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Africa Notes 

Publication of the Institute for African Development, Cornell University 

Fall 2012 

Africa and the Generation of Knowledge

Africa Notes is published four times 

a year by the Institute for African 

Development, Cornell University. 

Contributions in the form of articles, 

news items and comments are welcome 

from scholars, professors, Africanists 

and organizations. The Institute reserves 

the right to select or reject submissions 

or edit for available space. Contributions 

may be sent via e-mail to CIAD@cornell. 

edu or by mail to: 

Editor, Africa Notes 

Institute for African Development 

190 Uris Hall 

Cornell University 

Ithaca, NY 14853 

tel: (607) 255-6849/5499 

fax: (607) 254-5000 

e-mail: CIAD@cornell.edu / 

jsb25@cornell.edu 

All rights reserved. Materials from 

this newsletter may be reproduced for 

academic use only. All references or 

excerpts from this newsletter must give 

attribution to the Institute for African 

Development, Cornell Unversity. All 

other uses must have authorization of 

the Institute. 

Jackie Sayegh, Editor 

Evangeline Ray, Assistant Editor 

Contents 

Africa and the Generation of Knowledge3 

Muna Ndulo) 

Distinguished Africanist Scholar6 

Upcoming Conferences.......................................... 7 

Publications8 

IAD Fellows9 

Humphrey Fellows11 

Fall 2012 Seminars: Growth, Poverty, and Inequality12 

African Development Bank Report Launch......... 16 

CERIS News 17 

Fellowships........................................................... 18 

2012 Guest Lecture.............................................. 19 

Job Oppportunities............................................... 20 

Spring Symposium: Growth, Poverty, and 

Inequality............................................................. 21 

2 Africa Notes 

Fall 2012

Africa and the Generation of Knowledge 

Professor Muna Ndulo’s Remarks Accepting the 

NYASA Distinguished Africanist Award 

Africa Forum 

Thank you so much for the kind introduction. 

Listening to it, I was reminded 

of how lucky we in academia 

are, sharing knowledge and helping 

to solve problems that afflict mankind. 

We are also very fortunate that 

by and large we are paid to do things 

we really enjoy. NYASA’s theme this 

year is an appropriate one: Africans 

in the Americas and African-Americans 

in Africa: The Shifting Boundaries of 

Citizenship in the 21st Century. This 

theme emphasizes the incontrovertible 

truth that the lives of Africans and 

African-Americans are intertwined. 

Working together, we can achieve 

great things for all our people, whether 

in the Diaspora or in Africa. 

In my remarks I would like to 

focus on the generation of knowledge 

and how it affects Africa. In a 

recent speech at the University of 

Stellenbosch, former President of 

South Africa Thabo Mbeki observed 

that “for centuries the struggle to 

define Africa has, in addition to the 

deadly dialogues of arms, been a 

contest among different schools of 

thought and therefore a clash of ideas.” 

I would like to add that there has also 

been a bitter struggle for knowledge 

and the creation of knowledge—the 

control of what we know and what 

we think we know about Africa and 

the African diaspora. In his book The 

Education of the British Protected Child, 

Achebe wrote, “to answer oppression 

with appropriate resistance requires 

knowledge of two kinds: in the first 

place, self-knowledge by the victim, 

which means awareness that oppression 

exists, awareness that the victim 

has fallen from a great height of glory 

or promise into the present depths; 

secondly, the victim must know who 

the enemy is. He must know his oppressor’s 

real name, not an alias.” 

The world is truly a peculiar place 

right now. We have both the phenomenal 

capacity to solve problems and 

to really mess things up. The great 

advances in technology have come 

with greater capacity to produce and 

control knowledge formation and 

to distribute it rapidly. In his speech 

Mbeki stated that it is self-evident 

that “knowledge,” regardless of the 

philosophical debates about its meaning, 

and indeed because of this, has 

established itself as a critical driver 

with regard to the human objective to 

achieve the betterment of society. He 

asks the following questions: 

Is there an objective social existence 

described as “objective reality” that exists 

independent of and outside of individual 

human consciousness and cognition and 

is therefore in principle freely accessible to 

all who seek it 

In reality, does everybody have the 

freedom to access this knowledge about 

this supposed objective reality and 

Does the possibility not exist that 

some in society could have such control 

over the ways and means and possibility 

of accessing this “knowledge” that they 

determine both who knows what and what 

society in general “knows” and believes to 

constitute an “objective reality.” 

Africa is the most stereotyped and 

maligned continent and its people 

the most misrepresented. It has faced 

many developmental challenges, and 

what we know and how we know it is 

very important for Africa. 

But now it is also important to note 

that Africa’s fortunes are looking up. 

Ten years ago the Economist declared 

Africa the “hopeless continent.” Late 

last year, the same journal titled the 

continent “Africa Rising.” In fact, in Le 

Monde Diplomatique (January 2012), the 

Senegalese economist Sanou Mbaye 

explained that between 2011 and 2015, 

seven of the ten countries (the others 

being China, India and Vietnam) 

positioned to show the highest growth 

rate in the world (around 7 percent) 

are in sub-Saharan Africa: Ethiopia, 

Mozambique, Tanzania, Congo, 

Ghana, Zambia, and Nigeria. These 

predictions are confirmed by the 

World Bank Report that six of these 

countries will, in the next six years, 

no longer be developing countries 

but will graduate to middle income 

countries. 

The China/Africa issue is one that 

exposes the dilemma of what we know 

and what we think we know as well 

as how knowledge is manipulated by 

those in control of its production. This 

issue can also be used to illustrate the 

dangerous possibility that some in 

our society control access to “knowledge” 

such that they determine who 

knows what, what society in general 

knows, and what society believes to 

constitute an accurate appreciation of 

objective reality. The myths that have 

been put forth about China and Africa 

include the following: 1) China is a 

new donor in Africa (not withstanding 

the fact that in 1975 China had aid 

programs in more African countries 

than USAID); 2) Chinese aid is huge; 3) 

China uses aid to get access to resources; 

4) China underpays workers; and 

5) China is recolonizing Africa. There 

seems to be a constant attempt to pres- 

Fall 2012 


3

ent China’s expansion as a “threat” to 

the global economy, as though China 

is a parasitic influence on its trading 

partners. 

The reality is that Chinese investments 

in Africa can be broken into 

three types: 1) investments aimed at 

supplying China with raw materials 

such as oil and minerals; 2) investments 

aimed at African markets; and 

3) investments that aim at supplying 

international markets such as the EU 

and the U.S. by taking advantage of 

the low labor costs and favorable trade 

access given to African countries in 

those markets. 

There are two problems with 

“knowledge” and the China/Africa 

debate. First, the discourse on these 

developments is not framed in a comparative 

manner, and second, “knowledge” 

aout the issues is manipulated 

to control what people believe. What 

are the facts It is true 1) that China/ 

Africa links are growing; 2) that 

Chinese investment in and trade with 

Africa is on the rise; 3) that China’s 

migration to Africa is growing, and 4) 

that Chinese goods are flooding the 

African market. 

