UN 2021 Report: An Assessment of Sierra Leone’s Progress under the New Direction

Part 1

By Cyril Barnes & Mohamed L. Massaquoi

The recent United Nations Country Annual Results Report for the period of 2021 sheds light on a broad spectrum of areas to assess the level of progress Sierra Leone has made in four years under the guardianship of His Excellency President Dr. Julius Maada Bio.

Drawing its inspiration from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDs), with the objective of achieving Agenda 2030, the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) conducted its thorough assessment of four (4) thematic areas to wit: Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Security, and Climatic Resilience; Transformational Governance, Access to Basic Services, and Protection and Empowerment of the Most Vulnerable.

For the purpose of providing an in-depth analysis of the four thematic areas, the writers have deemed it necessary to throw light on the outcomes each in a serialised manner starting with Sustainable Agriculture.

Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Security, and Climatic Resilience:
In 2018, His Excellency Dr. Julius Maada Bio launched the Human Capital Development (HCD) project, which encompassed Education, Agriculture and Health. Four years down the line, with specific reference to the 2018-2020 outcomes, the government, together with the support of Development Partners, have made meaningful progress in the agricultural sector, taking into consideration policy reforms, increased productivity and access to farmlands, increased budgetary allocation from 3% in 2017 to 6% in 2021.

In actualising the food sufficiency agenda, the government acquired tractors, combined harvesters and other essential equipment for mechanised farming aimed at achieving the policy shift from subsistence farming to mechanised farming to stimulate private sector development, which formed part of the compounding efforts to address food challenges.

According to the report, Sierra Leone has over the past few years embarked on several transformative drives, which are now yielding dividends in terms of increasing the food production volume. The improvements made in food production are also having a positive effect on another important component of President Bio’s Human Capital Agenda—the health sector. The report mentioned that there has been a considerable improvement in the country’s nutrition level, particularly for people living in vulnerable communities. It goes without saying that this achievement will not only nurture the mental capability of students but also help to develop a healthier society and subsequently increase the life expectancy rate in the country.

Moreover, a key area of admiration for the Bio-led government has been the involvement of the private sector as a critical player in the agricultural space. With a number of priority areas hanging on the shoulders of the government and the immense competition for budgetary allocation among different agencies, having the private sector as a way of complementing the government’s effort is just an ideal pathway to go. In the past four years, we have witnessed significant private sector investment both at small and large scales.

Consequently, in encouraging private sector involvement, the government has also lowered taxes on the shipment of essential agricultural equipment in addition to providing seeds and direct cash support as part of incentives to rural farmers, particularly during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In partnership with the World Food Programme, the government also developed the Home-Grown School Feeding Policy in 2021, which is designed to utilize locally grown commodities to increase both local agricultural yields as well as create employment, while improving the economy. Children living in the most vulnerable communities have benefited immensely from the School Feeding Program nationwide, giving rise to a surge in enrollment. According to the Policy, the school feeding program covers currently 14 out of 16 Districts, in 128 out of 191 chiefdoms (67%), with a total of 2555/5038 schools (51%) and targeting 640,645/1,438,216 (45%).

With continued efforts, it is predicted that by the end of 2023, Sierra Leone is expected to benefit from more productive, commercialized, and sustainable agriculture, improved food and nutrition security, and increased resilience to climate change and other shocks.

In Part 2, the writers will delve into the gains made by President Bio in Transformational Governance.