Annual Report Annual Report 2017-2018 2017-2018
ontents C 02
YEAR AT A GLANCE
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LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR
06 HIGHLIGHTS
10 TEACHING
20 RESEARCH
44 ENGAGEMENT
54 PEOPLE
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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MESSAGE FROM FIROZ LALJI
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CONTACT THE FLCA
ear at a Glance Y 2
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WOMEN, GLOBAL HEALTH AND SOCIAL JUSTICE: FROM SILENCES TO SOLUTIONS In June, three leading academics, Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, Professor Catherine Campbell, Professor Ernestina Coast working at the intersections of gender, global health and social justice fields in the African continent took part in a lively event chaired by FLCA Visiting Fellow, Dr Rochelle Burgess.
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EMPOWERMENT THROUGH SEX EDUCATION The SeXYZ initiative was the winning project undertaken by the Programme for African Leadership (PfAL) students during the 2017/18 academic year. The project aims to educate young people on sexual health and reproduction and its potential influence on their future education prospects.
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President Nana Addo Akufo-Addo of Ghana delivered the opening keynote address on the second day of the 2018 LSE Africa Summit which had the theme: Africa at Work: Educated. Employed. Empowered. More than 1000 people were in attendance over the two days of the Summit and Gala.
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PUBLIC AUTHORITY AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT Researchers for the ESRC-GCRFfunded Centre for Public Authority and International Development met at Ghent University in May 2018 to discuss their upcoming research plans.
YEAR AT A GLANCE
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AFRICA AT WORK: EDUCATED. EMPLOYED. EMPOWERED.
What a busy, exciting year it has been at the Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa!
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etter Lfrom the Director
Benefitting from the generous endowment gift from Firoz Lalji, and new funding from Jules Green, Keith Young and Pii and Gisela Ketvel, as well as several new research grants, the Centre has expanded in terms of core staff. We have welcomed Martha Geiger as Centre Manager, as well as several other new staff who are expanding our outreach capacities, organising events and supporting the Programme for African Leadership (PfAL) – which runs activities for over 60 African postgraduates at LSE.
We have moved into new office space, and appointed a number of new research officers. In addition, the Centre has hosted some of our research collaborators in African countries including three Sierra Leonean PhD students and a threemonth residency by Professor Grace Akello of Gulu University, Uganda (supported by the Ruth Glass Fellowship fund).
Meanwhile, academic work at the Centre has been enhanced by weekly seminars and workshops that have brought together researchers working on our large grant projects, notably on public authority, resilience, population displacement and post-war resettlement (funded by the Global Challenge Research Fund, UK research councils and the IGA-Rockefeller fund).
New research projects have been set up jointly with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, SOAS, the Royal Veterinary College, and Mercy Corps.
Books, articles and blogs have been published on topics as varied as humanitarianism, colonial encounters in African ethnography, Ebola, informal economies, gender dynamics, public health, poverty, child abduction, and criminal justice, and there have been numerous meetings with policy makers, including UNDP, the World Bank, DFID, Save the
Hundreds of delegates attended the fifth LSE Africa Summit to hear a range of speakers from the African continent including the President of Ghana.
Children and Oxfam. In the coming year, the second biennial LSE PfAL Forum will take place in Kenya in September 2018, bringing together over one hundred PFAL graduates and many of our African research partners. We will also host the Save the Children Centennial Conference in 2019. The Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa is going from strength to strength, establishing itself a leading institution engaging with Africa. With strong commitment from the LSE and partner institutions, the Centre has a bright future.
PROFESSOR TIM ALLEN Director
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HIGHLIGHTS
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LSE Assistant Professor Laura Mann and FLCA Communications and Events Manager Syerramia Willoughby have secured funding from Knowledge Exchange and Impact (KEI), LSE’s Department of International Development and the Review of African Political Economy for a project investigating how knowledge is produced about Africa. The Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa hosted Professor Grace Akello, Ruth Glass Memorial Fellow and FLCA Visiting Professor from February to May 2018. During her time here, Dr Akello, who is a medical anthropologist and Associate Professor at the University of Gulu in Uganda, engaged in teaching, working on issues of public authority and presenting at seminars.
