Donor Policies in Post-War Sierra Leone

The Sierra Leone peace process following the country's 1991–2002 civil war between the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) benefited immensely from the energetic involvement of an eclectic mix of donors. Traditional inter-governmental financial institutions and relatively new private funding foundations all channelled aid money and technical expertise through various multilateral and bilateral mechanisms for rebuilding the country. Without a doubt Sierra Leone's recovery from the debilitating 11-year war would not have come to pass in the time and manner it did without the robust intervention of such funders. Based on fieldwork conducted in Sierra Leone at the height of the peacebuilding process, this article outlines the role played by international donors in rebuilding post-war Sierra Leone. It posits that understanding the modus operandi of the assorted mix of donor agencies in creating the country's aid architecture is key to grasping the nuances of the Sierra Leone peace process. This is partly because the aid largesse, though well intentioned, was injected into a barely functioning system that lacked a coherent recipient regime. The article concludes that though donors were critical to Sierra Leone's rebuilding efforts, their lack of emphasis on a needs-centred funding mechanism created an inadequate model to address the country's complex post-war reconstruction challenges.