Africa Policy Journal

Earlier this month the Africa Policy Journal sat down with Herman J. Cohen, a former U.S. ambassador to several African countries, advisor to multiple U.S. Presidents, and a 38-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service. During his time in Africa, Cohen developed relationships with African leaders including South African President Nelson Mandela and Libyan leader […]

Africa suffers from a pronounced infrastructure deficit, particularly in energy and transportation. Coupled with burdensome trade regulations, these deficiencies have constrained gains in domestic productivity and present a critical bottleneck to more regional integration. African countries need to focus on constructing efficient and secure national and cross-border physical infrastructure as well as a coherent system […]

Problem Thirty-five percent of women worldwide have experienced sexual violence in their lifetimes[1]. In Nigeria, domestic violence is pervasive across socioeconomic and cultural contexts. Forty-five percent of affected women suffer abuse from their current husband or partner[2]. According to a US Department of State Human Rights Report, the practice of domestic violence has “remained widespread […]

The Africa Policy Journal recently chatted with Francis Gatare, the Chief Executive Officer of the Rwanda Development Board and a Cabinet Member of the Government of Rwanda. Mr. Gatare was visiting Harvard Univeristy along with President Paul Kagame. He discussed a range of issues including: Rwanda’s emergence from the 1994 genocide and its economic growth trajectory […]

Leadership is replacing Africa rising as the new meme for Africa.  Fellowships, conferences and think tanks are all geared at building a new generation of African leaders armed with smartphones and tablets.   By simple definition, a leader directs or guides a group of people for a certain purpose. However, the contemporary leader is the thought […]

As I write this from Nairobi, Kenya, we are still basking in the warm and rosy glow of something approaching love as we remember with fondness President Obama’s recent visit. One of the big-ticket items during the President’s visit was his attendance of the seventh edition of the annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit. Of course, most […]

Dr. Mamphela Ramphele gave a lecture in September this year at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University titled “Can African Women Redefine Liberation for All?” The video of her lecture can be viewed here. Dr. Ramphele, a former World Bank managing director and political party leader in South Africa, sat down with the […]

There are more refugees in the world today than ever before, according to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. The UN figures show that roughly 60 million people were forcibly displaced in 2014. The UN report says the number of individuals forced to leave their homes due to conflict and persecution increased […]

Growing up in the 80’s, it was common for low-income households to visit the city once a month to buy their supply of groceries. The corner stores catered for their grocery needs throughout the month. For the business owner, your typical customer was not the most sophisticated. You knew your customers by name and you […]

A lot of things have evolved since the 2011 elections when Nigerian youth celebrated social media as a tool for successful elections. Technology has continued to foster government accountability, as well as active citizen participation in the country. During the 2015 elections, young Nigerians, who make up 70 percent of the country’s 177 million population, […]

Harvard Africa Policy Journal (APJ): Hi Lekan. Thank you very much for your availability for this interview. You are the CEO of Lekoil, a young Nigerian international oil exploration and production company. Where does the company have its offices? Lekan Akinyanmi (L.A.): Hi William. My pleasure! Thanks for inviting me! So, Lagos is the head […]

Ghana Rising Among the emerging Africa narratives, Ghana has often been touted as something of a model: over a decade of consolidated democratic institutions, economic expansion, and poverty reduction. With economic growth of over 6% for the past seven years, buoyed by high commodity prices, Ghana appeared to have avoided many of the pitfalls in […]