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Congratulations to Dr Naomi Pendle, who along with Dr Leben Moro of the University of Juba, secured British Academy funding to host a ten-day writing workshop for South Sudanese scholars in Kenya from 10-22 July 2018.
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HIGHLIGHTS
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LSE academics Holly Porter and Dorothea Hilhorst along with independent researcher Rachel Gordon edited a special issue of the Disasters Journal with the theme Gender, Sexuality and Violence in Humanitarian Crises.
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Congratulations to Professor Catherine Boone who was awarded a 3.5-year research grant for the project Spatial Inequalities in the Political Economy of Africa by the ESRC. This project, a collaborative effort between scholars in the UK, US and Kenya will investigate how inequalities across subnational regions within African countries shape patterns of conflict, competition and political mobilisation.
HIGHLIGHTS
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PhD researcher McDonald Lewanika was very busy during Zimbabwe’s ‘military-assisted transition’ talking to Al Jazeera, Foreign Policy, and The Zimbabwean among others.
Professor Tim Allen appeared on BBC Focus on Africa TV talking about victims of vampire lynch mobs in Malawi.
Dr Michael Amoah provided expert analysis on elections in Kenya, the resignation of President Zuma, and the Burundi referendum on presidential term limits to a variety of outlets including BBC and Al Jazeera.
Dr Naomi Pendle featured in a NPR documentary, War and Peace and Cows.
HIGHLIGHTS
Dr Wendy Willems was interviewed for Al Jazeera documentaries: Mugabe’s Media Legacy and Mugabe’s downfall: A new era for Zimbabwe’s media.
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2018 LSE-UCT JULY SCHOOL
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espite drought-stricken Cape Town’s countdown to Day Zero, a successful sixth LSEUCT July School was held at the University of Cape Town from 25 June to 6 July 2018. The 2018 cohort had 65 students and graduate professionals from 28 different countries and a variety of academic backgrounds. The two-week course, coordinated by LSE’s Academic Partnerships Office, provides an opportunity to learn about Africa from within Africa, giving participants the change to gain insights into topics such as economic development in Africa; poverty and development; international relations; and urban development and planning.
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TEACHING
PROGRAMMES & FELLOWSHIPS
TEACHING
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MSC/MA GLOBAL MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS In September 2017, the Department of Media and Communications welcomed the first cohort of the double, two-year degree in MSc/MA in Global Media and Communications (LSE and UCT), with students from Canada, Ghana, France, Kenya, Mauritius, Portugal, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States. In addition to their academic study, the students had the opportunity to explore London’s African cultural scene. Several students from the programme, which was directed by Dr Wendy Willems, actively contributed to the organisation of the 2018 LSE Africa Summit. Students will commence their second year at the University of Cape Town in September 2019.
MSC AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT
CUSTOM PROGRAMMES
It was another busy year for the 33 students who studied for an MSc in African Development, directed by Professor Catherine Boone, within LSE’s Department of International Development. Students took a number of courses including African Development and African Political Economy. In addition, they enjoyed a weekend trip to Cumberland Lodge in Windsor in January where they had an opportunity to escape the city and participate in a number of seminars and group activities in the beautiful setting of a 17th Century, Grade II listed country house.
Working with LSE enterprise, the Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa now offers short bespoke programmes covering topics such as social policy, investment, agricultural policy and social service provision. In the year to come, the Centre will continue to develop more short courses.
TEACHING
Some students also took part in The Development Consultancy experience, which gives students the opportunity to work with organisations in the real-world and on hot topics that have the potential to influence policy.
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PROGRAMME FOR AFRICAN LEADERSHIP
TEACHING
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The Programme for African Leadership (PfAL) is an extracurricular leadership, skillsbuilding and networking project for African nationals studying for a master’s degree at LSE.
