The Freetown City Council on Friday, 4th July, launched the Transform Freetown – Transforming Lives Development Agenda for 2024-2028, marking the culmination of months of hard work and extensive collaboration among the Deputy Mayor, FCC Councillors, the Chief Administrator, Council staff, members of the Mayor’s Delivery Unit, and other key stakeholders.
The launch follows a comprehensive community engagement process and the conduct of planning labs that gathered technical input from representatives of MDAs, development partners, academic and professional institutions, the private sector, and civil society. This robust collaborative effort has set the stage for the ambitious goal of the new agenda: to create 120,000 decent jobs for women and youth by 2028. These jobs will stem from interventions across four key clusters: Climate Action, Heritage Tourism, Digital Economy, and Human Capital Development
Building on the achievements of the 2019-2023 Transform Freetown Agenda, the new agenda focuses on leveraging community feedback and implementing interventions across nine critical pathways. Details of these community-driven interventions were shared during the launch event.
One of the event’s highlights was a heartfelt performance by pupils from the FCC Early Learning Adventure Centre in Congo Water Market. Their presentation underscored the vital importance of early childhood development and the FCC’s commitment to providing high-quality, free education to vulnerable children, particularly those of market women. As one young performer poignantly noted, “The first 8 years has so much to do with how the next 80 years turn out,” emphasizing the long-term impact of early education.
Another engaging feature of the launch was the tree giveaway, which encouraged attendees to pick up a free tree, take a photo, and upload the details to the #FreetownTheTreeTown tree tracker for ongoing monitoring. This initiative was met with enthusiasm and highlighted the city’s commitment to environmental sustainability.
Gratitude was expressed to World Bank Country Manager Abdu Muwonge and FCDO Director Emma Spicer for their supportive statements and ongoing partnership with FCC. Both highlighted their organizations’ contributions to previous initiatives, including #FreetownTheTreeTown (World Bank) and the Kingtom Wastewater Plant (FCDO), and reaffirmed their commitment to supporting FCC’s goal of creating 120,000 jobs by 2028. The funding for these interventions will come from a mix of own-source revenue, donor grants, philanthropic donations, and private sector investments.
The keynote address was delivered by Deputy Minister of Local Government and Community Affairs, Hon. Alfred Moi Jamiru, who represented Hon. Minister Tamba Lamina. In his address, Deputy Minister Jamiru emphasized the positive ripple effect that the successful implementation of the Transform Freetown – Transforming Lives Agenda would have across all districts. He encouraged all Freetonians and stakeholders to collaborate with FCC and embrace the agenda.