The history of China and Africa 

has been well documented. Richard 

Dowden’s book Africa: Altered States, 

Ordinary Miracles (Portobello, 2008) 

dates African-Chinese relations to 

1414, when Zheng He the Grand 

Eunuch of the three treasures (along 

with 30 thousand soldiers) made the 

first of seven voyages westward to 

Africa. In the 1960s and ‘70s China- 

Africa relations revolved around ideology 

and liberation struggles. 

We are told, for instance, that 

China’s total trade with Africa has 

risen considerably since 2008 and 

now hovers at around US$120 billion. 

However, that figure does not 

tell us much unless we compare it 

to African trade with other developed 

nations, for it ought to be noted 

that China-Africa trade amounts to 

only 2 percent of total African trade. 

Deborah Brautigam in The Dragon’s 

Gift: the Real Story of China in Africa 

has pointed out that most observers 

believe China’s firms dominate 

African economies. The presumption 

does not fit the facts. About 90 percent 

of the stock of foreign direct investment 

(FDI) in Africa still originates 

from Western European companies, 

especially those in the EU and the U.S. 

Those making presumptive statements 

about China’s dominance do not offer 

comparative figures in terms of what 

China is investing in Latin America, 

Asia or Australia. There is also the 

belief that the Chinese are investing 

predominantly in natural resources. 

But in fact Chinese firms are increasing 

their investments in other sectors 

such as telecommunications, financial 

services, food processing, farming, 

and manufacturing. For example, one 

of China’s biggest stakes is actually in 

the Standard Chartered Bank of South 

Africa, where in 2007 China bought 

a 20 percent stake at $5.5 billion. 

Another fact generally omitted is that 

not all Chinese activity in Africa is 

investment. As a member of the World 

Bank and the African Development 

Bank (ADB), China has won numerous 

tenders in competitive bidding in 

World Bank-funded projects. China 

has also participated in privately funded 

construction. It may be true that 26 

percent of China’s oil requirements are 

supplied by Africa at the moment (and 

this is bound to grow in time), but we 

need to remember that sub-Saharan 

African oil exports to China amount to 

only 9 percent of total sub-Saharan oil 

exports worldwide. On the other hand, 

the 37 percent of African oil that goes 

to the U.S. is generally not questioned. 

The focus on China’s enterprises 

raises a serious question about 

knowledge. A story in the German 

daily Frankfurter Rundschau stated that 

“Chinese investments in Ethiopia are 

focused on farming for export” and 

commented that this could lead to major 

social conflicts in Africa as small 

farmers have their land and thus their 

livelihoods taken away. Certainly, land 

grabs are a bad thing. But does China 

even have agricultural investments 

in Ethiopia Not according to a newly 

released “land grab” study by the 

progressive California-based Oakland 

Institute. In its June, 2011 report on 

Ethiopia, the Institute found that 

“while China has been active in mining 

and infrastructure development 

sectors, they were surprisingly absent 

from land investments deals.” 

In June, 2011, Voice of America aired 

a story titled “China Supports Global 

Pariahs, Gets Resources and Criticism 

in Return” as part of its series on 

China’s overseas engagement. Some of 

the balanced analysts quoted included 

Greg Autry, Economics Professor at 

the University of California, Irvine, 

together with Autry’s co-author, Peter 

Navarro, of the book Death by China: 

Confronting the Dragon. Navarro is 

“Knowledge,” regardless of the philosophical debates about 

its meaning, has established itself as a critical driver with regard to 

the human objective to achieve the betterment of society. 

also an economics professor at Irvine 

and author of the polemic The Coming 

China Wars. “Zimbabwe has everything 

from diamonds to tobacco and 

farm land,” says Navarro. “China 

has gone in there, and there are a 

lot of Chinese farmers now tilling 

Zimbabwean soil, growing crops that 

are sent back to China while the people 

of Zimbabwe starve.” As Deborah 

Brautigam observes: “There is a lot to 

be critical of in China’s engagement 

with Mugabe, but sending in a lot of 

Chinese farmers to till the soil is not 

one of them.” 

I am not suggesting that China’s 

involvement in Africa is not without 

problems. There are issues about employment 

practices and health standards, 

for example. It is also true that 

China has a policy of non-interference 

in internal affairs, which can result in 

indifference to human rights violations. 

But to suggest that African dicta- 


Fall 2012

tors exist because of China is being 

disingenuous. Africa has governance 

challenges it must tackle if sustainable 

development is to be achieved. Some 

of Africa’s dictators have been in place 

since long before China emerged as a 

major investor on the continent. 

Availability of capital in Africa is a 

major constraint to economic development, 

which is achieved through the 

productive employment of labor and 

full utilization of natural resources. 

China’s strong growth and hunger for 

raw materials such as minerals have 

provided the foundation for sharp 

rises in commodity prices over the 

past decade. What we should be concerned 

with is that African states do 

not squander these earnings through 

corruption but instead take advantage 

of the opportunity to use the earnings 

to diversify African economies. 

Investors from everywhere in the 

world behave the same way. They seek 

to maximize profit—and they are not 

philantrophists. 

Returning to my theme of knowledge, 

by telling the story of China I 

am endeavoring to show that we as 

African scholars from both Africa and 

the diaspora need to understand the 

critical importance of knowledge to 

the development of Africa. To quote 

Mbeki again: “in important respects, 

knowledge has become ever less 

democratized and ever more compromised 

as an instrument for the 

betterment of society.” We need to be 

concerned about the following: How 

do we promote the democratization 

of knowledge How do we contribute 

to the production of knowledge 

that contributes to the establishment 

of objective truth and gives accurate 

information about our continent and 

our communities 

Universities and research institutions 

are important players in the 

creation of knowledge. NYASA should 

seek to be a knowledge management 

system. It should seek to share knowledge, 

skills, experiences, reflections, 

conceptual frameworks, and publications. 

It should provide a platform for 

sharing knowledge. It should bring 

the capacity of diasporan communities 

within reach of Africa through knowledge 

networks. Capacity-building 

is a process involving the building, 

utilization, retention, and nurturing of 

human skills, institutions, and knowledge. 

With such a vision, let us all rededicate 

ourselves to the building of a 

prosperous Africa in connection with 

its diaspora. Thank you. 

Muna Ndulo is Professor of Law at Cornell University and Director of Cornell University’s Institute for African Development 

(IAD). He is also Honorary Professor of Law, University of Cape Town, South Africa. He is editor of Democratic Reform in Africa: 

It’s Impact on Governance and Poverty Alleviation (Ohio University Press and James Currey Publishers, Oxford, UK) and 

Comparative Constitutionalism and Good Governance: An Eastern and Southern African Perspective (with John Hatchard & 

Peter Slinn, Cambridge University Press). 

Fall 2012 


5

IAD Distinguished Africanist Scholar, Fall 2012 

Altering Sites and Lenses: Reflections 

on Gender Activism in Botswana 

Godisang Mookodi 

Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology, University of Botswana 

Godisang Mookodi, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of Botswana and Chair of 

the Proposal Development Committee to establish a Gender Research Center at the University, visited Cornell as IAD’s 

Distinguished Africanist Scholar for 2012. She spoke on the topic “Altering Sites and Lenses: Reflections on Gender 

Activism in Botswana” on November 5. 

