This summer will be spent in Freetown, Sierra Leone. I will be working for the Mayor of Freetown, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, as part of her Mayor's Delivery Unit, to evaluate and enhance the city's gender policies and programming.
Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr was elected as Mayor in 2018 and became the first-ever democratically elected female mayor of the city. She launched the #TransformFreetown agenda in 2019, which focuses on 11 priority sectors, underpinned by innovation and data-driven performance management.
I will be working on a two-person team with my friend and co-student, Stuti Ginodia. Our work will include collecting data on gender indicators, carrying out qualitative research on the gendered impacts of programs within #TransformFreetown, developing a gender monitoring framework, and providing operational recommendations on strenghtening the agenda's gender policies and programming.
I learned about Aki-Sawyerr's work almost by accident. I was searching through an Excel sheet provided by Harvard Kennedy School's Office of Career Advancement which listed out previous student internships when I saw that a student few years back had worked with the Mayor. It caught my attention, if only because it was different from all the other ones on the list. I contacted the student and she connected me with Manja Kargbo, the Mayor's Chief of Staff.
After learning more about Aki-Sawyerr's work, I knew that I wanted to be a part of it. The Mayor's agenda has a strong sense of purpose and determination, and the whole team is dedicated to improving the lives of Freetownians. When Manja then told me that they wanted to place increased focus on the gendered impacts of #TransformFreetown, I was all in.
And here I am, in the caotic and charming city of Freetown. I will use this blog site to post updates on my work throughout the summer and share photos from beautiful Salone.
Lumley Beach, Freetown
On the balcony of our apartment in Freetown, watching the sunset.
Near Lakka Beach
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