| Honorific Prefix: | The Honourable |
| David J. Francis | |
| Honorific Suffix: | PhD |
| Nationality: | Sierra Leonean |
| Office: | Foreign Minister of Sierra Leone |
| Term Start: | 30 April 2021 |
| Term End: | 10 July 2023 |
| President: | Julius Maada Bio |
| Successor: | Timothy Kabba |
| Office1: | Chief Minister of Sierra Leone |
| Term Start1: | 20 April 2018 |
| Term End1: | 30 April 2021 |
| President1: | Julius Maada Bio |
| Predecessor1: | None, position created |
| Successor1: | Jacob Jusu Saffa[1] |
| Birth Name: | David John Francis |
| Birth Date: | 1965 10, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Kenema, Sierra Leone |
| Party: | Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) |
| Residence: | Freetown, Sierra Leone |
| Alma Mater: | University of Southampton International Institute of Social Studies Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law Fourah Bay College Holy Trinity Secondary School Kenema |
| Profession: | Educator |
| Blank1: | Religion |
| Data1: | Roman Catholicism |
David John Francis (born 5 October 1965)[2] is a Sierra Leonean politician, academic and author, who served as Chief Minister of Sierra Leone from April 2018 to April 2021.[3] He is the first person to hold the office of Chief Minister since it was abolished in 1978. He is widely seen as the most highly influential government official in Sierra Leone, after the president and the vice president.
Francis studied at Fourah Bay College, Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law and International Institute of Social Studies. From 1994 to 1998 he was a postdoctoral research associate at University of Southampton. Prior to his current position in the government of Sierra Leone, he was a professor at the University of Bradford where he was the coordinator of the UNESCO Chair in African Peace and Conflict Studies.[4] [5] He is the author of nine books and over fifty journal articles and commissioned-policy papers.[6] [7]
Francis was born and raised in Kenema in Eastern Sierra Leone, and he is a member of the Mende ethnic group.
In 1993, he earned a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in History at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone.[8] In 1994, he earned a master's degree in Human Rights at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law and a second degree in 1995 in Diploma in Law, Development and Social Justice at the International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands. In 1998, he received his doctorate in International Relations at the University of Southampton, in the United Kingdom.
Since 2015, Francis has been a member of the board of trustees and joined the Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE). He was the Head of Department of Peace Studies & Director of the John & Elnora Ferguson Centre for African Studies (JEFCAS) at the University of Bradford. He was as Interim Vice Chancellor of the UNESCO-Affiliated African Peace University project in Sierra Leone.
Prior to his appointment as Chief Minister, he was appointed Chair of the Governance Transition team by President Julius Maada Bio.[9] [10]
He was a professor at the University of Bradford, where he was director of the Africa Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies and Personal Research Chair.[5]