'Enhancing Disaster Management in Sierra Leone' Driving African Capacity-Building in Disaster Management (AFRICAB) Final Report 2021.

Abstract

The Driving African Capacity-Building in Disaster Management (AFRICAB) Final Report recognises that significant progress has been made in recent years aimed at improving the disaster management (DM) system of Sierra Leone, including the passing of new legislation in 2020, the establishment of a dedicated National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) in November 2020 and the continuing development of a successful pillar-system for the coordination of disaster response. Nevertheless, using innovative Single Points of Failure (SPOF) diagnostics and techniques, refined at Bournemouth University Disaster Management Centre (BUDMC) and based on research involving 559 participants over the period September 2018 to July 2021, this Final Report also confirms that there remain many relatively manageable areas, such as technical, procedural, human, physical and economic issues that have large and detrimental consequences for effective DM in Sierra Leone. This AFRICAB Final Report offers 8 recommendations for future action focusing on addressing technical, coordination, communication, capacity-building, procedural, human, physical and economic areas of SPOF. Each of these recommendations also includes specific and immediate action points for consideration by policymakers and stakeholders in Sierra Leone. By focusing on practical initiatives, the intention is that this AFRICAB Final Report can contribute in helping national and local disaster managers, policymakers and stakeholders on their journey towards further enhancing the DM system of the country.