Andrew Lavali

Biography

With over 20 years’ experience with civil society, Government and multiple donor agencies Andrew Lavali has worked extensively programme management, monitoring and evaluation, political economy analysis, development policy research, justice and security sector reform, electoral reform, civil society strengthening and decentralized service delivery. Andrew is a Presidential Award Winner (2021) for his role in bringing external evidence in public policy in Sierra Leone and Africa. The award, announced in conjunction with Independence Day celebrations, is Sierra Leone’s most prestigious decoration of citizens who have distinguished themselves in public service, arts, sciences, and philanthropy. The presidential citation highlights Andrew’s “innovative and non-combative state-citizen engagement model” for jointly addressing the country’s challenges. Andrew supported the establishment of the Parliamentary Service Commission and worked with political parties and 720 civic groups to create a 2018 “Citizens’ Manifesto for Sierra Leone,” a non-partisan document that facilitates the incorporation of ordinary citizens’ priorities and expectations in the platforms of political parties. In March 2021, Andrew led the installation of a dashboard in Parliament “to bring real-time citizen-driven data to their representatives.”

Andrew currently manages a think tank in Sierra Leone, Institute for Governance Reform and has conducted reviews and analysis for many donor agencies in West Africa. One of IGR’s reports, the Service Delivery Index, was debated and adopted by Parliament of Sierra Leone in December 2021. He is skilled in designing and supervising data collection, analysing field data and facilitating multi-stakeholder meetings. Andrew was instrumental in the set up and monitoring of the Pay No Bribe Campaign for Sierra Leone’s Anti-Corruption Commission and has done extensive research on public and private sector accountability.