A LOOK BACK AT THE PROGRAMME FOR AFRICAN LEADERSHIP
MARCH
With the generous support of the Lalji family, the Programme for African Leadership launches at LSE, welcoming 18 mid-career African nationals to participate in a three-week executive course.
SEP TEM BER
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The second PfAL cohort, comprised of 36 emerging African leaders, arrives in London for the second executive course.
2013 SEP TEM BER
PfAL evolves into a year-long programme for masters students, welcoming 26 students studying in LSE’s Department of International programme into its third cohort.
2014 SEP TEM BER
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PfAL invites African nationals studying masters programmes across LSE into the programme, increasing the cohort to 60 emerging leaders from 16 countries.
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JANUARY
The inaugural PfAL Forum takes place in Munyonyo, Uganda, with the themes of youth empowerment and promoting African intellectualism.
2016
PfAL holds its first Employers Forum for its participating students.
2018
2017
JULY
TEACHING
MARCH
PfAL joins the newly established Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa at LSE.
PROGRAMME FOR AFRICAN LEADERSHIP
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TEACHING
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ince the programme’s inception in 2012 over 300 students from 40 African countries have taken part in PfAL and joined the Alumni network. PfAL Alumni are connected through online groups as well as a biennial forum, the next one being held in Mombasa, Kenya in September 2018. Alumni also connect through the network to share opportunities and their stories through the PfAL News publication.
The 2017/8 academic year saw the seventh cohort of 60 students take part in the initiative, representing 17 African countries and 31 different masters programmes. The students worked on a series of collaborative projects that focused on solutions to issues across the continent in the following categories: Enhancing Educational Opportunities, Celebrating Arts & Culture, Promoting Health & Wellbeing and Boosting Travel & Trade.
PROGRAMME FOR AFRICAN LEADERSHIP
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Other PfAL activities included: A number of debates featuring lively discussions on contemporary issues facing Africa and Africans both at home and abroad
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Skills-building sessions that focused on skills such as public speaking and presenting in professional environments
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Panel discussions with successful Africans working in a variety of sectors who spoke of their journeys and shared valuable insights with the students as well as answering questions from the cohort
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Social and networking events to develop and strengthen the bonds of friendships Photos by Owen Billcliffe
TEACHING
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PROGRAMME FOR AFRICAN LEADERSHIP
TEACHING
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2018 PFAL EMPLOYERS’ FORUM
PROGRAMME FOR AFRICAN LEADERSHIP
n March 2018, professionals from Facebook, Transparency International, Shell, AgDevCo and EY took part in the PfAL Employers’ Forum in what was one of the most popular and inspiring PfAL events of the year.
“What does a career limiting decision look like in the working world?”; “Do you still feel imposter syndrome and if you don’t when did it stop?”; and “Was there ever a master plan? Do things work out in the end?” sparked a lively and engaging conversation.
This panel of successful African and Africa-related professionals from the worlds of finance, media and development shared insights and advice to the eager PfAL 7 cohort about entering the workforce and working in their respective sectors.
The responses were no less absorbing.
Incisive questions from the students such as “How do you change industries or sectors?”;
“If you mess up own it, people will respect you more for that. You are not expected to be perfect, you’re going to mess up at some point.” “Rather than looking for the job, start more broadly and consider what you want to do. What do you want your legacy to be? What can bring you a step closer? You may not find a job that meets your criteria 100 per cent, but you can get close enough.”
If you mess up, own it, people will respect you more for that. You are not expected to be perfect, you’re going to mess up at some point.
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Some advice given to students at the PfAL Employers’ Forum, March 2018
TEACHING
This event aimed to foster and facilitate an open and inviting environment in which students could listen and honestly engage with established professionals with regards to their sectors as well as their professional experiences.
“Use what you are doing now and just link it to the space you want to be in. Hustle your way around the things you want to get involved in… DON’T stay in your lane.”