Before coming to the University of Botswana, Dr. Mookodi was the Liaison Officer for the Botswana Chapter of the 

Organization of Social Science Research in Southern and Eastern Africa (OSSREA). Her research focuses on development, 

gender and sexuality, and the family. Her current research has to do with the roles of gender and politics in strengthening 

research capacity in Africa, with a strategic focus on the lives of women (a project coordinated by the Africa Gender 

Institute). 

She is the author (with S. Kapunda) of The HIV/AIDS Challenge in Africa: An Impact Assessment (OSSREA, 2007); and she 

is co-editor of HIV/AIDS, Vulnerable Groups, Human Rights and Development in Botswana (OSSREA, 2009). In addition, she has 

published numerous articles in refereed journals including The Botswana Review of Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS; the Botswana 

Journal of African Studies; and, the African Sociological Review. One such article is “The Dynamics of Domestic Violence 

against Women in Botswana” which asserts that “gender inequality is characterised by unequal power relations between 

women and men. One of the key manifestations of these unequal power relations is violence. Studies conducted in 

Botswana indicate that actual violence and threats of violence against women severely hamper the achievement of gender 

equality. “ Dr. Mookodi earned a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Toronto. Prof. Mookodi’s lecture information is 

below: 


Fall 2012

Upcoming Conferences 

Liberian Studies Association 45th Annual Conference 

April 7–9, 2013, Rutgers University 

The Human Aspects of Development in Liberia: Steps, Strategies, and Sustainability 

The Liberian Studies Association welcomes proposals for papers on social and political factors that affect development 

planning and implementation and on social and political changes that result from development endeavors. Proposals 

should be no more than one page (single-spaced, 200–300 words) and must include the name, title, and institutional or 

organizational affiliation and full contact details of the author or authors. Deadline for proposals/abstracts is January 15, 

2013. Registration is required to attend and present papers at the conference. General Registration is $100.00 / Student 

Registration, $50.00. There will also be on-site registration. All abstracts should be sent to: 45th LSA Abstract Review 

Committee, c/o Jackie Sayegh, 190 Uris Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 / jsb25@cornell.edu. 

Africa Conference at the University of Texas 2013 

Social Movements, Religion, and Political Expression in Africa 

March 29–31, 2013, University of Texas at Austin 

Scholars are invited to submit papers and panel recommendations for the 2013 Africa Conference on Social 

Movements, Religion, and Political Expression in Africa. Africa is among the most socially and culturally 

diverse continents in the world and has traditionally been an economic and cultural highway between Europe 

and the Middle East. The deadline for submitting paper proposals is November 30, 2012. Proposals should include: 

a 250-word abstract and title and details about the author(s). Please submit all abstracts to: Toyin Falola, 

toyin.falola@mail.utexas.edu, and Lady Jane Acquah and Ryan Groves, africaconference2013@gmail.com. A 

mandatory non-refundable registration fee of $150 must be paid immediately when an abstract is accepted. 

Graduate students pay a reduced fee of $100. For more information, visit the site: http://www.utexas.edu/cola/ 

orgs/2013africa-conference/Call-for-Papers.php. 

African Literature Association 

Literature, Liberation, and Law 

March 20–24, 2013, Charleston, South Carolina 

The conference theme “Literature, Liberation, and the Law,” seeks papers that explore the manner and extent 

to which writing--whether in statute books or in literature—can bring about liberation. Visit the site: http:// 

www.africanlit.org/ for more information. 

New York African Studies Association 38th Annual Meeting 

Global Africa, Triple Heritage, and Pax Africana: Looking Back and Looking Forward 

April 5–6, 2013, State University of New York at Binghamton 

Long before the word “globalization” entered the lexicon, the African people had been “globalized” by dispersal 

abroad and expanding multiculturalism at home. Africa’s triple heritage was part of that history. For more 

information on this conference, visit the website at http://www.nyasa.org/. 

Fall 2012 


7

IAD Publications 

The Food and Financial Crises in Sub-Saharan Africa: 

Origins, Outcomes and Policy Implications 

Edited by David R. Lee and Muna Ndulo 

Dramatic increases in food prices, as witnessed on a global scale in recent 

years, threaten the food security of hundreds of millions of the rural poor in 

sub-Saharan Africa alone. This book, the result of a symposium hosted by IAD 

in 2009, focuses on the recent food and financial crises as they have affected 

Africa, illustrating the problems using country case studies that cover their 

origins, effects on agriculture and rural poverty, and underlying factors. The 

volume also makes recommendations as to how such crises could best be addressed 

in the future. 

Contributors include Ernest Aryeetey, Keith Fuglie, Robert Hockett, Nicole 

Mason, David R. Lee, William Masters, Siwa Msangi, Muna Ndulo, Kenneth R. 

Simler, Vera Songwe, and Keith Wiebe. 

Limited quantities are available from IAD at a 25 percent discount. 

To order send your name and mailing address with your check or money 

order for $120 to the Institute for African Development, 190 Uris Hall, Cornell 

University, Ithaca NY 14853, or send an e-mail inquiry to Evangeline Ray, er26@ 

cornell.edu. Please note we are not set up to accept credit card payment at this 

time. 

CABI / December 2011 / Hardcover / 304 Pages / 978-1-8459382-84 / £85/US$160/€120 

U.S. Africa Relations in the Age of Obama 

Thomas Kwasi Tieku 

As President Obama reaches the midpoint of his historic presidency, a timely 

examination of his approach to relations with Africa seems in order. This 

monograph argues that the President is maintaining the substance of post-Cold 

War U.S.-Africa relations but changing the style of U.S. engagement, adopting 

what the author calls cosmopolitan realism. Obama’s rhetoric on Africa, according 

to the author, mixes Clinton’s liberal cosmopolitan views with Bush’s 

compassionate realist narrative. Unlike previous U.S. presidents, however, 

Obama is refreshingly blunt about the U.S. position on key African issues, and 

his administration is placing pan-African institutions and African youth at the 

heart of America’s relations with the continent. Although the change of style 

is welcome, however, the administration is still ignoring many major African 

concerns and repeating past U.S. government mistakes. 

This monograph includes a brief history of U.S.-Africa relations between 

1950 and 1990; an exploration of U.S.-Africa relations during Clinton and Bush’s 

administrations; and a textual analysis of President Obama’s African agenda in 

comparison to that of his predecessors. The final section identifies weaknesses 

of the president’s policies and areas where improvement might be mutually 

beneficial: pan-Africanists and most of the African Union leadership would like 

to see Obama move beyond rhetoric to build a genuine partnership with the 

AU. Good working relations between the AU and the U.S. would be historic, 

bringing African governments a step closer to making the dream of pan-Africanism a reality. 

