4.3.1 PRSP in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone started its PRSP process in 2000 and published an I-PRSP two years later. The main motivation was to achieve debt relief. The path to the full PRSP was quite long, and this was only published in May 2005. The process at first did not respect the inputs of the civil society at all. The challenge facing civil society actors was first of all to be heard, let alone get involved. ActionAid organised a participatory process in parallel to official events, and today the official PRSP document recognises this process. Donors and the UN strongly criticised the inadequate level of participation, but at the beginning of 2005 they nevertheless approved the PRSP in order to avoid discouraging the Government of Sierra Leone. Otherwise, all processes might have stopped, and the PRSP process had already been extremely delayed following various postponed deadlines since the first in December 2002. There were several official explanations for this delay: the impact of post-war activities (disarmament, resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs), etc.), uncertainty about the elections as well as regarding technical and financial assistance, in addition to structural problems within the Poverty Alleviation Strategy Coordinating Office (PASCO), the institution coordinating the PRSP process. Corruption is in general a very serious problem in the country, and was a primary reason for the restriction of resources regarding the PRSP process. A consultative group meeting of donors to discuss both the PRSP and loans was planned to take place in Paris at the beginning of June 2005, but this has since been postponed. Officially, the explanation given was the upcoming Group of Eight (G8) summit, but the press assumes that the real reason is the ongoing mismanagement and corruption within the government, and the fact that donors fear that loans will disappear again instead of being used for poverty reduction.
