16th Annual Urban Leadership Forum: Mayoral Leadership in Challenging Times

On April 6, 2021, Penn IUR hosted the 16th Annual Urban Leadership Forum, “Mayoral Leadership in Challenging Times.” Every year, Penn IUR recognizes leaders who are guiding cities toward a sustainable and vibrant future. This year, Penn IUR honored Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, Mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone, and Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol, UK. The awardees participated in a moderated discussion to share their observations on past experiences and offer suggestions for future efforts in shaping and preserving urban communities that foster inclusivity, equity, and sustainability.

About the Awardees

Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr became Mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone in May 2018 with a commitment to transform Freetown using an inclusive, data-driven approach to address challenges in the city. Her three-year Transform Freetown Plan, launched in January 2019, details 19 concrete targets across 11 sectors and covers issues ranging from waste management and housing to improving urban planning, tackling environmental degradation, and facilitating the creation of jobs in the tourism sector. A finance professional with over 25 years of private sector experience in strategic planning and management, Mayor Aki-Sawyerr’s public sector engagement began with her work as the Director of Planning at the National Ebola Response Centre during the Ebola epidemic of 2014-2015 and her subsequent role as Delivery Team Lead for the President’s Recovery Priorities—the second phase of a multi-stakeholder program to drive socio-economic recovery in Sierra Leone after Ebola. Her advocacy and charity contributions include campaigning against the trade in “blood diamonds” during the Sierra Leone civil war and, in 1999, co-founding the Sierra Leone War Trust for Children (SLWT), which continues to support disadvantaged children in Sierra Leone today.

Marvin Rees was sworn in as Mayor of Bristol, England in May 2016, becoming the first person of Black African-Caribbean descent to be elected mayor of a major European city. With a commitment to creating a fairer and more inclusive city, his priorities are to tackle Bristol’s housing crisis by building more homes, to improve transportation and mobility, to ensure early intervention in health, and to progress social mobility through education and supporting business to identify and connect with talent from disadvantaged communities. His One City Plan for Bristol brings together the organizations and groups with the largest footprint in the city to better work together and agree to overarching shared city aims and coordinate solutions to the challenges facing the city as a whole. He began his career with Tearfund, one of the UK’s leading international development agencies, subsequently working in Washington, D.C. on the response of faith-based organizations to President Clinton's Welfare Reform Bill. He later worked in both public health and radio broadcasting, becoming a journalist at BBC Radio Bristol. He founded the City Leadership Programme in 2012, which invests in the development of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, and continues as its director.