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UPDATES FROM ACROSS THE SCHOOL
Sadia Mussa Ahmed, Country Representative, PENHA (left); Joanna Lewis (centre); Ambale Shibesi, Regional Programme Co-ordinator, PENHA (right)
Pathways to Resilience: the role of an urban diaspora in post-conflict reconstruction, London and Hargeisa from 1990 to present
As part of the project, Dr Joanna Lewis (Department of International History, LSE) and her research team aim to identify historical patterns which have contributed to the reconstruction of Hargeisa, Somaliland since 1991, with the objective of developing a body of applicable knowledge which can be used in other post-conflict urban settings.
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In 2018, Dr Lewis has been undertaking field work in London and Hargeisa, exploring the capabilities and motivations which drive the participation of people from different socio-demographics in the rebuilding of their lives in London and the connections they have sustained in Hargeisa.
RESEARCH
In an example of international scholarly collaboration for research and policy impact at its finest, Professor Catherine Boone (Departments of Government and International Development, LSE) and Dr Fibian Lukalo, Research Director of Kenya’s Land Commission have assembled a team to update scholarly and policy-makers’ knowledge of settlement schemes in Kenya. Although many outside observers believe that the era of smallholder settlement schemes in Kenya ended around 1982, these schemes in fact remain a central pillar of the Kenya government’s efforts to address landless, ordinary citizens’ demands of land, and land injustices. In June 2018, a team of ten Kenyan and American interns worked at the NLC in Nairobi for four weeks to create an inventory, cataloguing, georeferencing and digitising the 1,600 settlement scheme maps.
RESEARCH
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International collaboration for research and policy impact
The aim is to lay the foundation for extracting policy lessons that will be relevant for not only 21st century Kenya, but also governments and planners in other developing countries that are relying on smallholder settlement schemes as a pillar of rural development and post-conflict peace building policies.
Improving adolescent access to contraception and safe abortion in sub-Saharan Africa
Professor Ernestina Coast (Department of International Development, LSE) is leading a threecountry (Ethiopia, Malawi, Zambia) comparative study of adolescents’ (10-19 years) experiences of seeking abortion-related care. The key focus of this project is to establish how the implementation of contraception and abortion services for adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa can be improved. Now in the second year of the project, ethical review has been completed in Zambia and Malawi, where the fieldwork is now beginning. Our early data show the difficulties that adolescents face in: negotiating safe(r) sex; using effective contraception; and navigating the health system to seek abortion-related care.
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RESEARCH
MEDIAFRICA: new media practices in a changing Africa
As the research project comes to a conclusion, Dr Wendy Willems (Department of Media and Communications, LSE) has been presenting the preliminary findings of her research at seminars and conferences at Rhodes University, South Africa; University of Vienna, Austria; Universities of Sussex and Cardiff, UK; and the International Communication Association Annual Conference in Prague, Czech Republic.
CENTRE FOR PUBLIC AUTHORITY AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
RESEARCH
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Over the past 12 months, the Centre for Public Authority and International Development (CPAID), funded by the ESRC Global Challenges Research Fund, has strengthened its methodological framework to ground the Centre’s interdisciplinary research agenda on how the governance of societies in impoverished, marginal and/or conflict-affected places actually functions. The focus of work has therefore taken public authority as a conceptual starting point to explore the ways in which the governance of people occurs in under-researched areas.
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Inequalities and the Politics of Kenyan Land Titling by Professor Catherine Boone. Researchers are already having lively discussions through the Public Authority blog series, hosted on the
RESEARCH
uring the Michaelmas and Lent terms, CPAID has hosted research seminars at LSE discussing a variety of topics including: Youth Politics and Social Movements in Africa by LSE Centennial Professor Alcinda Honwana and Regional
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CENTRE FOR PUBLIC AUTHORITY AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
RESEARCH
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Africa@LSE and From Poverty to Power blogs. Topics covered range from refugee registration in Uganda to wildlife conservation in Congo and an experiment in participatory blogging in Sierra Leone to boat taxation in Congo.
