Exploitation of Poor Communities in Sierra Leone : False Promises in Reconstruction and Development

Abstract

Exploitation of poor villagers by fraudulent development practitioners is a startlingly common occurrence in postwar Sierra Leone. Research conducted by the World Bank's justice for the poor and understanding processes of change in local governance project found that virtually every rural community visited by the research team could recount an experience (and often several) in which individuals or organizations promised to deliver development projects and other benefits, collected money from community members under the guise of registration fees or beneficiary contributions, and then disappeared. Some cases may have been legitimate projects that were never realized for one reason or another or the visitors were misunderstood to be making promises that they never intended to make. At the extreme, organizations might exist simply to write proposals and receive funds without ever delivering any benefits, and may need a community presence to do so.