ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, July 3, 2024 — The African Development Fund, through its concessional window, has approved a $19.95 million grant aimed at fostering livelihood opportunities for women and youth in Sierra Leone. The initiative, titled “Job Creation for Youth and Women in Climate Smart Agriculture Value Chains and Waste Management,” targets sectors pivotal to economic empowerment, such as cassava farming and fisheries.
This funding, part of the Transition Support Facility’s efforts to address fragility and insecurity in Sierra Leone, includes technical assistance from the Global Center on Adaptation to enhance adaptation strategies and waste management policies with an additional $159,600 contribution.
Halima Hashi, the Bank Group’s Country Manager in Sierra Leone, emphasized that 70% of the project’s beneficiaries will be women, promoting gender equality and economic empowerment. The project aims to enhance entrepreneurial skills in climate-smart agriculture and waste management, facilitate access to finance for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), and broaden market reach for youth and women-led MSMEs. It also focuses on capacity building to improve the business environment and service delivery.
Key Objectives of the Project Include:
- Improving access to finance for 700 MSMEs.
- Enhancing entrepreneurial and digital skills for 2,500 individuals in cassava and fisheries, with a focus on women.
- Training 1,000 individuals in waste management, including 250 women.
- Facilitating business partnerships between 700 MSMEs and larger enterprises.
- Establishing a digital marketplace benefiting 5,000 smallholder farmers and 4,850 MSMEs in value chains.
The project anticipates creating 9,200 jobs, enhancing climate resilience for 3,500 youth and women, and boosting MSME revenues by at least 10%. It aligns with Sierra Leone’s BIG FIVE Agenda and the medium-term National Development Plan (2024-2030), aiming to generate 500,000 new youth jobs by 2030.
This initiative also supports the African Development Bank’s Ten-year Strategy (2024-2033) and its Country Strategy Paper (2020-2024) for Sierra Leone.
Media Contact: François Lacombe
Communication and External Relations Department
media@afdb.org
