Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has been selected to join the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative among 40 mayors across the globe.
He is one of only two mayors selected from Africa; the other being Christopher Pappas, the mayor of the uMngeni Local Municipality.
The initiative was established by Bloomberg Philanthropies, Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Business School as a first-of-its-kind program to help close the gap in executive development for the public sector. It equips mayors and senior city leaders with the tools and expertise to expand their problem-solving capacity, strengthen their city halls, and improve outcomes for residents.
The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative has had 275 participating mayors and over 470 participating senior city leaders since its launch in 2017.
Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies and the 108th mayor of New York City, said this year’s class features a diverse, international group of mayors who were changing their cities and the world, and they were glad to bring them all together in New York.
"Mayors face no shortage of urgent challenges right now, from poverty to climate change to public safety. This program is designed to help build their capacity to lead and empower them to act boldly. We look forward to working closely with this new class throughout the year and seeing the results they’ll deliver for the millions of residents they serve," said Bloomberg.
Hill-Lewis said he was grateful to the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership for inviting him to be a part of the programme, and was looking forward to learning much from th programme.
"It is a privilege to be exposed to thinkers and content on the level that Harvard has to offer. It is refreshing for the mind to spend a week with these professors discussing best practices in city and business leadership from around the world."
"I’ve set very high standards for Cape Town, because it is a city of global renown, and because we want it to be a city of hope for South Africa. So the more we can learn from other global cities, many of which face similar challenges to our own, the better we are able to apply those lessons in our context here," said Hill-Lewis.