frequent
reminders of the devastation. An important part of Sierra Leone’s
recovery is helping the country address what fueled the war—primarily
the unfair and inequitable distribution of proceeds from diamond
mining—and effects of the brutal civil war. To help rebuild
communities and promote stability, the USAID program provides
social, economic, and physical support to encourage resettlement
and reintegration in war-torn communities.
AGRICULTURE AND LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
USAID’s post-war reintegration program has facilitated
the resettlement of war-torn populations (women, youth, ex-combatants,
internally displaced persons, and returnees) into their communities
and enabled them to work together to rebuild their shattered
lives and communities, encourage reconciliation, and build mutual
respect between ex-combatants and communities. USAID supports
social, economic and physical resettlement and reintegration
activities by providing ex-combatants and war-affected youth
with job skills and income-earning opportunities. In addition,
USAID provides support for rebuilding vital public infrastructure
in devastated communities. As the country is steadily transitioning
from relief to recovery and towards transformational development,
USAID’s program is shifting its emphasis toward reviving
the economy and generating economic opportunities—primarily
through agricultural and enterprise development sectors—to
stimulate and expand economic livelihood support to target beneficiaries
and communities.
USAID support for the reintegration process has contributed
greatly to creating a stable environment in some of the most
severely war-affected regions of the country. In FY 2004, over
162,000 displaced persons were returned to the targeted districts
and more than 52,000 beneficiaries were reached in nearly 445
communities. USAID has provided financial support to 314 micro-enterprise
groups and involved nearly 5,000 ex-combatants and war-affected
youth in public works projects. A total of 31,000 participants
have benefited from reintegration skills training and 155 community-based
organizations learned to effectively manage development projects.
USAID activities have also helped many young women and youth
develop the business skills that today enable them to feed their
families two meals a day—a seemingly small but significant
improvement from only two years ago when one meal a day was
the norm.
STRENGTHENING DEMOCRACY AND REDUCING CORRUPTION
USAID’s democracy program in Sierra Leone equips local
people, including women and youth, with the information and
skills they need to participate in decision-making, tackle corruption,
and contain human rights abuses with a view to end the cycle
of violence and ensure security and stability. As reintegration
advances and communities become more economically and socially
viable, they will become stronger and better able to participate
in transparent and inclusive political decision-making, which
will foster a climate of peace, security, and stability. With
a new democracy strengthening initiative, USAID will help to
empower communities at the local level, in part by helping them
build effective links among local councils, traditional, and
national leaders, to broaden and strengthen the voice of the
people.
By helping local committees and cooperatives to oversee mining
activities within their communities, USAID promotes effective
government control of the country’s diamond resources
and increases benefits from diamonds to diamond mining communities.
USAID support has helped increase the proportion of legally
traded diamonds and reduced the role of conflict diamonds as
a source of domestic and regional instability. The Government
of Sierra Leone now returns a proportion of diamond revenues
to diamond-producing communities, with the goal of reducing
diamond smuggling. In 2004, legal diamond mining netted about
$126 million, a 60 percent increase over $76 million in 2003,
and total cash allocations to diamond-producing communities
rose from $510,000 to more than $815,000 over the same period.
These are significant sums to communities, which have received
virtually nothing from central governments in the past.
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