Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr
Mayor Aki-Sawyerr was sworn in as Mayor of Freetown in May 2018 with a vision to #Tranform Freetown and improve the lives of Freetown’s residents.
Her 4-year #TransformFreetown plan details 19 concrete targets across 11 sectors and covers issues ranging from tackling environmental degradation to facilitating the creation of jobs. The plan is being delivered with a focus on resilience, human development, features of healthy cities and urban mobility. With the use of innovation as an underlying principle, Mayor Aki-Sawyerr’s delivery approach places a premium on community ownership, a heightened level of transparency and accountability and data-driven decision making.
Progress against the #TransformFreetown plan is tracked and communicated to residents and stakeholders through her publication of annual reports highlighting achievements such as: #FreetownTheTreeTown - the planting of 1million trees in and around the city; the construction and operations of the country’s first ever wastewater treatment plant; reform of the city’s property rate system that digitised assessment and increased the city’s revenue potential seven-fold; the introduction of a comprehensive community-centred waste management value chain which has created over 1,200 jobs whilst making the city clean; and the design and feasibility studies for a city cable car system as a means of providing green mass transit.
A finance professional with over 25 years of experience in strategic planning, risk management and project management in the private sector, Mayor Aki-Sawyerr has previously held senior management roles providing consulting services to blue chip clients in the UK financial services industry and raising finance for property developments in the UK and Sierra Leone.
She campaigned against the trade in ‘blood diamonds’ during the civil war and in 1999, she co-founded the Sierra Leone War Trust (SLWT) which continues to support disadvantaged children and young people in Sierra Leone.
She served as Director of Planning at the National Ebola Response Centre and in collaboration with others, she was instrumental in developing and implementing the strategy to end the 2014/2015 Ebola outbreak. In recognition of her contribution to the Ebola response, she was awarded an Ebola Gold Medal by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone in December 2015 and was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of British Empire (OBE) by Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom in January 2016.
Mayor Aki-Sawyerr served as the Delivery Team Lead for the President's Recovery Priorities - of a multi-stakeholder programme to drive sustainable socio-economic recovery in Sierra Leone post Ebola where she led the design and implementation of an innovative approach to public service delivery.
Mayor Aki-Sawyerr was featured by Time Magazine in the Time100 Next 2021 List and by the BBC in the BBC 100 Women 2020 List. She is a Vice Chairperson of C40 Cities Global Group Steering Committee. She is a Chartered Accountant with an MSc in Politics of the World Economy from the London School of Economics and a BSc Hons in Economics from Fourah Bay College. She is married with two children.
Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr’s Current International Roles
Leadership Board, Mayor’s Migration Council (https://www.mayorsmigrationcouncil.org)
Vice-Chairperson for Innovator Cities, C40 Cities Steering Committee (https://www.c40.org/press_releases/freetown-elected-steering-committee)
Member of the C40 Cities Global Mayors COVID-19 Recovery Task Force (https://www.c40.org/other/covid-task-force)
Co-Lead of the Mayor’s Dialogue (https://www.odi.org/projects/16889-mayors-dialogue-on-growth-and-solidarity-reimagining-human-mobility-in-africa-and-europe)
Member of the High-Level Group of the Africa-Europe Foundation (https://www.friendsofeurope.org/initiatives/africa-europe-foundation/)
Member of the Advisory Board of the University of Oxford's Commission for Creating Healthy Cities
Member of the World Economic Forum Supervisory Board for Net Zero Carbon Cities
Member, World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Cities (https://www.weforum.org/communities/gfc-on-cities-of-tomorrow)
Pioneer Member, Women4Climate (https://w4c.org)
OECD Champion Mayor (http://www.oecd-inclusive.com/champion-mayors/mayors/)
Member, Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative 2018 (https://www.cityleadership.harvard.edu)
Inaugural Class of Amujae Leaders (https://www.ejscenter.org/programs/amujae-initiative/)
Ted Speaker
(https://www.ted.com/talks/yvonne_aki_sawyerr_how_to_turn_your_dissatisfaction_into_action/up-next)
Norman Foster Foundation Masterclass Series Speaker (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDXKq8V-DQ0)
Founding Member of the Council on Urban Initiatives, hosted by UN Habitat
Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr Awards and Recognitions
Dr. Benjamin Barber Global Cities Award 2021 (https://globalparliamentofmayors.org/14916-2/ )
Time100 Next 2021 List (https://time.com/collection/time100-next-2021/)
BBC – BBC 100 Women 2020 List (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-55042935)
Charleston Sister Cities International Woman of the Year Award 2021
Penn Institute for Urban Research 2020 Urban Leadership Award (https://penniur.upenn.edu/events/16th-annual-urban-leadership-awards-mayoral-leadership-in-challenging-times)
Reputation Poll International - 100 Most Reputable Africans in 2020 (https://www.reputationpoll.com/2020-list-of-100-most-reputable-africans/)
Avance Media - 100 Most Influential African Women 2020 (https://100women.avancemedia.org)
Officer of the Most Excellent Order of British Empire (OBE) – 2016
Ebola Gold Medal from the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone - 2015