In July and August 2018, CPAID researchers launched the first stage of their fieldwork undertaking research across the continent from Sierra Leone to Uganda to put their methodological and conceptual frameworks into practice.
In May 2018, the research team gathered for their second annual research meeting at CPAID’s partner institution Ghent University in Ghent, Belgium. In September 2018, CPAID will continue these conversations in Mombasa, Kenya through a capacity-building workshop which will engage with CPAID research partners on the continent.
There have also been several new additions to the CPAID team including a new Centre Manager, Martha Geiger, an Official Development Assistance Impact Officer, Natasha Koverola Commissiong and Graduate Intern, Gemma Edom. The team, along with the support of FLCA staff, bring a wealth of experience managing CPAID’s operations and communications.
Photo by Sophie Aubert
CENTRE FOR PUBLIC AUTHORITY AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
WHERE WE WORK Democratic Republic of Congo
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Kenya Sierra Leone Somalia
Uganda
RESEARCH
South Sudan
RESEARCH
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PROFESSOR GRACE AKELLO
CENTRE FOR PUBLIC AUTHORITY AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT Professor Grace Akello is an Associate Professor at the University of Gulu in Uganda and one of the researchers on CPAID. From March to June 2018, Professor Akello was a Visiting Professor at the LSE Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa in London. Tell us about your current research. I have been investigating the reintegration of LRA returnees in Northern Uganda, and the way they live alongside individuals previously exposed to war violence. Despite government byelaws which instruct individuals to ‘forgive [returnees], forget and move on for the sake of peace’, communities experience a war of words. Village misfortunes are attributed to returnees and development programmes which target former LRA fighters are dismissed as continual rewards to returnees for the atrocities they committed. Despite being ordered to forget war atrocities, it is in their silencing that community members found a different voice of expression.
My research has also had a more immediate impact in communities in Acholiland. In focus groups, some were glad to finally have the chance to discuss matters which people had previously been silenced or punished for discussing. Through asking questions concerning the oppressive transitional justice byelaws, communitymembers were able to indirectly find justice through what I call peasant transitional justice mechanisms (paper upcoming). What is the best piece of advice you have ever received? I have received many pieces of advice and the one which guides me every day is from my parents. My parents admonished me to “treat people with respect, regardless of the way they treat you back. Treating people with respect indicates that one respects oneself, and that is the most important thing in life”.
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RESEARCH
What do you hope the impact of your work will be? Transitional justice discourses rely on punishment, compensation and forgiveness as the main factors of peace restoration. My study pushes this discourse further, emphasising the importance of memory in peace
restoration processes and identifying the long-term war of words that can ensue.
POLITICS OF RETURN
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The Politics of Return research project, funded by the AHRCESRC-funded Partnership for Conflict, Crime and Security Research (PaCCS), investigates the dynamics of return and reintegration of refugees in Central and Eastern Africa.
RESEARCH
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ver the past twelve months, researchers have been engaged in fieldwork in Uganda, South Sudan, Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo. Some of their initial reflections have been shared through a blog series on the Africa@LSE platform. Topics explored include the spirituality of refugees, justice and reconciliation, and the remobilisation of armed combatants. In addition to papers and blog posts, research findings will also be communicated through cartoons, photography and artforms.
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RESEARCH
POLITICS OF RETURN
RESEARCH
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HIGHLIGHTING THE ARTS
POLITICS OF RETURN
Willy Karekezi
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Bathsheba Okwenje
Kusa Kusa Maski Gael
RESEARCH
A unique component of the Politics of Return project is the artist residency and an exhibition (to be held in 2019) through which researchers can communicate their findings to host communities and policy makers. From June to September 2018, three artists, Willy Karekezi, Kusa Kusa Maski Gael, and Bathsheba Okwenje were based at 32º East|Ugandan Arts Trust where they have been collaborating with the project researchers to produce art work that addresses some of the key issues around displacement and return.
