| Project Detail |
In 2023, the Government of Sierra Leone set-out a strategic vision called the “BIG FIVE” where the Project is aligned with three strategic focus areas namely(i) Youth Employment where the Government aims at creating 500,000 jobs in the next five years that is aligned with the Bank’s High 5, (ii) Human Capital Development whose goal is to nurture the 21st Century skills amongst youth, and (iii) Feed Salone which aims to boost agricultural productivity and ensure food and nutrition security, create 35,000 jobs, reduce fragility and build long-term resilience, and reduce rural-urban migration to promote peace and political stability nationwide. Project Objectives The development objective of the Project is to create jobs for women and young people through climate smart agriculture and waste management value chains development. The Project aims at addressing the root causes of fragility and insecurity in the country by empowering women and youth with productive business opportunities. Beneficiaries In this first phase, the project will cover the Eastern, Southern and Western provinces of the Country. The Eastern province (1.9 million people in 2021, 50.1% female) is conducive for cassava production, the Southern (1.8 million people in 2021, 50.9% )and the Western province (1.3 million people, 51.7% female) are the centre of fisheries production. Those products constitute preliminary inputs for the development of the targeted value chains through processing, transformation, aggregation, and marketing. In subsequent phases and resources mobilization, the project will be expanded to the Northern Province. Final beneficiaries include: (i) 1,500 youth 18-35 years, out of which 750 are young women and (ii) 1,000 women of 18 years or more in the casava and fishery value chains; (iii) 1,000 youth and women in the waste management value chain; (iv) 500 youth and women led micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (350 women led) in the casava and fishery value chains and 200 waste management enterprises; (v) the Government of Sierra Leone for the achievement of its objective to create more than one million jobs for youth and women by 2030; (vi) farmers who will provide inputs for identified value chains for transformation and aggregation; (vii) population of Sierra Leone who will benefit from quality and affordable products for consumption; (viii) The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security for the equipment of Agriculture Business Centres and capacity building for the Department of Agri-business Development and Private Sector, the Ministry of Employment, Labor, and Social Security with the development of Labor Market Information System (LMIS), (ix)the Ministry of Higher and Technical Education for the equipment of TVET centres and capacity building,(x) the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Youth Affairs for capacity building, and (x) the small and medium enterprises agency for equipment and capacity building. |
