Living Land

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competitive advantages in the production of many commodi-

ties regarding quality requirements (African hand-picked cotton,

for example), while they suffer from disadvantages in manag-

ing access to markets and services due to limited economies of

scale. Taking their potentials into account SFs should, for the

sake of food security and poverty reduction, be given preference

by agricultural and land policies wherever smallholder farming

is the predominant mode of production. Thereby not only can

agricultural production be increased, but the masses of the rural

poor, who still rely on farming as a source of income or subsist-

ence, will have access to food. The disadvantages of smallholders

in accessing markets and services can be compensated by making

use of the capacities of agribusiness to facilitate contract farming

arrangements. To become strong and reliable partners within

contract farming systems on the one hand and empowered nego-

tiation partners on the other, SFs need to be organized.

According to the International Fund for Agricultural

Development, support for smallholders will be crucial to

future food security.

In emerging markets, three out of four

low-income people depend directly or indirectly on agricul-

ture for their livelihoods. Indeed, the World Bank suggests

that supporting smallholder farming is the most effective way

of stimulating economic development and reducing poverty.

Sierra Leone: strengthening communities, reducing poverty

The development objective of the Islamic Development Bank

Group (IDB) financed Sierra Leone Community Driven

Development (SLCDD) project was to assist war-affected

communities to reduce poverty and build local capacity for

collective action, thus contributing to the country’s stability,

peace and sustainable economic growth.

The specific objectives of the project were to:

• improve the socioeconomic conditions of the communities

in the targeted areas, especially the women and youth,

through improving physical and social rural infrastructure,

providing health education and preventative care and

facilitating economic growth and livelihood development

• support capacity-building at the local level through

skills training and strengthening of linkages between

communities, local and chiefdom councils and the

National Commission for Social Action.

Given the depth and severity of poverty across geographical

niches in the country, the project benefited 675 communities

spread across 12 districts of Sierra Leone, namely Bombali,

Port Loko, Kambia, Tonkolili, Bo, Moyamba, Bonthe, Pujehun,

Kono, Kenema, Western Rural and Western Urban. The

project sought to empower local communities and improve

the Government’s capacity to reach out to stakeholders in the

project areas such as SFs, fishermen, pastoralists and poor and

vulnerable groups, including women and unemployed youth.

Importantly, the strategy represents a shift from public

sector domination to a community-driven development

(CDD) approach. With this project, IDB was able to induce a

paradigm shift in Sierra Leone by empowering local commu-

nities to follow a socially inclusive and participatory process

for the preparation and implementation of their own devel-

opment plans. The project introduced an innovation in the

formulation of local development plans, which brings all

the participating economic interests together in a socially

inclusive process of collectively identifying the development

priorities of their respective communities and translating

these priorities into investment activities managed by the

communities themselves. This participatory process resolved

conflicts and ensured that funded subproject activities repre-

sent the interests of the group.

Income-generating activities supported by the project

have helped communities to achieve tangible benefits and

results including increased income and reduced rural poverty

through access to better livelihood opportunities. At project

completion in 2014, the real income of 50 per cent of the

675 communities covered by the project is estimated to have

increased by 63 per cent.

The SLCDD project has succeeded remarkably in organizing

women into self-help affinity groups (SAGs) of 10-15 members,

empowering them to save and loan money to each other,

developing their skills and making them attractive clients to

commercial banks and large-scale social safety net programmes.

By definition, SAGs are generally homogeneous and related

by affinity. Their members use savings, credit and social

involvement as instruments of empowerment — pro-poor

capacity-development relating to the rural poor themselves and

building their local institutions for sustainable rural economy.

Currently there are 118 SAGs covering the four provinces of

Sierra Leone. As the Sierra Leone case shows, gender empower-

ment is smart economics — it can enhance economic efficiency

and improve other development outcomes in three ways. First,

improving women’s absolute and relative status feeds many

other development outcomes, including those for their chil-

dren. Second, levelling the playing field — where women and

men have equal chances to become economically, socially and

politically active, make decisions, and shape policies — is likely

to lead over time to more representative, and more inclusive,

institutions and policy choices and thus to a better development

path. Third, removing barriers that prevent women from having

the same access as men to economic opportunities and produc-

tive inputs can generate broad productive gains which are

increasingly important in a competitive and globalized world.

The SFs face high transaction costs in accessing credit,

markets and public entitlement programmes. Small groups

Image: IDB

Adopting high-yield varieties has helped Mont Bbapit’s small farmers to

increase crop productivity by up to 70 per cent

iving

and