In September 2026, in Accra, the Mastercard Foundation organized the first Africa Higher Education for Transformation convening and prize ceremony. “Transformation is not just a better university,” said Foundation CEO Sewitt Ahderom. “It is a university that makes the whole economy around it work better for young people.” Dr. John Nkengasong, the Foundation’s Executive Director…(Read more)
Tag: governance
A Common Care Policy for Africa
Building on a decade of research on innovations in care, Canada’s International Development Research Centre recently co-convened— with the African Union and the Government of South Africa—the inaugural Africa Care Forum. “Women and girls undertake 70% of unpaid care work, limiting their economic participation and costing the continent an estimated USD95 billion annually in lost…(Read more)
Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels: The Ambition of the Santa Marta Conference-A G78 Webinar on March 11, 2026 at 12 noon Eastern
In late April 2026, Colombia and the Netherlands will host a dynamic coalition of countries, civic organizations, researchers and businesses that will collectively plan the implementation of the world’s transition away from energy based on oil, gas and coal. A plurilateral initiative arising from last year’s COP 30 in Brazil, the Santa Marta conference will…(Read more)
What Should Canada Do to Support Bangladesh?
Canada was one of the first countries to recognize the newly independent Bangladesh in 1971. Writing on the McLeod Group site, Canadian scholar-practitioners Dr. Lilly Nicholls and Dr. Syed Sajjadur Rahman discuss policy options for Canada to support Bangladesh as the South Asian country of 170 million navigates a complex process of national, political and…(Read more)
Company Boards Should Focus on Substance, Not Signaling
Impact strategists Rosemary Addis and Laurie Spengler write in Forbes that, in this moment of turbulence and partisanship, corporate boards should put substance over signaling on issues of sustainability and equity. The key questions Board members should ask themselves include: “
Preparing for What Comes After the Old Aid Paradigm
Georgetown University’s Professor Ken Opalo has published a blog arguing that the trend of rich countries, notably but not only the US, could be an opportunity for African countries. “Everyone must be clear-eyed about the fact that this might be the end of the long-established aid model. And it’s imperative to prepare for what comes…(Read more)
Special Issue of the African Evaluation Journal Honours Dr. Sulley Gariba
The African Evaluation Journal has published a special issue in honour of one of the continent’s prime leaders in the field, the late Sulley Gariba, Ghanaian diplomat, policy advisor, and evaluation strategist and practitioner. Dr, Gariba constructed new pathways for African-developed and -owned evaluation by governments and civil society, and promoted youth engagement in the…(Read more)
US State Department TIP Report Praises Fair Food Program
The 2024 Trafficking in Persons report of the United States State Department praises the human rights protections for migrant workers of the Fair Food Program and other worker-driven social responsibility models: “Over the last several years, government and private sector attention has become focused on resilient supply chains, and there are increasing supply chain transparency…(Read more)
Chardi Kala: “We need more defiant optimism”: Jagmeet Singh
“We need more defiant optimism in the face of adversity,” declared Jagmeet Singh, Leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party, in giving the Bell Lecture at Carleton University in Ottawa on April 30, 2024. “I learned from my mother that the phrase for that is Chardi Kala.” Mr. Singh also recounted the ways in which his…(Read more)
Plastics Circularity Investment Tracker Identifies $160B in Private Investments
In early November 2023, The Circulate Initiative, a US non-profit, published the key global findings of its Plastics Circularity Investment Tracker, an online tool for investors. For the period 2018-2023, the tracker identified 3,700 investment deals around the world and USD 160 B worth of investments in upstream and downstream products and services, including materials,…(Read more)