Opportunity Salone Programme – Jobs and Growth programme in Sierra Leone

In the past three decades, Sierra Leone's development has been affected by multiple crises, including the civil war from 1991 to 2002, the Ebola epidemic in 2014, and more recently the COVID-19 pandemic. In recent years, the economy has slowly started to recover, however, growth has not been inclusive. Poverty levels have increased from 53.8% in 2011 to 56.7% in 2018, while 10.8% of the population lives in abject poverty. The COVID-19 pandemic and related mitigating effects have also disrupted service provision and economic activity in the country, and are likely to have lasting impact on economic growth and development. Sierra Leone’s youth and persons with disabilities experience significant challenges related to lack of educational and employment opportunities – particularly in rural areas. Furthermore, while over half of Sierra Leone’s population is employed in agriculture, the sector is characterized by low levels of productivity, informality and a generalized absence of linkages with markets, inputs and support services. Limited access to these essential components is compounded by poorly maintained feeder road networks. Opportunity Salone is part of a larger EU-supported Jobs and Growth programme implemented by a number of partners that aims to stimulate job creation by improving the investment climate through enhanced access to finance, improving rural transport infrastructure, and upgrading human capital through general and vocational training and education. Opportunity Salone aims to contribute to more decent job creation in terms of quantity and quality of jobs for women, young women and men and persons with disabilities mainly in rural areas in Sierra Leone through inclusive value chain development focused on SMEs and cooperatives, and feeder road maintenance to improve access to markets. The project will be implemented over a 4-year period with a budget of 8 million Euros and have three interrelated outcomes to address the creation of decent jobs for women, young women and men, and persons with disabilities mainly in rural areas. The project outcomes are: 1. Enhanced agricultural value chains and entrepreneurship development contributing to decent work for youth and women; 2. Increased feeder road maintenance and decent work for youth and women to enhance market access and support value chain development; and 3. Conducive business environment for entrepreneurship development and feeder road maintenance to support job creation. Opportunity Salone is envisaged to contribute to value chain and entrepreneurship development, creating between 2,000 and 4,000 jobs in the short run to maintain up to 200km of rural feeder roads, as well as longer-term, sustainable job quality improvement in strengthened and inclusive agricultural value chains.

Project symbol

SLE/21/01/EUR

Admin unit

CO-Abuja

Start date

01/10/2021

End date

30/09/2025

Total allocation

6735335

Total expenditure

Status

Active

5995268

Development Partners

European Commission, DG for International Cooperation, Development Cooperation Instrument

Country/Countries

Sierra Leone

Outcomes

Outcome 4: Sustainable enterprises for inclusive growth and decent work