Young Sustainability Initiative · Sierra Leone
YSI Africa turns field experience into practical environmental systems. We remove waste, study where it comes from, test interception and recovery, protect sensitive coastal areas, and scale only what works.
Why YSI exists
Waste on a beach is the visible end of a larger chain that runs through homes, businesses, streets, drains, transport and disposal.
YSI works backward from that visible problem. Field access helps us identify leakage, measure material, test recovery routes, understand costs and determine what is actually missing.
Read the YSI story →The environmental setting
YSI works where waste, people, coastlines and wetlands meet. The images below combine YSI documentary field evidence with clearly labeled public context photography so the environmental setting is visible, not abstract.
Public context images are used to show geography and environmental setting. They are not presented as YSI field evidence unless explicitly labeled that way.
Where the work begins
YSI's current work connects Freetown's coastline, waste leakage pathways and wetland environments.
Cleanup and sanitation experience gave YSI direct exposure to coastal waste, collection logistics and material handling.
Inspect evidence status →Context image: Hussein Kefel, CC BY-SA 3.0. YSI field evidence is documented separately on the Evidence page.
The first phase is evidence led: authority coordination, baseline evidence, leakage analysis and ecological diagnosis before physical intervention.
Explore Aberdeen Creek →Context image from the wider Freetown coastal mangrove setting, not site specific Aberdeen Creek evidence. Kazoo93, CC BY-SA 4.0.The operating logic
YSI does not need to own every part of the waste system. The goal is to identify leakage, use legitimate existing routes where they work, and build only what evidence shows is missing.
Current work
Completed field activity and development stage projects are labeled separately.
Direct cleanup and sanitation work created practical experience with mixed coastal waste and field logistics.
See evidence status →YSI documentary field image, 23 April 2026.
Measure leakage, characterize material, test recovery and routing, understand costs and decide what infrastructure is justified.
Explore the project →Context image, not YSI project evidence. Erik Cleves Kristensen, CC BY 2.0.
Build a defensible baseline, understand leakage and ecological conditions, coordinate with authorities and let evidence determine later intervention.
Explore Aberdeen Creek →Wider Freetown coastal mangrove context, not site specific Aberdeen Creek evidence. Kazoo93, CC BY-SA 4.0.Institutional pathway
Funders, technical experts, public institutions and responsible private sector actors can review YSI's project stages, funding priorities, evidence controls and governance pathway.