Professor Francis brings to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs vast experience and knowledge in working with a number of Governments, Intergovernmental Agencies (EU & Commonwealth), and key UN agencies (UNAMSIL Sierra Leone, UNMIL Liberia, UNESCO on Peace Education, UNDP on Infrastructure for Peace, UNHCR on Internally Displaced Persons in Liberia); ECOWAS (ECOWAS Early Warning Mechanism & National Early Warning System); African Union (African Peer Review Mechanism & the AU Post-Conflict Reconstruction & Development). As a distinguished academic, senior policy adviser and consultant for more than 25 years, Professor Francis successfully supervised 6 doctoral completions, 14 PhD/Doctoral External Examinations in UK, Europe, North America and Africa as well as more than 50 Master’s dissertation supervision. 

Prior to his appointment as Foreign Affairs Minister, Professor Francis served as the first Chief Minister of the Republic of Sierra Leone for three years effective May 2018. In that capacity, he served as one of the Principal Advisers to His Excellency the President and was responsible for the supervision, monitoring, co-ordination and performance management of 28 Ministries of the Government of Sierra Leone. As a Senior Cabinet Minister, he served as a member of the National Security Council; National Defence Council; Economic Management Team; National Investment Board, member of Cabinet Sub-Committees and member of the Presidential Task Force of COVID 19 National Preparedness and Response. In his role as Chief Minister, Professor Francis provided strategic policy leadership for Parliamentary Legislative Bills for key governance agencies such as the Independent Commission for Peace & National Cohesion (ICPNC) and the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA).  As Chief Minister, Professor Francis worked closely with the House of Parliament and the Government-SLPP Parliamentary Leadership and opposition parties to facilitate the passage of government legislative bills and programmes.   

Before joining Government, Professor Francis was the Head of the world-renowned Department of Peace Studies & Director of the John & Elnora Ferguson Centre for African Studies (JEFCAS) at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom. He served as Commissioner for the UK Commonwealth Scholarship Commission and held the UNESCO Chair of African Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Bradford. Professor Francis held a Research Professorial Chair in African Peace and Conflict Studies, the first ever to be established at a leading UK University.

Professor Francis has an impressive academic career. He holds a PhD degree from the University of Southampton, United Kingdom; Diploma in Law, Development and Social Justice from the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands; Diploma in Human Rights, from the Raoul Wallenberg Institute, Lund University, Sweden, and BA (Hons) from Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. Professor Francis has published extensively with 10 books and more than fifty journal articles, book chapters and commissioned-policy papers. Some of his published works include: Peace, Democracy & Development in Africa Adonis & Abbey Publishers: London, July 2020 (Ed); African Peace Militaries: War, Peace & Democratic Governance, Routledge, 2016 (Ed.); When War Ends in Africa: building peace in divided communities. Ashgate: May 2012 (Ed); Policing in Africa. Palgrave /Macmillan, April 2012 (Ed); US Strategy in Africa: AFRICOM, Terrorism and Security Challenges. Routledge, Feb. 2010 (Ed); Peace and Conflict in Africa (Ed.) London: Zed Books, September 2008 (Translated into Arabic in May 2010 by the Egypt-based Arabic Translation Institute); Uniting Africa: Building Regional Security Systems, Aldershot: Ashgate January 2006; Dangers of Co-deployment: UN Cooperative Peacekeeping in Africa (Ed.) Ashgate, 2005; The Politics of Economic Regionalism: Sierra Leone in ECOWAS Ashgate, 2001.

Professor David J. Francis is determined to improve on and further strengthen relationships between the Republic of Sierra Leone with brotherly and friendly countries and regional and international organizations. In the same context, he will pursue Sierra Leone’s foreign policy interests on issues ranging from development to the maintenance of regional and global peace and security.  He seeks to improve on a number of initiatives including Development Diplomacy, as a tool to build on the good image of Sierra Leone through its Diplomatic Missions abroad.