ABSTRACT
This chapter provides Sierra Leone profiles, including key information about the relevant corporate sustainability and responsibility (CSR) history, country-specific issues, trends, research, education and leading organizations. Religion plays a prominent role in Sierra Leonean society, with followers of Islam comprising 60% of the population, Christianity 30% and African indigenous religions 10%. Historically, Sierra Leone was an important centre of the transatlantic slave trade until the close of the 18th century, when it began to be outlawed and Sierra Leone became a resettlement site for freed slaves. The principal arena for discussing CSR in Sierra Leone is in academic circles. Subsistence agriculture comprises the mainstay of the rural Sierra Leonean economy. Sierra Leone suffers from severe environmental degradation arising mainly from demographic, economic and social pressures. CSR is not new in Sierra Leone, but it has yet to be mainstreamed among the wider population. Historically, business philanthropy has been practised in Sierra Leonean society, albeit minimal and haphazard.
