Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (Sierra Leone)

GIZ has been working in Sierra Leone since 1963 on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Work was suspended in 1990 for ten years because of the civil war. Since 2010, GIZ has once again been represented through a regional office for Sierra Leone and Liberia based in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone.

GIZ is currently implementing a programme in Sierra Leone to promote employment among young people on behalf of BMZ. This programme focuses on improving the employment and income situation of young people in rural areas and initiates development partnerships with established companies to create more jobs.

A regional project commissioned by BMZ and geared to raw materials governance in the fragile states of West Africa is also being implemented in Sierra Leone on account of the country’s large deposits of raw materials. Profits from the commercial exploitation of individual raw materials have helped finance civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone; in some parts of the country this commercial exploitation continues to have a destabilising effect. The aim of the project is to help improve the framework for a more equitable use of natural resources and to create greater transparency in the commodities sector.

On behalf of the German Federal Foreign Office, GIZ is implementing a project geared to the reform and strengthening of the justice sector.