IAD No. 15 / January 2012 / paper / 68 pages / 978-0-9802223-5-7 / $12 


Fall 2012

IAD graduate fellows 

Each year the Institute for African Development awards several tuition fellowships to graduate students from sub-Saharan African 

whose fields of study center on African development. Candidates must be nominated by their department Chair or the Director of 

Graduate Studies. The recipients of the IAD Tuition Fellowhip for 2012-2013 are listed below: 

Oluyemi Adetule (Chemical 

Engineering/MEng./Nigeria) holds 

an MPH in environmental health 

from the University of Ibadan, 

where he spent three years focusing 

on renewable energy research. 

Mr. Adetule has served as the 

president of the environmental 

health student association at the 

University of Ibadan and has authored 

and co-authored numerous 

works on energy and the environment, 

including “Anaerobic Digestion technology: A Strategy 

for Combating Communicable Disease Pathogens in Cattle 

Waste” (with C. R. Ana) in the Environmental Health Perspective 

Journal. His research focuses on sustainable sewage treatment, 

waste management, and health impact assessment. 

Kukuwa Andam (Law/LLM/ 

Ghana) is the Clerk of the 

Chief Justice of Ghana. She 

has written legal opinions 

for Supreme Court Judges 

in Ghana to assist them in 

writing judgments for landmark 

Constitutional Cases. 

She currently works with 

Virtue Foundation, a U.S.- 

based NGO that has special 

consultative status with the 

United Nations. Upon graduation 

from the Ghana School 

of Law, Ms. Andam worked with the largest law firm 

in Ghana serving as legal counsel for several multi-national 

corporations. Her work in the Ghanaian Legal Aid 

Department has furthered her interest in human rights 

law. She is the co-author of a book whose proceeds were 

donated to a charitable organization supporting people 

who live with HIV/AIDS. Upon graduation she plans to 

return home to teach at the University of Ghana. She 

also plans to set up an NGO to render legal aid services 

to the underprivileged. 

Dhinakaran M. Chinappen 

(Biomedical Engineering/MEng/ 

Mauritius) graduated from the 

University of Pennsylvania 

in 2009, with dual degrees 

in Bioengineering (Bachelor 

of Science) from the School 

of Engineering and Applied 

Science, and in Economics 

(Bachelor of Arts) with a minor 

in Mathematics from the School 

of Arts and Sciences. Thereafter, 

he worked in the Department of Anesthesia and Critical 

Care Medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. 

His neuroimaging research was on brain decrements in 

perinatally HIV-infected children and adolescents. At 

Cornell, he intends to pursue a deeper understanding 

of medical imaging as well as expanding his engineering 

skill set. During some occasional weekend nights, 

Dhinakaran is DJ DK (DJ-DK.com). He is also a Tae Kwon 

Do disciple. 

After completing her 

A-levels, Ms. Adji Dieng 

(Applied Statistics/MPS/ 

Senegal) travelled to Paris 

to pursue preparatory 

classes for France’s top engineering 

schools at Lycée 

Henri IV. She was admitted 

to Telecom ParisTech 

(formerly known as Ecole 

Nationale Superieure des 

Telecommunications) and 

specialized in Mathematics 

and Computer Science. At 

the end of her second year at Telecom, Adji decided to do 

the MPS in Applied Statistics program at Cornell. After 

graduation, Ms. Dieng plans to work in the Financial 

Services industry. She enjoys traveling and has an interest 

in languages. 

Fall 2012 


9

Chidinma Ihemedu (Law/ 

LLM/Nigeria) obtained her 

LLB degree from the University 

of Lagos, where she received 

awards for best student in 

company law and in industrial/ 

labour law. After passing the 

Nigerian Bar Exam in 2009, 

she served at the top corporate 

law firm of Banwo & Ighodalo 

for one year before moving 

to Alliance Law Firm. In her 

three-year practice as a corporate lawyer, she focused 

on corporate finance matters. She is a member of the 

Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria and served as 

Secretary to the Chairman of the Committee to review 

the Investment and Securities Act of the Securities and 

Exchange Commission. She contributed to her firm’s 

weekly publications on capital markets, business and 

investment in the Nigerian Business Day. In support 

of her planned career as a Corporate/Securities lawyer, 

Miss Ihemedu is focusing on business organization, securities 

regulation, and private equity at Cornell. Upon 

completion of her LLM, she intends to pursue her legal 

career in a private law firm, government institution, or 

international organization. She enjoys travelling, reading 

and watching soccer. 

Edward Sampa (Law/ 

LLM/Zambia) obtained 

his bachelors of law degree 

from the University 

of Zambia in 2008 and 

was admitted to the 

Zambian Bar in 2009. Following 

this he worked 

as a Senior Associate 

at Chibesakunda & 

Company Advocates, 

were he was assigned 

to litigation and the 

Corporate Advisory 

Department. As a master of laws student at Cornell, 

his areas of concentration include securities regulation, 

capital markets, corporate finance, and international 

commercial arbitration. Upon graduation Edward 

plans to return to Zambia, where he expects to go into 

academia and also provide corporate advisory services 

to the Zambian government. 

Ian M. Small (Agricultural 

Science/Zimbabwe) obtained 

his Bachelor’s and 

Master’s degrees (cum 

laude) in Agriculture, with 

a focus on plant pathology 

and agronomy, at 

Stellenbosch University, 

South Africa. He has worked 

as a teaching assistant at 

Stellenbosch and as a visiting 

fellow in the Department 

of Plant Pathology at Cornell 

University. He is especially interested in integrated approaches 

to plant disease management, incorporating genetic, 

cultural, biological, and chemical control methods 

into safe, effective, and sustainable disease management 

strategies. At Cornell he plans to pursue a doctorate in 

plant science. His goal is to contribute to a safe, secure 

food supply for southern Africa by advancing sustainable 

agricultural production through scientific research, 

education and leadership. He views Cornell’s College of 

Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) as a hub of excellence 

that will provide him with the knowledge, skills, 

and relationships necessary to achieve his goals. 

Rotimi O. Ogunbiyi 

Bio-Medical Engineering/M. 

Eng/Nigeria) earned 

his Bachelor’s degree in 

BioMedical Engineering from 

Boston University. Prior to 

arriving at Cornell, he held research 

appointments including 

a project at the National 

Institute of Health (NIH), 

where he studied the passive 

flow of biological fluids 

through microfluidic devices, 

and on another project at the Klapperich Laboratory 

for Diagnostics and Appropriate Healthcare at Boston 

University, where he worked on a system for low-cost 

diagnostic tools tailored to HIV. Rotimi’s goal is to continue 

creating cutting-edge, low cost and sustainable 

medical technologies targeted towards global health 

applications. His current project is creating an alternatively 

powered blood pressure device for low-resource 

countries in conjunction with Welch Allyn, Inc. 


Fall 2012

Olayinka Omotosho (B.S., Microbiology; M.S., 

Environmental Resources Management / Nigeria) is 

an Assistant Chief Scientific Officer at the Lagos State 

Environmental Protection Agency, Lagos, Nigeria. He 

has also been a Fellow of the Center for International 

Postgraduate Studies on Environmental Management 

(CIPSEM) in Dresden, Germany. As a Humphrey Fellow, 

his areas of study include sustainable solid waste management 

programs and options in large cities in the United 

States. He hopes to play an important role in shaping environmental 

policy and programs in Nigeria. 

