The World Bank visiting team led by the Regional Director for Infrastructure, West Africa, Franz Drees-Gross, the Practice Manager, Urban Resilient and Land, Africa, West and Central, Madhu Raghunath and the Task Team Lead of the Resilient Urban Sierra Leone Project, Francis Samson Nkoka, in collaboration with the Resilient Urban Sierra Leone Project (RUSLP) Project Management Team and the Freetown City Council led by the Mayor of Freetown, Her Worship, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, visited the Moyiba community to understand the dynamics of the proposed RUSLP interventions aimed at upgrading three neighbourhood committees in Freetown; Moyiba, Coconut Farm and Rukupa/Portee. The intervention is part of the Resilient Urban Sierra Leone Project’s support for neighbourhood upgrading and greening in Freetown.
The visiting team had extensive discussions at the community’s hilltop on the proposed RUSLP interventions centred around infrastructure improvements, service delivery, and social impacts on residents. The team shared experiences and perspectives on similar project interventions in other countries.
The visit extended to catchment three at the Guma Valley Compound, Tower Hill, Freetown. The purpose was to assess the growth and the effect of the Tree Planting subproject in the RUSLP interventions. Discussions were held about climate resilience, heat management, and reduction in erosion. The RUSLP supported the Freetown City Council’s planting of 557,000 trees, shrubs, and grasses in two phases, 2020 and 2021, with 1,000 trees planted in the Guma Valley Compound, Tower Hill. The visit ended with a debrief at the Mayor’s office, where she presented current and future FCC interventions under the RUSLP.
The Resilient Urban Sierra Leone Project is a World Bank-funded project that aims to improve integrated urban management, service delivery, and disaster emergency management in the western area and secondary cities of Sierra Leone. In the neighbourhood upgrade under subcomponent 2b, the project will support the construction of drainage ways, access roads, walkways, footbridges, water supply and sanitation facilities and street lighting.
The RUSLP is delighted to have Franz Drees-Gross, Madhu Raghunath, and Francis Nkoka visit both project sites. Their visit provided valuable insights into the RUSLP interventions in the neighbourhood communities and the Tree-Planting subprojects. While notable improvements will be made in the proposed project interventions, continued collaboration between stakeholders is essential to address the remaining challenges the RUSLP project resources will not support. The project stakeholders are optimistic that the three neighbourhood communities will be resilient and thriving at the end of the interventions.
© Communications Unit, RUSLP
