The Freetown City Council is hosting a delegation from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and their partners, Geneva Water Hub & UN Capital Development Fund.
The delegation’s visit aims to continue and concretize the discussions with Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr and Freetown City Council, around city twinning and blended finance partnerships, particularly for trans-boundary capital fundraising for support to the sustained delivery of services in the city of Freetown.
Mayor Aki-Sawyerr is exploring with development partners, the possibility of twinning partnerships with other municipalities from developed countries to assure better access to capital markets in order to finance the implementation of the Council’s Transform Freetown Agenda.
In the delegation’s preliminary meeting with the Mayor, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation has already pinpointed several areas where Mayor Aki-Sawyerr’s Transform Freetown aligns with their financing scope, including job creation for youth to prevent migration, revenue mobilization and, most importantly, water. Together, Freetown City Council and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation will explore the possibility of a potential partnership to solve the growing water crisis, through the Agency’s Blue Peace Initiative.
This is an initial fact finding and scoping mission, which is headed by Johan Gély, Director Global Programme Water, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Other members of the delegation include Isabella Pagotto, Senior Advisor, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; Fabrice Fretz, Senior Regional Advisor West Africa (based in Dakar), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; Rukan Manaz, Senior Advisor, Geneva Water Hub; Sibylle Chevalier-Gianadda, Senior Advisor, Geneva Water Hub; Jaffer Machano, Manager, United Nations Capital Development Fund.
