At independence in 1961, Sierra Leone was a severely underdeveloped country. During the celebrations of their fiftieth anniversary, Sierra Leoneans reflected on the fact that they had failed to make much progress in modernizing and developing their country. The per capita annual income of the country was still below $350. Sierra Leoneans made a new commitment to create an environment that would foster rapid economic growth that is sustained and widely beneficial to their own citizens. In brief, they announced a new determination to improve economic governance and economic management. All of the book's contributors are experts in their respective fields and the majority of them also have a deep knowledge of Sierra Leone, its history, the aspirations of its people and the policymaking challenges that the country faces. Many of the chapters address policy reform issues in specific areas: namely, the financial sector, export promotion, technical and vocational education and training, minerals, agriculture and food security, customary land tenure, the justice system as a whole, and the education of women and improvement in their employment prospects.
Sierra Leone has been weak in coherent policy formulation and policy implementation. The message of this unique book on the country is that policymakers can greatly improve the country's economic growth prospects by designing and implementing policies over which they have adequate control. What is basically required is for Sierra Leoneans to understand what kinds of policies need to be implemented and then put in place management and governance arrangements that create the capacity to design and fully implement those policies.