Disaster recovery in Sierra Leone: a legal and policy survey

This report maps the legal, policy and institutional framework for disaster recovery in Sierra Leone - including both the general framework and the Recovery Action Plan and Framework adopted to guide recovery from the 2017 landslide. It does not evaluate the extent to which the applicable instruments are implemented because information about implementation is not readily available. Interviews with key informants indicated that, in general, achieving long-term, sustainable recovery in Sierra Leone is a significant challenge. According to this report, strengthening the implementation of disaster risk management laws and policies through increasing domestic capacities and financial resources is important.

Detailed and comprehensive disaster recovery plans that canvas many of the topics included in this study have been developed in response to specific disasters in Sierra Leone, such as the Landslide and Floods Early Recovery and Risk Management Action Plan and the Landslide Response Framework developed following the 2017 landslide. However, there are no standing regulations, policies or plans dedicated to recovery. The starting point to supporting greater attention to disaster recovery in Sierra Leone may be the strengthening of the legal and policy framework for disaster recovery in the country through the development of an overarching national recovery instrument, which could take the form of regulations, a policy and/or a plan.