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Yakama Manty Jones

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Yakama Manty Jones
CitizenshipSierra Leone
Academic career
Alma materFourah Bay College (BEc)
Birkbeck College (PhD) University of Manchester
Queen Mary and Westfield College
Harvard Kennedy School
AwardsAmujae Leader
Websitewww.yakamajones.com

Yakama Manty Jones (née Mara) is a Sierra Leonean multipotentiality living this through her portfolio career.[1] Jones is an economist, entrepreneur and philanthropist with a Ph.D. in finance and economics.[2] She is the Director of Research and Delivery at the Sierra Leone Ministry of Finance and a Focal Person[3] for the World Bank's[4] Human Capital Project[5] in Sierra Leone. In 2021, she was selected as an Amujae leader by the EJS Center.[6] Jones has authored and co-authored multiple scholarly articles[7] and spoken at TEDxYouth,[8] Africa Oxford Initiative,[9] and the World Bank.[10]

Early life and education

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Yakama Manty Jones was born in Sierra Leone. She attended the Tower Hill Kindergarten and Primary School,[11] where she sat to the National Primary School Examinations (NPSE).[12] Jones enrolled at Limount College, sat for the London G.C.E O’ Level Examinations, and emerged the best candidate in the country.[13] She then attended Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, where she earned her bachelor's degree with Honours in Economics.[13]

Jones went on to earn post-graduate qualifications (Master of Science in Finance and Economics, Master of Research in International Business & Development) from the University of Manchester and the University of London (Queen Mary & Westfield College, Birkbeck College). Yakama's PhD thesis[14] focused on Debt Overhang and the ‘Resource Curse Hypothesis.[14] Jones has completed a Certificate in Social Entrepreneurship from the University of Oxford and an Executive Certificate in Economic Development from Harvard Kennedy School.[15]

Career

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Jones has held several consulting roles. She served as Data Management Specialist on the Former President Ernest Bai Koroma's Post- Ebola Recovery Delivery Team, the President's Recovery Priorities.[16] She was promoted to Information Management and Quality Assurance Specialist and eventually Delivery Team Lead after current mayor of Freetown, Her Worship Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr.

Jones serves as Director of Research and Delivery at the Ministry of Finance [17] in Sierra Leone. She is also an Associate Lecturer in the Department of Economics and Commerce at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. Additionally, she is the Team Lead for the Economic Policy pathway on the University of Sierra Leone's Master of Research and Public Policy (MRPP) collaborative Masters program with the Partnership of African Social and Governance Research (PASGR).[citation needed]

Jones is also an entrepreneur and co-founded the Peninsular Innovative Group (PI Group) with her husband, Herbert Jones. The PI Group operates across the shipping, manufacturing, and agri-business industries in Sierra Leone.[18] Jones founded the Yak Jones Foundation, promoting reading and child literacy by donating books to needy schools, organising reading, comprehension and quiz competitions, and establishing book clubs.[19] The Foundation has worked with Project Pikin's Safe Space Library[20] to provide reading materials for Freetown's street children and the Rotary Club Sunset of Freetown to establish a school library.

Jones is a Senior Research Fellow[21] at the Centre for Alternative Policy Research and Innovation and a certified mentor on Mentor-X Africa [22] She also currently serves on the boards of the Children's Education Foundation, Asmaa James Foundation,[23] Girls Plus[24] and several schools. Jones has given lectures locally and internationally with organizations such as the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Blavatnik School of Government,[25] University of Oxford, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change,[26] and the World Bank on issues such as education, entrepreneurship, human capital development, service delivery.