Eddie Aupa Mothibi (B.S., General Agriculture, National 

University of Lesotho / Lesotho) is a Senior Horticultural 

Officer at the Royal Palace in Lesotho. He is also a Steering 

Technical Supervisor at the Koete Vegetable Project, a 

cooperative project on sustainable agricultural development 

shared by the governments of Lesotho and Thailand. 

During his fellowship program at Cornell, he is focusing 

on Principles of Vegetable Production, Field Crops, and 

Creating the Urban Eden. He hopes to use the knowledge 

gained to help his country achieve sustainable vegetable 

production. 

Djibril Sarr (Ph.D., agricultural sciences / Senegal) is 

interested in learning the tools, practices and methods used 

to formulate, implement and evaluate agricultural and food 

policies in developing countries. Upon returning to Senegal 

Humphrey Fellows 

The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program provides a year of professional enrichment in the United States for experienced 

mid-career professionals from selected countries throughout the world. Fellows are selected based on their potential for 

leadership and their commitment to public service in either the public or private sector. The Humphrey Fellows (Africa) for 

2012–2013 are: 

he will join the ministry of agriculture, where he will help 

design policies that ensure food security, tackle rural poverty, 

and create jobs. Mr. Sarr has a Ph.D. in agricultural sciences 

and biological engineering and serves at the Ministry 

of Technical Education and Vocational Training in Senegal. 

Dina Ranarifidy (Madagascar) is an integrated solid 

waste manager specialist. She graduated in Development 

Economics from Sciences Po (Paris, France) and decided 

in 2009 to return to her home country to work on urban 

development programs. As a Humphrey Fellow at Cornell 

this year, she intends to broaden her knowledge on carbon 

finance management strategies and explore the opportunities 

of using Public/Private Partnerships (PPPs) in efforts to 

address climate change-related issues through more effective 

infrastructure service delivery. 

Herve-Joel Houango (Ivory Coast) is an Environment 

Specialist with the National Investment Bank. His focus is 

on sustainable development investment strategies to promote 

corporate social responsibility. 

Demelash Ayana (Ethiopia) is Department Head 

of Natural Resources Management at Debre Markos 

University. Mr. Ayana’s research centers on biodiversity 

conservation, forest management, and climate change adaptation 

and mitigation measures.. 

African Development Bank Young Professionals’ Program 

The Young Professionals Program (YPP) at the African Development Bank aims 

at attracting highly qualified, motivated professionals from its member countries. 

Candidates for the program must be committed to African development and have 

demonstrated outstanding academic and professional achievement as well as effective 

team work and leadership potential. 

Through the YPP, the Bank aims to ensure continuity and excellence in both the 

management of its projects and the provision of policy advice to its regional member 

countries. Young Professionals have the opportunity to work across the continent 

and be at the forefront of exciting Bank initiatives that are helping to shape Africa’s 

future. 

http://www.afdb.org/en/careers/young-professionals-program-ypp/ 

Fall 2012 


11

Issues in African Development Seminar Fall 2012 

The Paradox of Growth, Poverty, and Inequality: 

Confronting Social and Economic Development Challenges in Africa 

In a message to the African Union on the Occasion of 

Africa Freedom Day, May 25, 2012, the United Nations 

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon observed that Africa is 

a dynamic continent undergoing fundamental transformation. 

Even during the world economic crisis, Africa’s 

economies continued to expand, and growth forecasts remain 

positive. But social indicators such as health, education, 

and participation in society have made more limited 

progress. Inequality is often blamed for the poor links 

between economic growth and human development, but 

data shows that links between economic growth, inequality, 

and human development are less robust that often 

assumed. 

The growing number of success stories across Africa 

indicates that broader social and economic progress is 

realistically attainable for most Africans. But this is predicated 

on the adoption and implementation of the correct 

strategies for economic development. The debate over 

growth and development and reduction of poverty is topical 

in Africa, as well as elsewhere in the world, and invites 

Cornell’s participation. 

The complex and multidimensional issue of development 

in its broadest sense is at the core of the theme 

and evokes a number of questions: Why does economic 

development not translate into human development Is 

Africa’s growth sustainable Some argue that a healthy 

economy requires the active involvement of the middle 

class as stakeholders, entrepreneurs, skilled workers, and 

consumers. Supporting the emergence of a middle class, 

this argument maintains, requires, among other things, 

investment in human development. Others would argue 

that poverty reduction will result from improvements in 

rural agricultural production, while still others argue that 

agricultural production will only improve when progressive 

land reform, which empowers women and the poor, is 

implemented. 

The debate calls on us to step back and look at the 

comparative experiences of China, Brazil and India. In 

Brazil, President Lula da Silva (in office 2003–2010) created 

millions of jobs and discovered major oil fields, and the 

country’s agricultural exports became among the largest in 

the world, resulting in reduced poverty. Similarly, China 

since the 1970s growth has fueled a remarkable increase in 

per capita income and a decline in the poverty rate. At the 

same time, however, income disparities have increased. On 

the other hand, India has experienced tremendous growth 

but has not been as successful at the reduction of poverty 

and inequality. 

IAD hopes that this theme will allow participants to 

consider a variety of issues such as identification of strategies 

for ensuring that growth translates into improved 

livelihoods for people, land reform policies that empower 

the poor and landless, and educational policies that build 

the capacity of youth and other disadvantaged communities 

and enable them to participate in the economy. 

Realizing that it is not only government that fights hunger, 

but that civil society and the private sector have important 

roles to play as well, we hope that participants will 

examine the roles of all these sectors in the eradication of 

poverty. 


Fall 2012

Fall 2012 Seminar Schedule 

Poverty, Inequality, and Development August 30 

Gary Fields, Professor of Economics and John P. Windmuller Chair of International and Comparative Labor, Cornell University 

Gary Fields teaches and conducts research in labor and development economics and has chaired the Department of 

Labor Economics three times. After receiving his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan, he became a 

professor at Yale and six years later joined the faculty at Cornell. He has held visiting professorships at the University of 

Nairobi (Kenya), Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia), Oxford University, University of Warwick, the London School of 

Economics, and the Paris School of Economics. He has published more than 150 books and articles; his most recent book, 

Working Hard, Working Poor: A Global Journey (Oxford University Press, 2012), discusses how the poor from around the 

world work, how labor market policies can help the poor earn their way out of poverty, and what we can do to help. His 

current research is on income mobility and labor markets in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. 

