Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
May 1, 2007
Civil Society is defined in several contexts, although the mainstream definition refers
to the groups and associations that occupy a position between the household, state, and
the private sector. These include, amongst other non-governmental groups, such others
societies or organizations make their important decisions, determine who has voice, who
Civil society in Sub-Saharan Africa has emerged as a tool against the ever-ending
struggle that citizens continue to face under corrupt and insatiable leaders.
Civil Society plays a very important role in the influence of governance. Civil society
can influence each of the policy-making processes, which includes setting the policy
agenda, formulating the policy, implementing the policy, and monitoring and evaluation.
accountability.
Case Study: Civil Society, IGO and Governance in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone is a small country off the Atlantic coast of West Africa with
approximately five million people. Like many other developing countries in Africa,
Sierra Leone has experienced poverty at the highest level, and has ranked at the
fluctuating levels as the poorest and second poorest nation in the United Nations human
development index for the last several years. The country also has one of the highest
child mortality rates in the world and a high illiteracy level compared to all other nations.
From 1991 to 2002, Sierra Leone was involved in a brutal civil war that devastated the
economy, political, and social structure of the country. Though some researchers have
stated that the cause of the war was due to diamonds, which is the country’s largest
export, others argue that the political system was the primary cause of the war in Sierra
Leone. Since post-independence in April 1961, and post-conflict after 2001, public
administration in Sierra Leone has declined in demonstrating the principles and values of
good governance. The emergence of this as a motivating factor to more devastation and
further conflicts has instigated a growing materialization of a strong civil society and
increased influence from IGOs in Sierra Leone. Civil society, IGOs and the government
are the three most important components of the development or decline of governance in
Sierra Leone.
The role and purpose of civil society in Sierra Leone is one that has been revived
and damaged at different times in the country’s history. Civil society played a primary
role during the push for de-colonization, by mobilizing, using evidence-based action, and
for the most part, directly engaging the colonial government at that time. Due to the
general consensus at that time, as every Sierra Leonean strived to gain independence,
civil society’s meaning was one of conviction, and even though diverse groups and
associations rose out of the populace, there was a collective vision that each Sierra
Leonean aspired for. This all changed when the country gained its independence and
civil society as it was before, began to witness its demise. The meaning and purpose of
civil society in Sierra Leone changed from collective bargaining among the citizens who
all strongly advocated for independence, to more defined assorted purposes based not on
a general need, but on the premises of ethnicity, status, and political fixation. The cause
for this shift was the rapid transition from dependency to responsibility, without a defined
plan that would accommodate the ethnically and traditionally diversity of the people.
Sierra Leone was unlike any other West African country, in the sense that the nation was
divided into a colony and a protectorate, whereas the colonial settlers were westernized
and well-educated black settlers from Europe and America, while the protectorate
included the traditional and native Africans in the country. This diversity formed a
growing rift between the settlers and the protectorates, and though they managed to form
a collective union to achieve independence, the British in the process had done much
damage in instilling an attitude of inferiority within the protectorate and emphasizing the
“civilized” educated settlers. When Sierra Leone finally gained its independence, the role
of civil society itself changed rapidly. This is due to the fact that with independence,
brought responsibility and roles of nation-actors. The Creole settlers felt that their role in
this post-independence nation was to inherit the responsibility of managing the nation,
due to their belief in their intellectual superiority and value system, which they deemed as
fundamentals of a strong public administration. The protectorate on the other hand, saw
it differently, and approached public administration with traditional [in the historical
sense] point of views, based on each of the value systems of the major ethnic groups.
The role of civil society had shifted from a direct goal of achieving independence, to the
role of responsibility to govern. The purpose of civil society had also shifted from
in Sierra Leone was in sync with the development of this new type of civil society, which
was ethnically diverse, socially diverse, and differed in beliefs of who was responsible to
govern. A short time after the announcement of the first presidential election winner,
there were several coups and an overthrown government, which was heavily due to ethnic
diversity among tribal based political parties. Between 1961 and 1991, there were over 4
coups, several riots, and shifts to one-party rule and back to multi-party rule. The line
between civil society and public administration in Sierra Leone had been blurred, without
a defined direction, purpose, and objectives that accommodated the diversity of ethnic
provinces and regions, governance in Sierra Leone became a mere “me for me” and “you
for you”. The process had started with a pre-independence collective civil society force,
resulted in the creation of a public administration that was neither representative of the
general needs of the people, nor were adequate efforts invested in ensuring good
governance principles such as accountability and transparency, because each major ethnic
group developed their own belief that responsibility to govern the nation was vested on
public administration became an all time high. This led to bad governance and a weak
another emerging of a new type of civil society force. This civil society force, tired of
the suffering and socio-political problems caused by the public administration, formed a
collective insurgent force with a new meaning and purpose, which was to end that system
of public administration and create a new and better type of governance system. This
evolved into an eleven-year civil war that killed hundreds of thousands, and displaced
thousands, as well as the military coup and overthrow of the then government of Sierra
Leone. In 2001 the war was officially over with the intervening of outside military
reinforcement such as the United Nations Peacekeeping force, and the Economic
Community of West African States Monitoring Group. Although the war was over, and
the government had been re-instated, there was one drastic change in post-conflict Sierra
Leone. This was the decline of civil society, and the emergence of IGOs in Sierra
Emergence of IGO and decline of Civil Society: PRSP, TRC and Governance in Sierra
Leone
James McCormick 1in the Polity Journal identified three roles which International
1
Alternate Approaches to Evaluating International Organizations: Some Research Directions, by James M.
