Sierra Leone Partners Align Around Delivery in the Greater Gola Landscape 

A two-day coordination workshop was held to clarify partner responsibilities and strengthen the shared operating arrangements needed to move the country's project into implementation. 

August 2026- Sierra Leone partners delivering Sierra Leone’s Guinean Forests Integrated Program country project have aligned around the roles, standards and coordination arrangements needed to advance implementation in the Greater Gola landscape. 

The Environment Protection Agency, Sierra Leone Lead Executing agency convened a two-day partnership coordination and planning workshop with Conservation International and executing and technical partners. Participants reviewed the project’s objectives, components and expected results, while clarifying responsibilities for reporting, financial management and operational delivery. 

The discussion connected national and international institutions working across protected-area management, forestry, mapping, conservation, certification and community-focused implementation. Partners identified stronger coordination and capacity development as practical priorities for keeping delivery aligned and addressing issues early. 

The SierraLeone project is designed to respond to interconnected pressures affecting forests, biodiversity and climate resilience. Participants therefore emphasized an integrated management approach and the importance of national and regional cooperation across the Upper Guinean Forest biome. Clear responsibilities and shared operating standards can reduce duplication, strengthen accountability and help partners direct their expertise towards common results. This alignment is particularly important in the Greater Gola landscape, where effective conservation depends on coordinated action among institutions and across borders. 

Representing the Executive Chairman of the Environment Protection Agency, Chief Director Sheku Mark Kanneh underscored the project’s alignment with the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, therefore the project is intended to address these challenges through an integrated management approach.  He further stated that the country project is part of “the global effort to protect the Upper Guinean Forest biome, which is a biodiversity hotspot that requires regional cooperation to protect.”

The workshop concluded with partners reaffirming their commitment to coordinated planning and collective action. The workshop marks a significant step forward in safeguarding Sierra Leone’s environment and ensuring sustainable development for future generations.  

The immediate focus is to carry the agreed coordination arrangements into implementation, strengthen support to delivery partners and maintain regular communication on progress, challenges and learning.