Infrastructure Development and the Role of the Private Sector 

Muna Ndulo, Director, Institute for African Development; Professor of Law, Cornell September 6 

Muna Ndulo teaches law at Cornell University. Early in his career he was a Professor of Law and later Dean of the Law 

School at the University of Zambia. In 1986 he joined the UN as Legal Officer for the Commission on International Trade 

Law and subsequently served in many capacities, including Senior Political Advisor to the Secretary General’s Special 

Representative to South Africa and Senior Legal Advisor on missions to East Timor, Kosovo, and Afghanistan. He has 

consulted on constitution-making in Kenya, Sudan, Zimbabwe and Somalia; he has also been a consultant for international 

organizations including the African Development Bank, where he worked on the establishment of the African 

Legal Support Facility; the ECA; the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, and the International Institute for 

Democracy and Electoral Assistance. He recently established the Southern African Institute for Public Policy and Research, 

and he is a member of the Advisory Committee, Human Rights Watch, and Chairperson of Gender Links, a South African 

NGO. He has published well over one hundred journal articles and fourteen books, including Power, Gender and Social 

Change in Africa (2009); and Comparative Constitutionalism and Good Governance in the Commonwealth: An Eastern 

and Southern African Perspective (2004). 

UN Peace-keeping Missions: Conflicts and Reconstruction in Africa: Lived Poverty and September 13 

the Fate of African Democracies: Insights from the Afrobarometer 

Boniface Dulani, Lecturer, Political Science, University of Malawi 

Boniface Dulani recently completed his Ph.D. in Political Science at Michigan State University, where he was a Fulbright 

Scholar from 2006 to 2011. His major field at MSU was comparative politics, with a subfield in international relations. Since 

2011 he has been Operational Field Manager for the Afrobarometer Project, supervising the survey implementation in 35 

African countries. He is also on the faculty of the Political and Administrative Studies Department of the University of 

Malawi. He has published widely in international journals and has several book chapters in his areas of expertise. His 

research is on personal rule in African politics, with a particular focus on presidential term limit rules in African constitutions.Giving 

up the Gun: Rebel to State Transformation in Africa’s Great Lakes 

Changing Livelihoods in a Risky Environment: Some Findings from the PARIMA Data September 20 

John McPeak, Associate Professor and Vice-Chair, Public Administration and International Affairs, Maxwell School of Citizenship 

and Public Affairs, Syracuse University 

John McPeak teaches graduate level micro- and development economics at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University. 

After his graduation from Saint Lawrence University, he worked for three years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal. 

He earned a Ph.D. in agricultural economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, conducting field work in northern 

Kenya that served as the basis for his dissertation. Later, as a postdoc at Cornell, he worked with the USAID / 

Global Livestock-CRSP-funded Pastoral Risk Management Project in Kenya. He has served as a consultant for the UK’s 

Department for International Development, the UNDP, and the International Livestock Research Institute. He continues to 

conduct research in Kenya, Ethiopia, Senegal, and Mali, largely focusing on livestock production, marketing, and livestock 

crop interactions. He recently published a book, Risk and Social Change in an African Rural Economy: Livelihoods in 

Pastoralist Communities, in collaboration with Peter Little and Cheryl Doss. 

Fall 2012 


13

Inclusive Markets: Linking Smallholder Farmers to Supermarkets in Africa September 27 

Ralph D. Christy, Director, CIIFAD; Edward Mabaya, Research Associate, Dyson School of Applied Economics 

and Management, Cornell University 

Ralph D. Christy has worked as an agricultural economist in Cameroon, Jamaica, Kenya, Slovakia, and Zimbabwe. He 

has a Ph.D. from Michigan State University and teaches a course in Emerging Markets. He has frequently been published 

in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics and the Journal of Applied and Agricultural Economics, and he has been 

president of the American Agricultural Economics Association, associate editor of the American Journal of Agricultural 

Economics, and president of the Southern Agricultural Economics Association. 

Ed Mabaya’s teaching and research interests include food marketing and distribution, commodity price analysis, and 

the role of agricultural markets in rural economic development. A 2007 Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow at Oxford 

University, he is on the Advisory Committee for the Food Retail Industry Challenge Fund (FRICH) of DfID. Previously a 

research assistant at the University of Zimbabwe, he has a Ph.D. in agricultural economics from Cornell University. 

Tackling Poverty with Ingenuity and Innovation: Women Entrepreneurs in Urban Zimbabwe October 11 

Mary Johnson Osirim, Dean of Graduate Studies and Professor of Sociology, Bryn Mawr College 

Mary Johnson Osirim has a Ph.D. from Harvard University. At Bryn Mawr, she was until recently the coordinator of 

Africana Studies and Faculty Diversity Liaison. Over the past 27 years, she has served in capacities including Chair of 

the Sociology Department and Co-Director of both the Center for International Studies and the Center for Ethnicities, 

Communities, and Social Policy. Her teaching and research interests have focused on gender and development, race and 

ethnic relations, immigration, and the family and economic sociology in sub-Saharan Africa. She has conducted fieldwork 

on entrepreneurship, the state, and NGOs in Nigeria and Zimbabwe; and she has researched the development of 

gender studies in sub-Saharan Africa. She is the author and editor of several volumes including Enterprising Women in Urban 

Zimbabwe: Gender, Microbusiness and Globalization (2009). She has also authored over 30 articles and book chapters and is the receipient 

of numerous awards. She was on the Board of Directors for the African Studies Association from 2008–2011. 

Informational Empowerment or Business as Usual ICTs, Industrial Change, and Livelihoods 

in Tanzania October 18 

James T. Murphy, Associate Professor of Geography, Clark University 

Jim Murphy received his Ph.D. in geography from the University of Florida, holds an M.A. in environmental policy, and 

has a B.S. in chemical engineering. Following graduation he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Malawi. His research focuses 

on economic development and technological change, particularly in relation to industries, cities, and livelihoods in 

Tanzania and Bolivia. He has developed critical insights into how global markets and value chains influence the prospects 

for achieving more distributive and sustainable forms of development. He is the author (with Y. Aoyama and S. Hanson) 

of Key Concepts in Economic Geography (London: Sage Publications, 2010) and numerous articles in journals such as World 

Development, Journal of Economic Geography, and Technological Forecasting and Social Change. 

Emerging Land Issues in African Agriculture: Implications for Food Security and Poverty 

Reduction Strategies October 25 

Thomas Jayne, Professor of International Development, Michigan State University 

Thomas Jayne is a professor in the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, and a member of the Core 

Faculty of the African Studies Center at Michigan State University. His career has been devoted to promoting effective policy 

responses to poverty and hunger in Africa. Jayne currently resides in Lusaka, Zambia and has been involved in the creation 

of the Zambian managed Indaba Agricultural Policy Research Institute. He is on the editorial boards of two development 

journals, received a top paper award in 2004 from the International Association of Agricultural Economists, co-authored 

a paper (with Jacob Ricker-Gilbert) that was given the T.W. Schultz Award at the 2009 International Association of Agricultural 

Economists Triennial Meetings, received the 2009 Best Article Award in Agricultural Economics, and co-authored a 

paper awarded first prize at the 2010 tri-annual meetings of the Association of African Agricultural Economists. 