McCormick Polity. 1982 Northeastern Political Science Association
This is evident in the direct roles major IGOs play in public administration and State
politics in Sierra Leone. In this case, the focus will include the two major IGOs in Sierra
Leone, namely the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. The IMF is
adjustments.”3 The World Bank comprises of five organizations, which include the
guarantee agency (MIGA), and the international center for the settlement of investment
disputes (ICID). Sierra Leone became a member of both IGOs in 1962, a year after
independence, however both institutions have not been key actors in the country’s
development until the civil war, when the country’s economy plunged to the bottom of
the United Nation’s human development index. As stated earlier, reaching up to the war,
civil society in Sierra Leone had played several roles in shaping governance in Sierra
Leone. However, after the civil War, civil society became less relevant, as government
became more powerful, and an emergence of a strongly influential IGO phase became
evident. As the role of civil society shifted from collective bargaining to responsibility,
then to frustration, which finally led to war and the debasement of the civil society,
public administration turned to IGOs, primarily the World Bank and IMF, for direction.
2
Alternate Approaches to Evaluating International Organizations: Some Research Directions, by James M.
McCormick Polity. 1982 Northeastern Political Science Association
3
http://imf.org/external/about.htm
The role of IGOs in Sierra Leone has proved to be more powerful in shaping
governance in Sierra Leone, than civil society in the past. This is evident in the
comparison of two key initiatives launched by both actors in partnership with the
government in post-conflict Sierra Leone. These include the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission Report (TRC), which was a civil society initiative, and the Poverty
Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP), which is an initiative of the World Bank and IMF.
programs to promote growth and reduce poverty, as well as associated external financial
involves civil society and development partners, including the World Bank and
the…IMF”
The Sierra Leone government in partnership with the IMF and World Bank’s IDA
completed the country’s PRSP in February 2005. The PRSP included three pillars that
included 1) good governance, security and peace building, 2) pro-poor sustainable growth
for food security and job creation, and 3) human development. In the aspect of
governance, which is the first pillar of the PRSP, the document promoted anti-corruption
efforts and effective management of public resources, including natural resources. In this
regard, the government in partnership with the IDA and IMF launched the National Anti-
Corruption Strategy (NACS). The purpose of this policy document was for good
governance, institutional reform, and the eradication of corruption in Sierra Leone. The
Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) that was established by the government carries out
the objectives of the NACS. The ACC has carried out several initiatives in collaboration
with the World Bank to this end, such as the National Action Planning Workshop, which
involved 130 participants who engaged in strategic decisions to develop means and ways
to combat corruption and improve governance.4 The second objective stated by the PRSP
National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) primarily carried out this effort, which
supports the government’s decentralization strategies and help rebuild local governance
structures. NaCSA has taken several initiatives to this end, such as the Community
the PRSP lists very effective strategies in fighting corruption, improving governance,
reducing poverty, and fostering sustainable development in Sierra Leone, it has been
interpreted differently by civil society and the government. As evident from the vast
resources that the government has invested in, to implement the strategies of the PRSP,
the civil society however, has extensively denounced the effort of the PRSP. This is due
to three primary reasons 1) is the skeptism that civil society has in the intentions of IGOs
delivery of the PRSP, and 3) there were no direct participation of civil society in the
development of the PRSP. In regard to the first reason, increased skeptism of the
intentions of IGOs, in not only Sierra Leone, but in developing countries in general have
demonstrated within institutions such as the World Bank and IMF. This has called for
global advocacy for reforms in both institutions. It is also widely believed that these
4
http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/governance/sierraleone/pdf/sl_natwkshp_sum.pdf
institutions in particular are western-driven entities that impose restrictions on nations
exploit the nation’s resources. In regard to the second reason why the PRSP has been
widely unaccepted by civil society, is the extensive reporting from local communities that
the vast number of initiatives launched by the government on the basis of the PRSP, has
been ineffective and inefficient to the growing needs of the people. This is due to the
growing notion of bad governance and corruption within the government itself, with large
amount of funding for these initiatives unaccounted for by the government agencies, lack
to hold the government accountable for successes and failures of the PRSP. Finally in
regard to the third reason, local civil society groups, representing all factions of society
including women, youth, children, and the poor have demonstrated the failure in
including their participation in developing these PRSP strategies that directly affect them.
