Sierra Leone is apparently a rich nation in terms of human and natural resources. The country’s current poverty situation can therefore be interpreted as the failure of Sierra Leoneans including their development partners, to effectively harness the resources and opportunities available within and outside the country for the elimination of poverty. NOSEDeP therefore emerged from the conviction tha
t majority of Sierra Leoneans can effectively contribute to addressing their social and economic needs where they are supported with the appropriate enabling opportunities. The development of Social Entrepreneurship capacities is to us key among those opportunities. Thus the emergence of NOSEDeP. INTRODUCTION:
Sierra Leone is located on the west coast of Africa. The country has a population of about 6,000,000 (six million) people. Sierra Leone is richly endowed with vast arable land for agriculture, extensive marine resources and precious mineral deposits like gold, diamond, rutile, bauxite, iron ore, chromites and crude oil. The country also has a quite youthful population. Unfortunately though, the UNDP Human Development Index ranked Sierra Leone as the poorest country in the world, putting it last out of 177 countries in 2005. Even in 2012, Sierra Leone’s Health and Nutrition indicators remain among the worst in the world. Seventy five percent of the country’s population is food poor and survives on less than 1 USD per day. A large proportion of youth, who include many former combatants, are unskilled, unemployed or underemployed. This situation presents a serious threat to sustainable peace, stability and development. The decade long civil war that raged in the country and the consequence of many years of poor leadership and institutionalized corruption resulted in severe economic decline and the weakening of vital social regulatory systems. With massive assistance from bilateral and multilateral international development partners and the determination of many Sierra Leoneans to redeem themselves from extreme want and poverty, the country has made reasonable progress in the areas of rehabilitation/ reconstruction, peace building, democratization, security and socio-economic stabilization. For example, by 2011, three postwar democratic national elections have been successfully organized and the country’s GDP stood at 11.8%.