Fall 2012

Barrington Moore in the Tropics: The Middle Class and Prospects for Liberal Democracy in Africa November 1 

Nicolas van de Walle, Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Government, Cornell University 

Nic van de Walle has a Ph.D. in political science from Princeton University. His primary field within political science is 

comparative politics, and his research focuses on the political economy of development with a special focus on Africa, as 

well as on democratization and the politics of economic reform. In addition, he has worked as a consultant for international 

and multilateral organizations including the World Bank, USAID, and UNDP. He is a former Director of Cornell’s 

Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies. His two most recent books are Overcoming Stagnation in Aid-Dependent 

Economies (Center for Global Development, 2005); and African Economies and the Politics of Permanent Crisis, 1979–1999 

(Cambridge University Press, 2001). 

Property Relations and Inequality in Historical Perspective, with Case Studies from Ghana November 8 

Sara Berry, Professor, Economic and Social History of Africa, Johns Hopkins University 

Sara Berry teaches courses in African history and anthropology, with an emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches to the 

study of social, economic and political change. She has published several books and numerous articles on 20th century 

African economic and social history, agrarian change, and development studies, including Fathers Work for their Sons: 

Accumulation, Mobility and Class Formation in an Extended Yoruba Community (University of California Press, 1985); No 

Condition is Permanent: The Social Dynamics of Agrarian Change in Sub-Saharan Africa (University of Wisconsin Press, 

1993); and Chiefs Know their Boundaries: Essays on Property, Power and the Past In Asante, 1896–1996 (Heinemann, 

2000). Trained initially in economics, she uses micro-historical research to promote interdisciplinary analysis of social and 

economic transformation and to bring comparative and historical perspectives to bear on understanding contemporary 

African political economies. Her current work uses local histories of conflict over land to examine the historically contingent 

nature of claims on property and their roles in economic and political change; relationships between struggles over 

property, power and the production of history; and the changing social and economic meaning of law in colonial and 

postcolonial Africa. 

Africa’s Rising: Toward Transformative and Inclusive Growth November 15 

Mwangi S. Kimenyi, Senior Fellow and Director, AfricaGrowth Initiative, Global Economy and Development, 

Brookings Institution 

Mwangi Kimenyi, in addition to his work at the Brookings Institution, is the Founding Executive Director of the Kenya 

Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) in Nairobi and has been a faculty member of the Department 

of Economics at the University of Mississippi and the University of Connecticut. He is also a research associate with the 

Center for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford. He has been a visiting Professor at the University of 

Wisconsin-Madison and a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He has served on the Board 

of Directors of Equity Bank, Kenya. His undergraduate degree is from the University of Nairobi-Kenya, and he completed 

graduate studies at Ohio and George Mason Universities, where he obtained a Doctorate in Economics. Kimenyi’s 

research focuses on governance, trade and investment in Africa, U.S.-Africa relations, financial inclusion, education, 

and policies for economic growth and poverty reduction. He is the recipient of many honors and awards including the 

Georgescu-Roegen Prize in Economics. He has authored/edited several books and many peer-refereed journal articles. 

Student Wrap Up November 29 

The student wrap-up has become a popular feature of the seminar series. As one student put it, “I found the [final week’s] 

discussion to be especially useful. The questions posed by my peers were thoughtful, stimulating and relevant. They 

inspired me to think critically on the issues, reflect on the themes presented in the lectures, and take a new direction in 

thinking about the state of development in Africa.” 

Fall 2012 


15

IAD Hosts Report Launch 

African Development Bank 2012 

African Economic Outlook Report Launch 

An African Development Bank Group delegation led by Chief Economist and Vice-President, Professor Mtuli 

Ncube, and including the Director of Research (EDRE) and the Director of Human Development (OSHD), was in the 

United States from September 25 to October 1 to launch the 2012 edition of the African Economic Outlook Report in 

Washington, D.C. and New York. 

The tour began at the World Bank headquarters in 

Washington, D.C. on September 25, with the event being 

webcast live and featuring a discussion chaired by Mr. 

Shantayan Devaranjan, Africa Region Chief Economist 

for the AfDB. The Director of the Bank’s Economic 

Research Department, Mr. Steve Kayizzi-Murgerwa, 

and the Director of Human Development, Ms. Agnes 

Soucat, presented the findings of the report, while Ms. 

Louise Fox, World Bank Lead Economist, Africa Region, 

and Mr. Deon Filmer, World Bank Lead Economist, 

Development Research Group, were the discussants. 

A similar presentation was held on September 

26 at a well-attended event at the Atlantic Council in 

Washington, D.C. The event was jointly organized by 

the Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center 

and the Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings 

Institute. The launch event took the form of a panel 

discussion that was moderated by Dr. J. Peter Pham, 

Director of the Michael S. Ansari Africa Center. 

From Washington, D.C., the delegation travelled 

to New York to present the publication on September 

27 at New York University’s Africa House. The event 

was moderated by Professor Yaw Nyarko, NYU Africa 

House Director. The AfDB Chief Economist and Vice- 

President and the Director of Human Development 

were the guest speakers. The discussants were Professor 

Elizabeth Asiedu, University of Kansas; Professor 

Mwangi wa Githinji, University of Massachusetts; and 

Dr. Hippolyte Fofack of the World Bank. Among the notable participants at the NYU launch event was Professor 

William Easterly, Co-Director of the Development Research Institute at NYU. 

At Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, the AEO 2012 was launched at the Institute for African Development 

on September 28 to a packed audience of staff and students. The event was organized by Professor Muna B. Ndulo, 

Director of Cornell University’s Institute for African Development. The report was presented by the Director of the 

Bank’s Economic Research Department, Mr. Steve Kayizzi-Murgerwa. A distinguished panel of Cornell University 

scholars, including Professor Chantal Thomas (Cornell Law School), Professor David Sahn (Economics and 

Nutritional Science) and Professor Ralph Christy (Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management), were the 

discussants of the report. The event was moderated by Professor Chris Barrett. 

The final presentation on October 1 was held at the United Nations. AfDB Chief Economist and Vice-President 

Professor Ncube presented the macroeconomic overview and the Chief Economist for UNDP’s Regional Bureau for 

Africa; Mr. Pedro Pedro Conceição presented on Human Development. 


Fall 2012

Global Islam: 

A Workshop for Community College Faculty 

October 20, 2012 

On October 20th, Cornell’s Educational Resources for International Studies (CERIS) hosted a professional 

development workshop for community college faculty, along with a few high school social studies teachers, 

called Global Islam. This one-day workshop featured Cornell and Ithaca College expertise from a range of 

disciplines and world areas. It was an opportunity for educators to expand their knowledge on Islam, and 

Muslim societies around the world. Ten high school teachers, some from as far as Owego, and 25 community 

college faculty from Broome, Monroe, Corning, Onondaga, Jefferson and Tomkins-Cortland community colleges 

attended. 

Professor Eric Tagliacozzo (History) presented on Southeast Asians’ pilgrimage to Mecca, Professor Muna 

Ndulo (Law discussed his work on Human Rights, Islam and the Somalia constitution, and Professor Tom 

Pepinsky (Government) presented Democracy in the Muslim World: The Indonesian Model and the Arab 

Spring. Ithaca College History Professor, Jason Freitag, gave a talk titled “Islam in South Asia: Culture and 

Cooperation.” 