TRAJECTORIES OF DISPLACEMENT 34
A multi-disciplinary exploration into return and social repair after mass displacement in northern Uganda
RESEARCH
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ollowing the mass displacement during the 20-year Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency from 1986 to 2006, this project investigates the long term impacts of post-displacement interventions as experienced and understood by affected communities. Research has been underway in various sites in northern Uganda and researchers are already sharing some of their findings through the Displacement and Return blog series, hosted on the Africa@LSE platform.
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RESEARCH
DECONSTRUCTING NOTIONS OF RESILIENCE Diverse post-conflict settings in Uganda
RESEARCH
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Researchers are already sharing some of their findings on the Africa@LSE blog.
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RESEARCH
he idea that more ‘resilient’ socio-cultural systems help people recover from crises is of increasing developmental and policy importance. Conceptually, however, resilience is undertheorised and poorly implemented. Drawing upon historical and anthropological approaches, this project, funded by the IGA/Rockefeller fund, explores how local communities negotiate, experience, and understand their own resilience strategies and how external interventions contribute or detract from these. As well as a team conducting ethnographic research with South Sudanese refugees in Palabek Refugee Settlement, this project has begun pilot studies on indigenous understandings of resilience in the Acholi and Karamoja regions and has commissioned a number of independent research projects across northern Uganda.
GOING WITH OR AGAINST THE FLOW? A study of water governance in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo
RESEARCH
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The researchers will be working with Congolese academics to co-author blogs for the Africa@LSE blog and co-publish papers on the project findings.
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RESEARCH
ue to start in September 2018, this two-year project funded by humanitarian agency, Mercy Corps, focuses on the patterns of water use among urban consumers and the socio-economic impact of reduced water tariffs at household level in the Democratic Republic of Congo. FLCA researchers Dr Pat Stys, Dr Tom Kirk and Dr Joe Trapido will be employing innovative mixed methods, merging qualitative and quantitative analyses in a network study of water governance in fragile, conflictaffected contexts. They will collect extensive longitudinal data on water use as part of household budgets, wider access to public services, and the effects of local interventions in water markets.
A TALE OF TWO GREEN VALLEYS Innovation is central to the economic renewal process at the heart of market capitalism and yet its impact is uneven and contested.
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RESEARCH
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Tale of Two Green Valleys, funded by the ESRC, focuses on the digital transformations taking place across two rich agricultural valleys, Kenya’s Rift Valley and California’s Central Valley. It uses a political economy approach to examine who is benefitting and losing out from the generation and commercialisation of digital data in agriculture, and how in turn, these benefits and losses are understood and perceived across different political constituents. As part of the project’s outreach activities, the researchers will be
collaborating with podcasters and radio producers to release a number of engaging stories about the research for audiences in Kenya, the US and beyond.
The project also hosted its first communication workshop in June 2018, where researchers and producers brainstormed storylines for possible episodes.
Since the project’s launch in January, researchers Laura Mann and Gianluza Iazzolino have been invited to speak at a number of policy-focused events focused on digital innovation and development, including two events at UNCTAD in Geneva, an advisory session at the EU Parliament and at an event organised by ITforChange in Mumbai, India on platformisation.
Finally, the research team has recently hired Tin El-Kadi to help map out clusters of digital agricultural firms across the world. In the autumn of 2018, Tin and Laura will be presenting papers on the economic implications of debates around African knowledge production at the ASA-UK and ASA-USA conferences.
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Photo by Ken Lund / Flickr (Creative Commons)
RESEARCH
Photo by McKay Savage / Flickr (Creative Commons)
CITING AFRICA • • •
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Investigating the decline of Africa-based contributions in top international academic journals Providing practical guidance to young scholars seeking to publish their own work Taking a critical look at the wider context of knowledge production about the African continent
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ecent protests about the decolonisation of education has brought to the fore issues such as the underrepresentation of Africa-based scholars within mainstream academic and policy debates. This lack of representation not only affects the quality of knowledge produced about Africa, but also the career prospects of young African scholars.
