SIERRA LEONE maq 4ª.indd - agrilife - Europa

Figure 100. Expected sustainability of different components of the projects in the Northern region of
Sierra Leone
selected Northern and Eastern districts of Sierra
Leone, it can be said that these initiatives have
achieved positive effects on involved farm
households’ livelihood. Despite the negative
feedback on perceived adequacy on the amount
of aid, (particularly for the support on activities
which require cash), the objectives of contributing
to the improvement of food security were
partially achieved as reflected in the evaluation
of the effectiveness and impact criteria. It is
also interesting to note that the initiatives that
were provided were perceived sustainable and
benefiting the smallholders also on a longer term.
However, more efforts are needed if the final
objective is to raise the population out of the
poverty trap.
6.4.5 General Improvement in the Community
Area
As the STABEX, Government projects and
other NGOs in the surveyed districts also had
the objective of improving rural livelihoods. In
this case respondents were also asked to evaluate
any improvement experienced in different areas
of development during the two years in which
STABEX-funded initiatives were undertaken.
Smallholders were explicitly asked: “Have you
experienced or seen any improvement in the
following areas of development in your area
during the last two years?” Areas of development
considered were the following: general
household wellbeing in the area, opportunities
of education for kids, health care facilities or
opportunities, food security situation of the
household, provision of agricultural services by
the government, opportunities of buying fertilisers
and opportunities to sell farm produce. The replies
are listed below for the Eastern (Figure 101) and
Northern region (Figure 102) respectively.
In general, the results show that in both
Eastern and Northern regions around 20-35% of
smallholders perceived improvement in several
areas of development, as the result of STABEXfunded
and Governmental and NGO initiatives.
The improvements have been observed in areas
such as the general well-being, education, health
care, food security and opportunities to sell farm
produce. From their experience, improvements
were perceived especially related to the areas
of food security and opportunities to sell farm
produce in both regions, which was a specific aim
of STABEX-funded measures (i.e. improvement in
production and marketing). One particular issue
which appears to have worsened from the point of
Rural poverty reduction and food security: The case of smallholders in Sierra Leone
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