Following Sierra Leone’s qualification for the Second Cohort of Countries to join the Mission 300 in January, the West African country on Friday 25th April, 2025 presented its draft compact to the World Bank Group (WBG), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and other partners in Washington, DC on the sidelines of the bank’s annual Spring Meetings.

Led by the Mission 300 Interministerial Committee co-chairs, Mr. Sheku A. F. Bangura, Minister of Finance and Hon. Dr. Kandeh Yumkella, Energy Sector Lead and Chairman of the Energy Governance Committee (EGCG), Sierra Leone presented its draft national compact outlining the country’s plan to achieve 80 percent energy access by 2030 up from the current 36 percent.

The compact focuses on diversifying Sierra Leone’s energy sources, increasing the share of renewables as well as attracting private investment. Sierra Leone’s Mission 300 targets also include increasingly renewable energy from 46 percent to 61 percent, from 271 MW of installed capacity to 1.28 GW, from 1.5 percent clean cooking access to 25 percent with the aim to increase private sector capital from $615 million to 1.9 billion.

Mission 300 combines the power of two Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) – the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) with global partners working collaboratively to address Africa’s energy poverty by providing 300 million people with reliable, affordable and sustainable energy by 2030. This unprecedented effort by the two banks and their partners will use technology and innovative financing to achieve this goal.

Speaking in Washington, DC, Sheku Bangura, Sierra Leone’s Minister of Finance, described the Mission 300 as “a reset” as efforts to garner support for the country’s energy transformation continues.
“Mission 300 is an added resource – a way for both AfDB and WBG to bring in additional resources as they have all helped to lay the foundation for where we are in the sector. We are in a good place but anchored on very difficult economic and fiscal circumstances emanating from the sector, and the urgency now is for us to make an impact and change the story.”

For his part, Dr. Kandeh Yumkella noted that the country faces a critical moment. “For us in Sierra Leone, we are facing quite a bit of headwind in our economy, the fiscal space with Karpowership among others.”

Underscoring the difficult challenge that lies ahead with the country facing planned load shedding, Yumkella stated that their role now – (both he and Finance Minister) is to help Sierra Leoneans, and the political leadership understand that “transforming energy systems require persistent and consistent reforms, prioritization of actions and finance and the political establishment must be bold enough to make hard decisions. The period we face teaches us that we can’t waste time. If you have to do something and recommendations have been given, we must just do it. "

Over the last 4-5 months, with the support of the bank and other partners, the interministerial team put together by H.E. President Bio have worked diligently to meet the bank’s deadlines.

“We have been able to package our information, set our ambition within the framework you have set for us,” Dr. Yumkella stressed.
Sierra Leone’s Mission 300 national compact includes five pillars: expand generation and invest in competitive, reliable infrastructure, leverage regional integration to reduce supply costs and enhance energy security, promote Decentralize Renewable Energy (DRE) and Clean Cooking Solutions, incentivize private sector participation and derisk investments and strengthening the financial viability and governance of utilities.