Africa Policy Journal

The implementation of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has the potential to increase Africa’s exports by more than US$ 560 billion. This was disclosed by Dr. Hippolyte Fofack, Chief Economist of Afreximbank, while referring to a World Bank data during a lecture at the Harvard Kennedy School. Dr. Fofack stated this during the Africa […]

Former South Korean minister of trade, Dr. Taeho Bark has encouraged African countries to learn from South Korea by focusing on exports.  Dr. Bark, a senior visiting scholar, Korea project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfar Center stated this during a lecture on South Korea’s new external economic strategies at the Kennedy School.  “At beginning of […]

As Zimbabwe heads to the polls in April 2023, spokesperson for the opposition Citizen Coalition for Change, Fadzayi Mahere, has stated that it is time for the youth to take over the mantle of leadership in the country. Mahere was speaking during an interview with Africa Policy Journal in Cambridge, Massachusetts. There are more than […]

A Nigerian presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has pledged to spend 70% of his time in developing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), if elected president of Nigeria. Peter Obi disclosed this during a roundtable discussion organized by the Harvard Business School on Wednesday. The event was moderated by Hakeem Belo-Osagie, a professor at Harvard Business School. […]

Cover photo courtesy of UGHE Editor’s Note: The late Dr. Paul Farmer and his colleagues pioneered novel, community-based treatment strategies that demonstrate the delivery of high-quality health care in resource-poor settings. Dr. Farmer died on February 21, 2022, in Butero, Rwanda, where he was teaching at the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE). In this piece, […]

Cover photo source: @JamesGranelli_ on Twitter Twenty-five years ago, a group of South African high schoolers from an under-resourced township school rallied and made their way around the globe to participate in a youth environmental summit hosted in the US. What was unusual was the rhetoric around it. “Why is a group of colored youth […]

We know that the most effective policy for sustainable development is investing in empowering women and girls. We have the evidence about their impact on families, communities, industries and nations. Any efforts to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic needs to ensure and enhance their empowerment, including especially their sexual and reproductive health and rights, social protection […]

“I can’t breathe,” said a dying 46-year-old George Floyd as a white Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee on his neck for nine and a half minutes until he died. It was a murder that shook the entire world, sparking global outrage and spotlighting the insidious spectre of racism in modern America.  Over […]

The Africa Policy Journal team was excited and honored to host Dr. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka at the Africa Policy Journal Fireside Chat. The event, held on Friday, March 25, 2022, was held in collaboration with the Harvard University Center for African Studies. Dr. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka spoke on a range of issues, from expanding women’s civil and political participation, to her experiences […]

Mandla Isaacs is an Edward Mason Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he is currently pursuing a Mid-Career Master’s in Public Administration, Public Policy and Management. He hails from South Africa. In this #APJChat, he speaks with the APJ’s Lead Interview Editor, Noah Asfaw, about his journey to Harvard, his perspectives on public service […]

APJ Online Editor Shambhavi Singh speaks with Soud Hyder, Founder of Chap-chap Go, about his transition to building his company and advice for other African entrepreneurs interested in digital entrepreneurship, on this edition of the #APJChat

The COVID-19 pandemic and the health inequities it revealed strengthened the case for universal health coverage (UHC), a discussion that was already topical pre-pandemic, with many countries in sub-Saharan Africa launching health insurance schemes as their vehicles for achieving UHC. Although there are success stories from countries like Rwanda, questions have been raised about the […]