MAYOR of Kingston Andrew Swaby is one of the 46 mayors from 15 countries selected for the 10th class of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative.

Swaby is the only mayor from the Caribbean selected to participate in the 2026 cohort.

The nine-month professional management programme officially started last week in New York City. Through the initiative Swaby, alongside two senior Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation’s (KSAMC) officials, who will join the programme in August, will strengthen the corporation’s capacity to improve local government, enhance service delivery, and advance the priorities of residents.

“This programme has provided an invaluable opportunity to learn from some of the world’s leading practitioners in local government and to exchange ideas with fellow mayors facing similar challenges. One of my biggest takeaways has been the strong emphasis on using data and evidence to better understand problems before developing solutions.

“That approach has challenged me to think differently about how we identify priorities, measure results, and continuously improve how we serve our residents. I am confident these lessons will help the KSAMC make better-informed decisions, strengthen accountability, and deliver more responsive services for the people of Kingston,” Swaby said.

The flagship Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative is at the centre of more than 10 years of work led by Bloomberg Philanthropies, through its Government Innovation programme, to strengthen mayoral leadership and local government across the globe.

Established with Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School, and housed at the Bloomberg Centre for Cities at Harvard, the initiative has now served 447 mayors, including eight of 10 of America’s big-city mayors and nine of England’s mayoral authorities.

“Mayors sit at the first and last mile of every major problem we face, and we built the Government Innovation programme to ensure they have the capacity required to lead,” said James Anderson who leads the Government Innovation programme at Bloomberg Philanthropies.

“The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative is at its centre, and in a moment that demands more from public leadership than ever, this class will have that world of support behind them. We look forward to these mayors putting it to work, and all that their city halls will do,” added Anderson.

Through the initiative Swaby will work alongside Harvard faculty, policy experts, veteran managers, and fellow mayors through classroom sessions, virtual learning, and field-based engagement.

The programme began with a multi-day convening in New York City where participants explored strategies for organising teams around outcomes, grounding decisions in evidence, and collaborating across departments and sectors, while examining how these approaches can be applied to challenges such as housing and affordability, economic growth, public safety, and emergency response.

Once the coursework ends, Kingston remains eligible for more professional education for senior officials in economic development, human resources, procurement, and civic engagement.

The Bloomberg 10th class of mayors represents 28 US and 18 international cities, home to more than 22 million residents.