[{"bbox": [83, 106, 1147, 159], "category": "Text", "text": "working poor (<USD 3.10/day). Sierra Leone's human Capital Index of 0.36 (2020) implies that 64% of productivity is lost due to poor education, nutrition and health, placing it below the regional average."}, {"bbox": [83, 159, 1147, 319], "category": "Text", "text": "**Gender:** The gender gap is persistent as socio-cultural barriers hamper women and girls accessing political and economic participation as well as education and employment. Gender based violence is widespread. Gender pay gaps are pronounced with men earning 2-3 times more than women. A gender gap also exists in the financial inclusion, as 25% of the male population has a bank account whilst only 15% of the female population does. Particularly in rural communities, patriarchal norms and cultural practices that reinforce male dominance and decision-making are widespread⁴."}, {"bbox": [83, 318, 1147, 530], "category": "Text", "text": "**Governance:** On the Mo Ibrahim Index for African Governance, the country ranks just above average on 26/54, with economic opportunities and human development as the main challenges. Corruption continues to challenge most citizens' daily life and the private sector, 46% of enterprises report bribery. The commitment of the new government to fight corruption combined with civil society engagement and media attention are, however, promising trends. In the 2020 Rule of Law Index Report, Sierra Leone was ranked 100th out of 119 countries with an index at regional average, but with corruption and regulatory enforcement appearing as critical. Sierra Leone's effectiveness of government has worsened between 2006 and 2016. It was ranked 187th out of 209 countries in the World Bank, Government Effectiveness Index Report (World Bank 2017)"}, {"bbox": [83, 530, 1147, 636], "category": "Text", "text": "**Energy sector:** Sierra Leone's energy needs are under-resourced and the lack of reliable energy supply is one of the key impediments to Sierra Leone's economic and social development. The country's installed power capacity per capita is among the lowest in the world with approximately 105 MW available for a population of around 8 million. Only 23% of the population have access to electricity, which also constrains business development."}, {"bbox": [83, 636, 1147, 769], "category": "Text", "text": "**Environment & biodiversity:** Biodiversity has seen significant deterioration over the past decade. The impact on environmentally sensitive sectors such as agriculture and fisheries threatens the basis of 60% of the economy and the livelihood of 70% of the population, thereby increasing conflict risks. Coastal erosion, loss of mangroves and continued illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is depleting fish stocks, causing significant economic losses. Rapid deforestation is driven by logging, agriculture, mining, firewood and charcoal production."}, {"bbox": [83, 769, 1147, 902], "category": "Text", "text": "**Climate change:** The average annual temperature has increased by 0.8°C since 1960, and projections suggest an increase in annual temperature by 1°C to 2.6°C by 2060. This will have severe consequences, including flash floods and landslides and a projected decline of more than 20% of annual landed fish resulting in a 50% decline in fishery related employment. Sierra Leone is vulnerable to and little prepared for climate change due to a high dependence on natural resources, poverty and a low adaptation capacity of the population."}, {"bbox": [83, 902, 1147, 981], "category": "Text", "text": "**Impact of COVID-19:** Medium term growth prospects and the economy have contracted due to disruption in global trade, travel restrictions and domestic restrictions on mobility. At the household level, increasing income inequality and food insecurity are imposing greater burdens on households especially those headed by women."}, {"bbox": [72, 1000, 311, 1030], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.2. Problem Analysis"}, {"bbox": [83, 1070, 1147, 1256], "category": "Text", "text": "**Low rates of access to electricity:** The country has one of the lowest rates of access to electricity in the world, with only 23% of the total population and 2% of its rural population having access to electricity in 2019 (Tracking Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7, Energy progress report 2021, International Energy Agency (IEA), International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), World Bank (WB), World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). This limits standards of living, undermines social progress in particular in health and education and hampers economic development. Domestic use is limited by low income levels and lack of access to finance the purchase of appliances."}, {"bbox": [83, 1256, 1147, 1521], "category": "Text", "text": "**Productive use of energy in mini grids is below potential, employment perspectives are limited and gender gaps are persistent:** The lack of access to energy is recognised as a binding constraint for a structural transformation and diversification of the economy into higher value added sectors. However, although electrification programmes, in particular for mini grids, expand the access to energy, the productive use of energy and with it the economic transformation is below potential. Furthermore, the low productive use exerts downward pressures on demand with daytime utilisation often well below the capacity of mini grids. Increasing productive use of energy faces nevertheless multiple, complementing binding constraints and manifests itself in a persistent deficit in the factors of production including (i) insufficient access to economically viable financing and infrastructure, in particular energy; (ii) inadequate human resources and business skills (iii) inefficiencies at all levels of the economy. Economic empowerment and gender pay gaps are persistent and stark."}, {"bbox": [83, 1521, 1147, 1574], "category": "Text", "text": "**The energy sector lacks regulatory efficiency and strategic planning capacity:** Limited regulatory capacity is constraining the evolution of the mini grids, in particular, for effectively setting tariffs and further developing the"}, {"bbox": [72, 1614, 1157, 1664], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁴ OECD (2019), Social Institutions and Gender Index, Country profiles: Sierra Leone. https://www.genderindex.org/wp-content/uploads/files/datasheets/2019/SL.pdf"}, {"bbox": [1051, 1664, 1157, 1687], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 5 of 19"}]