Photo: Community volunteers clearing silt and debris from a stormwater drainage channel in Freetown, Sierra Leone. (Photo by CODOHSAPA)
Freetown experiences severe flash‐flooding every rainy season, largely due to unregulated dumping of waste and blocked stormwater drainage channels. As a result, communities endure property damage, disrupted livelihoods, and elevated public‐health risk from standing water, particularly where emergency access routes become impassable. Without a scalable, community-driven mitigation model and targeted infrastructure enhancements, these hazards will intensify with climate-driven rainfall extremes.
In late 2025, Climate Investor Two and Infinitum Energy Group partnered with CODOHSAPA, a Freetown-based NGO, and the Freetown City Council to deliver a 6-month programme mobilizing local community volunteers to clean 30 illegal dumpsites, clear away silt and debris from 50 priority drainage points and install 10 litter traps in critical flood risk areas across the City.
The programme, due to be completed in March 2026, is supplying all of the required equipment and tools and will involve up to 3,600 community volunteers, providing on- site health and safety training and PPE. Several community talks and 10 weather- resistant public sign boards will also be delivered in an effort to raise community awareness and deter littering and illegal dumping in future.
