By Alpha Abu
The Freetown Mayor’s Office has become one of the latest recipients of a grant of One Million Dollars by the Bloomberg Philanthropies after successfully fulfilling the criteria set out in the Mayors Challenge. The Freetown Mayor’s office is among 15 cities that received the award on Tuesday 18th January 2022. The award began some nine years ago to support and recognize city council leaders around the world with innovative ideas.
The grant is expected to go towards supporting Freetown City Council’s tree planting initiative. The rapid deforestation taking place in Freetown and Council’s extensive efforts to address the problem were taken into consideration in presenting the award. Freetown is said to be losing 500,000 trees annually, a disturbing picture. The council has reportedly embarked on an elaborate exercise in which by the end of this year, it would have undertaken the planting and digital tracking of one million trees in the country’s capital, through its #Freetown The Tree Town Campaign initiative.
Bloomberg Philanthropies in a statement said: “Since its launch in 2013, the Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge has empowered city leaders from around the world to tackle their most pressing concerns. Mayors and their teams have learned and leveraged innovation tools and strategies to take on issues of homelessness, public health, climate change, equity, and much more. Of these 50 cities, 15 will win $1 million each—to help them implement their breakthrough ideas and, ultimately, to spread their ideas to other cities around the world”.
There is an Engaged Cities Award Review Committee that assesses the programmes implemented by council leaders in various cities across the globe. Andrea Coleman is head of the Bloomberg Philanthropies based in London
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