WFP has been operational in Sierra Leone since 1968. WFP supports the southern, northern, eastern and western area regions with an office in Freetown and one sub-office located in Kenema.
In collaboration with the Government and other partners, WFP pursues the goal of feeding the hungry poor by supporting reconstruction and rehabilitation following the devastating civil war in the 1990s. In 2011, WFP reached 696,271 vulnerable people across Sierra Leone with 15,800 mt of food.
WFP assistance in Sierra Leone focuses on food insecure and vulnerable households in rural, peri-urban and urban areas, and supports the government in accelerating the transition from recovery to long-term development.
Working with the government of Sierra Leone and partners, WFP targets development goals across three interlinked areas: education, health/nutrition, and livelihoods.
WFP supports basic primary education through the provision of daily school meals with a view to increase school enrolment, particularly for vulnerable children.
WFP seeks to improve the health and nutritional status of women and children through Mother-and-Child Health and Nutrition programmes. It also provides food assistance for people living with HIV and tuberculosis.
WFP also provides livelihood support to the poorest segments of the population, with a particular focus on women and youth, through food for work and cash for work programmes as well as providing food through selected training institutions.
Sierra Leone is one of 21 countries where Purchase for Progress (P4P) has been piloted for five years. Sierra Leone‘s P4P initiative works with small-holder farmers so that they can sell their surplus crops at competitive prices.
Rice, gari and blended food sourced through P4P account for 70 percent of WFP’s procurement. The locally purchased rice is mainly used for WFP‘s school meals programme. WFP works with processing companies capable of producing fortified blended foods.