The Youth for example, represented by civil society groups such as the Center for
Coordination of Youth Activities, Young Leaders – Sierra Leone, have held several
conferences and workshops for youth engagement in the development process. In these
events, a wide consensus was reached by majority of the youth delegates who voiced
their distress in being marginalized from the PRSP process, particularly in the poverty
reduction and employment aspect, as youth unemployment in Sierra Leone is one of the
highest and widely recognized problems facing the nation. However, the Government
has demonstrated its approval of the PRSP despite these acts of dissatisfaction from civil
society, and the relationship and influence of the World Bank and IMF has increased to a
Revolutionary United Front (RUF), victims of the war, and the Truth and Reconciliation
Committee, which consisted primarily of leading members in the country’s civil society.
The TRC was set up to investigate the causes leading up to the war, provide introspection
on the war, and provide recommendations for prevention and stability for the future.
Among the issues covered in the TRC, governance was one of the most important.
According to the TRC, bad governance played a primary role in the leading to the war.
judiciary, the rule of law, and the existence and effective operation of oversight bodies
and institutions of accountability. The TRC reported that starting from independence,
separation of powers had been defunct, and checks and balances of the parliament and
executive branch were ineffective with several unconstitutional actions by the executive
services, the TRC reported that decentralized councils that were created by government
for the purpose of decentralization contained several weaknesses. The primary weakness
was that these councils were not entrenched into the constitution and therefore based their
existence and accountability to the central government rather than public local
constituencies for which they served. Mass participation according to the TRC, was
negatively influenced by the political dominance of two major parties (All Peoples
Congress APC, and the Sierra Leone Peoples Party SLPP). These two parties used
regionalism and undemocratic strategies to negatively influence the electoral process, by
developing the already diversity of ethnic tribes and promoting this diversity as the
fundamentals for electing governments. Ethnic groups dominated these two parties, with
the APC being primarily natives of the Temne ethnic group and the SLPP consisting of
the Mende ethnic group. This resulted in unfair and un-free electoral processes,
dominated by intimidation and tribal politics in Sierra Leone. The TRC found that the
rule of Law was based solely on the grounds of ethnicity, whereas different laws were
applied to different regions and ethnic groups, rather than the common law of the land.
The TRC concluded that governance in Sierra Leone had been totally defunct from the
ineffectiveness in the separation of powers, and the absence of a sound rule of law. The
most critical aspect of the TRC report was the list of recommendations listed at the
conclusion of its report, that were directed at the government and stakeholders, in
national security5. Though the TRC has been widely accepted by civil society and non-
Center for Democracy and Human Rights, and the Sierra Leone Bar Association, the
5
Presentation by Mohamed Suma Programme Director, Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Programme TRC Recommendations and the
PBC Agenda in Sierra Leone
Conclusion
The role of civil society and IGOs in shaping governance in Sierra Leone has
been visible and theoretically evident. Civil society’s role has been transformed several
times in its endeavor to shape governance in Sierra Leone. However, due to foreign
imposed factors such as colonialization, the natural development of civil society, which
included among other things, defining a general purpose, devising a plan, and fostering
untrustworthy, and insignificant. This was also largely due to the cultural, ethnic and
social diversity of the people, who, based on their tradition belief systems, developed
different purposes and meanings of the role of governance, public administration, and
responsibility in Sierra Leone. With the absence of civil society, the foundation of any
World Bank and IMF for direction in implementing the objectives and principles of good
governance. The lesson learned is that without collaboration between civil society, which
is indeed the voice of the people, and public administration, there are three possibilities:
governance, 2) the pursuit for definition and direction of national composition will be
outsourced to foreign entities rather than local constituents who are direct participants
and recipients of state objectives, and 3) the misconception of power, responsibility, and
role in society is inevitable. Based on the research conducted for this paper and an
local communities in the development of programs and initiatives which directly affect
them, 2) civil society groups must conduct an introspective study in past failures and
collectively define a general purpose, objectives, and role in the development process, 3)
tighter working relationship must be developed between government, civil society, and
transparency, democratic principles, and acceptance of a rule of law should evident in all
aspects of society.
References:
Is There a Civil Society in Africa?, by John Mw Makumbe. International Affairs (Royal Institute of
International Affairs 1944-) 74, 2. 305-317 (1998).
Republic of Sierra Leone: Joint IDA-IMF staff advisory note on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.
World Bank. Report No. 31775-SL. April 13, 2005
Witness to Truth: Report of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Vol 3B. 2004.
Retrieved from www.trcsierraleone.org
i
“Civil Society and Development” Civil Society Team. DFID, February 2006
ii
Edgar, Marshall, and Bassett (August 2006). Partnerships: Putting Good Governance Principles in
Practice. Institute on Governance.