Thanks to funding from the LSE KEI Fund, the LSE Department of International Development and the Review of the African Political Economy journal, Citing Africa will provide guidance and provoke dialogue on how these and other issues around knowledge can tackled by distilling the experiences of journal editors, academics, and policy-makers.
The findings will be packaged into a series of podcasts hosted on a Citing Africa web portal hosted on the website of the Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa. This portal will also feature Development reading lists featuring African authors, lists of major Africanist journals and tips on how to get published in these journals. This project is co-ordinated by Syerramia Willoughby, the Africa@LSE blog editor and Dr Laura Mann, Assistant Professor in the Department of International Development.
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n line with LSE’s mission for the “betterment of society,” the Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa prioritises stakeholder engagement and public outreach. Our public events programme, the student-led LSE Africa Summit and Africa@LSE blog draws upon the outstanding multidisciplinary expertise of LSE’s diverse knowledge community and from its African partner institutions in order to engage thousands of scholars, students, policy makers, aid and development professionals, and media and business representatives every year.
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ENGAGEMENT
PUBLIC EVENTS During the 2017/18 academic year, our events have ranged from book launches, panel debates to conferences, including the annual student-led LSE Africa Summit.
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2,500
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70
people attended the Centre’s events
public events
speakers
In 2017/18 we welcomed a number of speakers including:
DAMBISA MOYO Economist
ABEBE AEMRO SELASSIE Director of the IMF’s African Department
Writer and Advocate
Writer
NYARADZAYI GUMBONZVANDA
African Union Goodwill Ambassador
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ENGAGEMENT
CLEMANTINE WAMARIYA
PETER KIMANI
2018 LSE AFRICA SUMMIT
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The LSE Africa Summit is an annual two-day student-led conference hosted at the London School of Economics and Political Science which seeks to showcase Africa’s contribution to the world and to encourage debate around contemporary challenges and opportunities facing the continent.
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2018 LSE AFRICA SUMMIT
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By gathering renowned scholars, leading politicians, forward-thinking corporate and entrepreneurial minds together with our population of passionate students at the LSE, the Summit provides a unique platform for the sharing of ideas and development of relationships that can be translated into meaningful action.
In 2018, the theme of the Summit was Africa at Work: Educated. Employed. Empowered which sought to tackle the unemployment challenge, especially among the youth on the continent, and offer solutions to promote job creation, inclusive and sustainable growth on the continent. The keynote speaker was the President
2018 LSE AFRICA SUMMIT
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of Ghana, Nana Addo Akufo-Addo. Other speakers included the lawyer-turned-theatre producer, Bolanle Austen-Peters, Dr Aida Opoku-Mensah of UN Economic Commission for Africa and other prominent professionals from the fields of finance, business, education, creative industries, and development.
AFRICA@LSE BLOG IN 2017/18
Top
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ince its launch in June 2011, the Africa@LSE blog used its platform to demonstrate how academic research provides deeper understanding of social issues and attracts contributors from all over the world. Over the past twelve months, the Africa@ LSE blog has been a forum for robust challenges to apologists for colonialism and featured vibrant analysis on the fall of Robert Mugabe after 37 years in power. The blog is also hosting long-running series around the themes of Public Authority and Displacement and Return.
