The Ministry of Communication, Technology, and Innovation (MoCTI), with support from the World Bank through the Sierra Leone Digital Transformation Project (SLDTP), Sierra Leone Flying Labs, Nepal Flying Labs, and WeRobotics, held a workshop at the Freetown City Council. The event is the official launch of a six-month initiative to develop Sierra Leone’s first National Drone Policy and Strategy.
The workshop represents a strategic shift moving from fragmented experimentation to a regulated, high-impact ecosystem. By mapping stakeholders and capturing expectations on prioritization and use cases, Sierra Leone is ensuring drones are deployed responsibly and sustainably.
Drone technology has already proven its value in Sierra Leone back then in 2017 Regent Mudslide where Local firms like Track Your Build and Edward Davies Associates used drones to create 3D maps and orthomosaics for the World Bank’s Rapid Damage and Loss Assessment, enabling recovery when terrain was inaccessible. Community Mapping Initiatives such as Know Your City trained local crews to map over 80km² of informal settlements, embedding drones into urban data sovereignty. Also in 2019 Humanitarian Drone Corridor, With UNICEF’s support, Sierra Leone launched West Africa’s first humanitarian drone testing corridor at Njala University, delivering life-saving medicine, blood, and vaccines to remote areas. https://www.unicef.org/wca/press-releases/drones-good-corridor-launched-drones-take-flight-deliver-medicine-remote-areas. Agriculture & Food Security in Njala University’s drone hub continues to monitor rice and cocoa crops, strengthening national food security. Environmental Commitments for Drones now monitor the Freetown Treetown initiative and COP26 reforestation pledges, geo-tagging trees to verify carbon sequestration.
Participants from over 50 MDAs, including ministries, law enforcement, regulators, academia, private sector, NGOs, and international partners, evaluated drone applications across 14 critical sectors such as Health, Education, Mining, and Fisheries.
A framework was applied, assessing each use case against six parameters:
- Strategic Alignment
- Development Impact Potential
- Economic Viability
- Operational Demand and Local Needs
- Technical and Infrastructure Feasibility
- Governance and Regulatory Readiness
By rating these criteria, the workshop produced:
- A validated stakeholder directory
- A shortlist of transformative drone use cases
- A roadmap for embedding drones into national priorities
This initiative ensures Sierra Leone is no longer just an observer of technological change but a lead architect of its own sky. By embedding drones into governance, health, agriculture, and climate action, the country is positioning itself as a regional leader in humanitarian and sustainable innovation.
