Where we Work

Sierra Leone lies on the West Coast of Africa bordering Guinea on the north and east and Liberia on the south and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean.  It is a small country whose current population is about 6 million of which 51% are women. It is characterized by a large rural agricultural sector which account for about 80-85% of the rural population and at least 65% of the total population. Most of the people in the sector are unemployed persons and unpaid family workers. Mining and other non-farming activities are also important rural activities. Cash crop farming, mainly cocoa and coffee is primarily carried out by men while women dominate food crop production.

The second largest sector is the urban informal sector which emerged largely as result of accelerated rural –urban migration and the labour surplus generated in the cities. This sector represents over 70% of the urban labour force and at least one-fifth of the total labour force. Women account for about 65% of the informal labour workforce. The key features of the informal sector are dominance of self-employed individuals such as small traders, street vendors, carpenters, tailors, taxi drivers etc.. Labour productivity is low, underemployment is high, job insecurity is pervasive, wages are highly flexible and workers do not receive much from employers.

The third segment of the market is the formal urban sector comprising the public sector ( civil service, parastatals and semi autonomous institutions) and medium and large scale enterprises producing both tradable and non-tradable goods both skilled and unskilled labour.

In spite of its vast natural endowment ( gold, rutile, iron ore, bauxite, diamond), Sierra Leone remains a poor country and is second to the least developed country in the world as reflected in the last UNDP global Human development Index.

 

 

 

General Facts of sierra leone

LOCATION	Western Africa, between Guinea and Liberia
CAPITAL CITY	Freetown
DIVISIONS	3 provinces and 1 area*; Eastern-,Northern-, and Southern Province and Western Area
CLIMATE	tropical; hot & humid (rainy season: May to December; dry season: December to April)
NATURAL RESOURCES	diamonds, titanium ore, bauxite, iron ore, gold, chromite
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS	rice, coffee, cocoa, palm kernels, palm oil, peanuts; poultry, cattle, sheep, pigs and fish
POPULATION	6,144,562 (July 2007 est.)
LIFE EXPECTANCY	40.58 years (total popluation)
ETHNIC GROUPS	Temne 30%, Mende 30%, other 30%, Krio 10%
RELIGIONS	Muslim 60%, indigenous beliefs 30%, Christian 10%
LANGUAGES	Official: English; Krio (englished based creole & understood by 95% of the population; Mende (spoken in the south), Temne (spoken in the north)
LITERACY	35,1%
GOVERNMENT TYPE	constitutional democracy
INDEPENDENCE	27 April 1961 (from UK)
PRESIDENT	Ahmad Tejan KABBAH (since 29 March 1996, reinstated 10 March 1998)next elections: August 2007
POLITICAL PARTIES	most important ones: All People's Congress (APC) ; Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) and People's Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC)
CURRENCY	Leone (SLL)

                                                                                                * for more information go to the CIA World Factbook