Just more than a month after flooding and a mudslide killed hundreds and displaced thousands, many communities remain steadfast, in affected and high-risk areas around Freetown.  Today, a small group of young men is hard at work, shoveling sand into bags and building a barrier in the narrow space between the...

As recovery rolls out one month after the emergency response to the 14 August landslide and floods, UNDP will continue to work with the Government of Sierra Leone moving towards sustainable and inclusive risk informed development. What have we done? UNDP has provided technical and practical support to the...

The Sierra Leone Judiciary has, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), launched a new Samsung mobile app to fast-track court cases in one of the world’s overstretched judiciaries. With just a few taps, the user-friendly app allows entering of new cases into the database through...

On a Wednesday afternoon, Sanpha and his team of three other men are braving the scalding heat, replacing an old pipe with giant spanners. They have been working since dawn, but they are positive to get it right. Women and children sit by the fence waiting for the hand pump to be fixed. This tap is in the old...

New York – The President of the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today welcomed the appointment of Achim Steiner as the Organization’s new Administrator. Mr Steiner’s nomination for UNDP Administrator was forwarded by Secretary-General António Guterres to the General...

When twenty- two-year-old Fatmata Sawyer was asked to identify potential hazards affecting her small village of under 300 residents, she took the microphone and boldly mentioned flash floods, thunderbolts, wildfires, teenage pregnancy and environmental degradation. Fatmata is among 6 female participants in a...

Freetown/April 10- Fourteen (14) Judges and Magistrates have concluded a training session on the Training of Trainers on their new curricula for the Judicial and Legal Training Institute (JLTI) at the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone. The training seeks to support the Chief Justice and senior management in the...

Freetown, March 30, 2017: Steady progress in human development cannot be achieved if half of the world’s population is bypassed, says the 2016 Global Human Development Report (GHDR). The Report was jointly launched by the Development Secretary in the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, and the UNDP...

'Leaving nobody behind' is the very foundation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, we are happy to be working on this important initiative - which will make sure that more people in Sierra Leone have access to finance - together with the Bank of Sierra Leone”- Sunil Saigal, Resident Coordinator, United...

Freetown, November 4, 2016:  Sierra Leone Vice-President Honourable Dr. Victor Bockarie-Foh has launched, a new USD 1.5 Million initiative aiming to revamp and transform the country’s prisons facilities to correctional services, in Freetown on November 3, 2016. The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law...

When 17 year-old Samuel Elba and his colleagues got fed-up with the rampant electricity shortage in the Dwazark community, a hill top slum in the central of Freetown, they resorted to use local scrap to invent a wind- powered generator that is cheaper, healthier and environmentally friendly. The lack of affordable...

The Newton Orphanage got its first improved pit latrine on Thursday, 13 October 2016 since it was established seven years ago in 2010. Imagine living in a house with at least 20 occupants and that too little girls and boys with no proper basic sanitary facilities such as a toilet.  What is more worrying is the...

The Kallons are a brave family. They were all infected by the Ebola virus at the peak of the outbreak in Daru town, 36 miles from Kailahun, the eastern-most district of Sierra Leone. They fought courageously and emerged victorious against the disease. However, they encountered fresh battles from community...

When torrential rains hit Sierra Leone last year small businesses like that of 42 year old Rugiatu Daniel were badly affected. The economic and social scars of those monsoon rains have still not healed for Rugiatu, who is the breadwinner of a family of six. “I still haven’t fully recovered from the September 17...

Thomas Vandi, a 14-year old pupil of Lumbebu International School in Kenema is excited about his future. Like many his age, Thomas was drawn to a certain career because of some family influence – one member of the family is in a particular field so they also choose that field. But Thomas thinks it is time to make a...

Freetown, 3 June 2016:  Director of Serious Organized Crimes Unit (SOCU), in the Office of National Security (ONS), Mr. Solomon Caulker, has said that an increase in transnational and organised crime in the border communities poses a major threat to peace and stability in the Mano River countries of Liberia, Guinea...

Freetown, April 14 2016: The Chief of the Standing Police Capacity (SPC) in the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), Ms. Maria Appelblom, said this week that Sierra Leone has made impressive gains in community policing and called for a broader police–public partnership. Ms. Appelblom, from Sweden,...

West Africa - The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) have completed the Digital Financial Services (DFS) diagnostics in the three West African fragile states Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, also Least Developed Countries, recovering from the impact of Ebola. In Guinea and...

The recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa was the worst of its kind in recorded history. Over 11 thousand people died, and over 3,900 were from Sierra Leone. Yet death and suffering are only part of the crisis. The epidemic, and emergency actions to stamp it out, have severely slowed economic growth. Thousands of...

New York, 15 July 2015 — UNDP and Japanese electronics manufacturer Panasonic Corporation have delivered a second batch of 3,000 solar lanterns to the three countries most affected by the Ebola epidemic. The lamps were distributed during the second week of July, based on the needs of each community.  The solar...