According to bank provided information, the project objective is to improve socio-economic and environmental conditions of the urban and peri-urban population of the Western Area/Freetown through improved access to sustainable WASH services and increased adaptative capacity to climate induced hazards, through enhanced climate information and multi-hazard early warning systems.

The financing provided under this project is additional financing to the ongoing Freetown WASH and Aquatic Environment Revamping Project that was approved by the Bank in December 2018. The financing plan for the baseline project provided for GCF co-financing of UA7.2m for activities related to water resources management(establishment of hydromet stations including rainfall stations, stream-flow gauges, and groundwater monitoring stations and flood risk mapping, capacity building) as elaborated under Components 2 of the baseline project. Following further discussions with the GCF, it was recommended that the activities were upscaled to include not just hydromet services but a complete Multi-Hazard Impact-Based Forecasting and Early Warning and Action Systemin order to build desirable adaptive capacity.

The overall cost of this project interventions was thus increased to approximately UA16,046,543 (USD $21,100,884). The Green Climate Fund (GCF) contribution is USD $15,094,264. The co-financing total amounts to USD $6,006,620, which includes an in-kind contribution from the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) of USD $1,006,620 and grant of UA 3,802,339 (USD $5,000,000) proposed to be financed from the ADF's Climate Action Window (CAW) Adaptation sub window.

The project will contribute to climate change adaptation in Sierra Leone in two significant ways: First, it will have a direct impact by enhancing severe weather and flood forecasting and climate services, reduce the adverse impacts of climate-related hazards on both lives and livelihoods, directly benefitting approximately 700,000 individuals (50.08% women) in the chiefdoms located along the coastline and who are greatly impacted by effects from climate change. Second, the project will have an indirect impact by improving the service delivery of Sierra Leone Meteorological Agency (SLMet) and National Water Resources Management Agency (NWRMA), benefiting around 2,538,400 people, of which 50% are women. The direct beneficiaries include the population of the following chiefdoms located along the coastline (i) Bonthe District (Chiefdoms include: Bendu Cha; Bonthe Urban; Dema; Nangoba Bullom; Sittia) (ii) WA urban district (Chiefdoms include: Wards East I; East III; Central II-6299 and West III) and WA Rural (Chiefdom-York Rural). The indirect beneficiaries include the population in the districts living along the coastal areas of Sierra Leone (excluding the population of the chiefdoms that include the direct beneficiaries). The districts areas follows: Western Area Urban; Western Area Rural; Kambia, Port Loko, Moyamba, Bonthe and Pujehun.

Contact information not provided at the time of disclosure

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit an information request for project information at: https://www.afdb.org/en/disclosure-and-access-to-information/request-for-documents. Under the AfDBÕs Disclosure and Access to Information policy, if you feel the Bank has omitted to publish information or your request for information is unreasonably denied, you can file an appeal at https://www.afdb.org/en/disclosure-and-access-to-information/appeals-process 

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF AfDB

The Independent Review Mechanism (IRM), which is administered by the Compliance Review and Mediation Unit (CRMU), is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who have been or are likely to be adversely affected by an African Development Bank (AfDB)-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the IRM, it may assist you by either seeking to address your problems by facilitating a dispute resolution dialogue between you and those implementing the project and/or investigating whether the AfDB complied with its policies to prevent environmental and social harms. You can submit a complaint electronically by emailing crmuinfo@afdb.org, b.kargougou@afdb.org, b.fall@afdb.org, and/or s.toure@afdb.org. You can learn more about the IRM and how to file a complaint at: https://www.afdb.org/en/independent-review-mechanism/