14.5k
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Let’s talk about neocolonialism in Africa 15 November 2017
average monthly page views
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148
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number of blog posts in 2017/18
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There’s no case for colonialism: Insights from economic history 17 October 2017
Ten things that happened during Mugabe’s 37-year rule 15 November 2017
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Haile Selassie and his quest to develop a westernised medical system in Ethiopia 14 February 2018
read our blog: blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse
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The Illegal Economy of Refugee Registration: insights into the Ugandan refugee scandal 8 March 2018
where are readers are:
36% Europe
8% Asia 24%
Americas
30% Africa
Africa@LSE on Twitter
275
average monthly likes
@ 170
224
average monthly mentions
average monthly retweets
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672
average monthly links clicked
follow us: @AfricaATLSE
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12.7k followers
2%
Oceania
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INTERNAL ADVISORY GROUP
Professor Tim Allen Professor in Development Anthropology, Department of International Development Professor Chris Alden Professor in International Relations, Director of the Global South Unit, Department of International Relations Professor Catherine Boone Professor of Comparative Politics in the LSE Department of Government; Professor of African Political Economy, Department of International Development Professor Catherine Campbell Professor of Social Psychology, Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science
Professor Ernestina Coast Professor of Health and International Development, Department of International Development
Dr Joanna Lewis Associate Professor, Department of International History
Dr Emily Freeman Assistant Professorial Research Fellow, Personal Social Sciences Research Unit
Professor Claire Mercer Professor of Human Geography, Department of Geography
Dr Leigh Gardner Associate Professor, Department of Economic History
Professor Thandika Mkandawire Professor of African Development, Department of International Development
Professor Deborah James Professor of Anthropology, Department of Anthropology
Dr Wendy Willems Associate Professor, Department of Media and Communications
PEOPLE
Dr Jonathan Leape Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Executive Director, International Growth Centre
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CENTRE STAFF
Professor Tim Allen Director Natasha Koverola Commissiong Grants Programme Officer and CPAID ODA Impact Officer Gemma Edom Graduate Intern
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Martha Geiger Manager, Centre for Public Authority and International Development and Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa Stephen Johnson Programme for African Leadership Programme Officer Yovanka Paquete Perdigao Communications and Events Officer
PEOPLE
Ingrina Shieh Graphic Designer and PfAL Advisor Syerramia Willoughby Africa@LSE Blog Editor and Communications and Events Manager
RESEARCHERS
Dr Margaret Ainley Post-doctoral Researcher
Dr Ryan O’Byrne Research Officer
Professor Grace Akello Visiting Professor
Dr Naomi Pendle Research Officer
Dr Michael Amoah Visiting Fellow
Dr Holly Porter Research Fellow
Dr Rochelle Burgess Visiting Fellow
Dr Rebecca Tapscott Visiting Fellow
Dr Tatiana Carayannis Visiting Fellow
Dr Joe Trapido Research Officer
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Julian Hopwood Research Assistant Dr Gianluca Iazzolino Postdoctoral Researcher
PEOPLE
Dr Anna Macdonald Research Fellow
cknowledgements A 58 We would like to express our warm appreciation to LSE alumnus Firoz Lalji for his generous support in funding the Centre. The Centre has also benefitted from further funding from Jules and Sue Green, Pii Ketvel (LLM 1995), Gisella Ketvel (MSc European Studies 1995) and Keith Young MBE in support of our public events programme including the LSE Africa Summit, the LSE Programme for African Leadership and our research programmes.
essage from Firoz Lalji M
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
It has been inspiring to see the expansion of the Centre’s research and engagement activity in its second full year of operation. My family and I have enjoyed meeting the dynamic seventh PfAL cohort and we look forward to tracking their progress in taking leadership roles within their various spheres in the years to come.
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ontact the Centre C Based at LSE, the Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa promotes independent academic research and teaching; open and issue-oriented debate; and evidence-based policy making. The Centre accomplishes this by connecting different social science disciplines and by working in partnership with Africa bringing African voices to the global debate.
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Contact us for more information or to support the Centre
Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa Institute for Global Affairs London School of Economics and Political Science Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE lse.ac.uk/africa
@AfricaAtLSE
africa@lse.ac.uk
@LSEAfricaCentre
blogs.lse.ac.uk/AfricaAtLSE
@LSEFirozLaljiCentreforAfrica