NDMA-SL is an Agency established by an Act of Parliament to manage disasters and similar emergencies throughout Sierra Leone, to establish offices of the Agency throughout Sierra Leone, to establish the national, regional, district, and chiefdom disaster management committees, to establish a National Disaster Management Fund to provide finances for the prevention and management of disasters and similar emergencies throughout Sierra Leone and to provide for other related matters.

A safe and resilient nation in which the communities, the economy and the environment are better protected from negative impacts of hazards, through appropriate and comprehensive DRM strategies.

A comprehensive DRM approach towards risk reduction, preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery from disaster impacts, build resilient communities by building better after national emergencies.

Empower NDMA and communities with the capacity to prevent, mitigate, respond and recover appropriately to localized disasters with the aim of preventing them.

Sierra Leone DRM interventions must be guided by the following principles:

• Plan across key phases before, during and after the occurrence of the disaster, covering:  preparedness, prevention, mitigation, emergency response and recovery through a multi-hazard approach.
• Allocating clearly defined roles and responsibilities between different layers of government and actors at central and decentralized levels, for the various aspects of DRM planning and implementation through a multi-sectorial and cross-cutting approach.
• Ensuring risk reduction, provision of basic needs, protection of human life, minimizing dependency on relief assistance and adoption of a decentralized and community-based approach in DRM.
• Allocating adequate resources to each layer of the Government, promoting partnership and enhancing community participation and resilience.
• Placing DRR and its mainstreaming in DRM phases and development as a key DRM priority and ensuring the promotion and integration of DRR into development plans and strategies.
• Ensure data and information management as key to DRM, integrating climate change issues and ensuring international and regional co-operation.

To build and institutionalize a robust early warning and response system to effectively respond to disasters through reinforced governance and management architecture for national disaster related issues.

Optimize DRM coordination and commitment through clearly defined and coordination framework and operational mechanism by ensuring that stakeholders are prepared to prevent and respond to disasters that are beyond the capacity of central, local and decentralized systems.