Personal life

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Jones is married to Herbert Durosimi Jones. Together they have two daughters, Hedya-Gold and Hedsania-Silver Jones.[27] Jones was a 2017 Sierra Leone Open Government Fellow, in the Open Data Fellowship Programme[28] between Code for Africa, Google News Lab, Story Lab Academy and the World Bank. She was named one of 50 Most Influential Young Sierra Leoneans, one of the 50 Most Influential Women in Sierra Leone,[29] one of the 100 Most Influential Young Sierra Leoneans, recognized for excellence and integrity by Youth in Governance-SL and featuring on the 100 Women in West Africa list.[30]

Research interests

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Jones' research interests include: Development Economics, International Business, Human Capital Development, Macro[31] and Micro-level data analysis[32] for growth dynamics, Building data systems[33] and innovative growth metrics,[34] Innovation and Systems Approaches to Public Service Delivery and Human-Centered Design.[35]

References

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  1. ^ "MEET YAKAMA MANTY JONES- A YOUNG LEADER, INSPIRING PORTFOLIO CAREERS – Ariana Diaries". Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  2. ^ "Online Repository of Birkbeck Institutional Theses". 29 October 2014. Archived from the original on 19 February 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  3. ^ "Knowledge Exchange: Washington DC | World Bank Group". olc.worldbank.org. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  4. ^ "World Bank Group - International Development, Poverty, & Sustainability". World Bank. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  5. ^ "Human Capital". World Bank. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  6. ^ "Dr. Yakama Manty Jones - Amujae Leader, 2021 Cohort". 2021. Archived from the original on 19 February 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  7. ^ "Yakama Manty Jones - Google Scholar". Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  8. ^ "Yakama Manty Jones: Portfolio Careers | TED Talk". Kingtom, Freetown. July 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  9. ^ "Interview: Dr Yakama Manty Jones » Africa Oxford Initiative". 27 December 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  10. ^ "Knowledge Exchange: Washington DC | World Bank Group". 2020. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  11. ^ admineditor (18 October 2018). "Tower Hill Kindergarten & Primary School Students were Delighted to Receive School Supplies". Develop Africa Sierra Leone & Creating Pathways Centre. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  12. ^ "MBSSE – Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education". Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  13. ^ a b "Yakama Manty Jones - School of Economics and Finance". www.qmul.ac.uk. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  14. ^ a b Jones, Yakama Manty (2014). Debt overhang and natural resources: revisiting the resource curse hypothesis (phd thesis). Birkbeck, University of London.
  15. ^ Samji, Author Salimah (21 January 2021). "Learning to Lead Economic Growth during COVID-19". Building State Capability | Blog. Retrieved 2 November 2021. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  16. ^ "Home". recoverypriorities. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  17. ^ "Finance Ministry to Strengthen Financial Reforms via ICT -". 1 October 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  18. ^ "Peninsular Innovation Group – promoting Sierra Leone". Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  19. ^ Jones, Dr Yakama Manty (22 July 2021). "Storie--- Storie---- In-Out--- Once upon a time-----the number is 430". YakamaJones. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  20. ^ "Sierra Leone News: Yak Jones Foundation boosts education". Awoko Newspaper. 4 April 2017. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  21. ^ "Our People | Center for Alternative Policy Research & Innovation". CAPRI. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  22. ^ "Entrepreneurship – Mentor X-Africa". Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  23. ^ "Asmaa James Foundation – Asmaa James". asmaajames.com. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  24. ^ "Girls+ Board Members – GirlPlus Sierra Leone". Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  25. ^ Interview with Dr Yakama Manty Jones, retrieved 15 October 2021
  26. ^ "Institute for Global Change". Institute for Global Change. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  27. ^ "About | Yakama Jones | Sierra Leone". YakamaJones. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  28. ^ Khaliq, Usman (17 November 2017). "Welcoming Sierra Leone's OpenGov Fellows — catalysts and enablers of the Open Data movement in…". Code For Africa. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  29. ^ "50 most influential Sierra Leonean women award". Facebook. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  30. ^ Lamin, Alhassan (18 January 2021). "Sierra Leone: Dr. Yakama Jones, Isata Kabia selected for 2021 Amujae Leadership Program". Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  31. ^ "Sierra Leone 10 Year Economics Data Analyses Report". DSTI. 30 January 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  32. ^ "Sierra Leone uses big data analytics for national economic research". DSTI. 30 January 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  33. ^ Thomas, Abdul Rashid (1 February 2020). "Sierra Leone government opens access to national economic data". The Sierra Leone Telegraph. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  34. ^ "Africa's master connector is in Sierra Leone to develop the entrepreneurship ecosystem". DSTI. 24 February 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  35. ^ "Governance innovation boot camp culminates in pitch night". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
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