In addition to faculty presentations, the Indian novelist Sorraya Khan read from her book Five Queens 

Road, and community members Jing Carlson and Sarwat Ismail discussed personal experiences related to the 

topic “Women’s Roles and Rights in Muslim Societies.” The workshop will ended with an online tour of the 

John Henrik Clarke Africana Library by Eric Kofi Acree. 

This workshop was a collaboration between a numbers of programs: the Mario Einaudi Center for 

International Studies, the Southeast Asia Program, the South Asia Program, the East Asia Program, and 

the Institute for African Development, The Latin American Studies Program, and the American Institute 

for Indonesian Studies and the Comparative Muslim Societies Program. It was partially funded by the U.S. 

Department of Education Title VI Program. 

IAD Director Muna Ndulo Speakes in Ralph R. Watkins 

African Studies Lecture Series, SUNY Oneonta 

IAD Director Muna Ndulo was the first speaker in the fifth annual 

Ralph R. Watkins Africana Studies Lecture Series at SUNY 

Oneonta. Professor Ndulo spoke on “Challenges of Peace Keeping: 

African Solutions to African Problems” at 7 p.m. Thursday, 

September 20, 2012, in the Alden Room of the college’s Milne 

Library. The event was open to the public. 

The annual lecture series honors the late Professor Emeritus 

Ralph Watkins of the SUNY Oneonta History and Africana and 

Latino Studies departments. A specialist in African-American 

and American history, Watkins taught at the college for more than 

30 years and served as chair of the Africana and Latino Studies 

Department for more than a decade. 

http://aristotle.oneonta.edu/wordpress/news/2012/09/14/cornelluniversity-scholar-to-give-lecture/ 

Fall 2012 


17

Fellowships 

Institute for African Development Tuition Fellowship 

The Institute for African Development has several one-year, non-renewable tuition fellowships available 

for graduate students from Africa to study at Cornell next year. The fellowships are awarded on a competitive 

basis to applicants in fields related to development. They may be used in either statutory or endowed colleges of 

the University. The fellowships do not cover travel, living, health insurance or other expenses associated with 

studying at Cornell. 

Nominations for fellowships for the 2012—2013 academic year should be prepared by the candidate’s Director 

of Graduate Study or Department Chair and sent to the office of the Institute for African Development (190 Uris 

Hall) in time for receipt by the close of business on Monday, March 25, 2013. The nomination letter from the candidate’s 

department should indicate the candidate’s strengths and relative standing among the students being 

admitted to the program for the academic year. The letter should be sent along with the candidate’s academic 

folder, which should include the following: normal admission portfolio information; transcripts; letters of recommendation; 

statement of purpose; TOEFL scores and Graduate Record Examination scores, if applicable, and 

evidence of applicant’s citizenship in an African country. 

Applications will be reviewed by the Institute Fellowship and Grants Committee. Fellowships will be awarded 

based on the following criteria: highly selective academic excellence; demonstrated leadership abilities; academic 

and professional qualifications; need of the applicant’s country for the specialized knowledge and skills; 

applicant’s commitment to the advancement of development in Africa; documented evidence of prior community 

or civic service in the home country; quality and feasibility of the proposed plan of study or research; 

planned or confirmed place of work after returning to home country; English proficiency; and financial need. 

Questions should be directed to Jackie Sayegh, Program Manager, 607-255-6849/ jsb25@cornell.edu. 

Oppenheimer Fund scholarships 

The Oppenheimer Fund Scholarships are open to applicants who are ordinarily resident in South Africa 

applying to start any new degree bearing course, with the exception of PGCert and PGDip courses, at the 

University of Oxford. Applicants should be intending to return to South Africa following their studies. 

Awards are usually made for the full duration of a student’s fee liability for the agreed course. If your 

scholarship is offered for a course lasting more than one year, the continuation of your scholarship each year 

is subject to an annual renewal process based on satisfactory academic progress. 

http://www.ox.ac.uk/feesandfunding/prospectivegrad/scholarships/university/oppenheimer/ 

Waverley – African Studies Center Joint Scholarship 

The Waverley Fund was established in 2001. It aims to assist academically excellent students from disadvantaged 

backgrounds who have shown the potential to make a significant contribution in their future 

careers. The African Studies Centre was launched in October 2004 and attracts extremely high quality 

graduates. The Centre is a unit of the School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies (SIAS), a department in the 

Social Sciences Division. 


Fall 2012

IAD Guest Lecture 

Rwanda as a Developmental State: A 

Model for Emerging Africa 

Dr. Stephan Klingebiel 

Head of Department 

Bi- and Multilateral Development 

Cooperation 

Deutsches Institut für 

Entwicklungspolitik 

German Development Institute 

Tuesday, November 27, 2012 

12:00 PM 

G-08 Uris Hall 

Open to the Public 

Lunch will be provided 

Co-sponsored by the Mario Einaudi 

Center for International Studies 

Fall 2012 


19

Job Opportunities 

Senior Women’s Protection and Empowerment (WPE / GBV) Coordinator, Monrovia, Liberia 

IRC Liberia seeks a Senior Coordinator for Women’s Protection and Empowerment to lead the development and implementation 

of all GBV-related projects within the Women and Girls Rebuilding Nations Program. S/he will be a member 

of the senior management team, with direct responsibility for managing and developing all programming related to 

reducing the impact of gender based violence on women and girls, reducing vulnerability to violence, increasing protection 

and enhancing educational and economic opportunities. IRC Liberia is currently implementing programming in 

four counties and will launch the second phase of the WGRN program with additional funding for three years. The successful 

candidate will have a strong technical background in working with gender based violence.The senior coordinator 

will be expected to travel at least 30 percent of the time to IRC’s multiple field sites, currently in Lofa, Nimba and Grand 

Gedeh counties. S/he will provide guidance and oversight to programs, supervise four direct reports and oversee a team 

of 30 Liberian staff. Visit the website at http://unjobs.org/vacancies/1347218575401. 

Logistics Coordinator, South Sudan 

The Logistics Coordinator (L4) is the senior logistics appointment in the Mission or Response and is responsible for, 

and accountable for, the delivery of all logistics and supply chain related activities in accordance with International 

Medical Corps Logistics policies and procedures. Fundamental to this role is the ability to manage and motivate your 

logistics team and engage with other mission or response staff, external contractors and organizations; therefore you 

are required to have the skills to communicate clearly, both verbally and in writing, plan for and deliver quality presentations 

and training, and produce timely written reports. Visit the website for more information: http://unjobs.org/ 

vacancies/1348301237239. 

Finance Officer, Freedom House, Kenya 

Freedom House promotes the spread of freedom and democracy around the world through research, effective advocacy, 

and programs that support frontline activists. The Finance Officer will be responsible for financial, sub-grant and 

administrative functions according to the regulations, policies and procedures of donors, the Kenyan government and 

the organization in support of Freedom House’s programs in the region. This position is based in Nairobi, Kenya, and 

reports to the Project Director, Sudan. http://www.jobs4development.com/jobs/view/1817/finance-officer-kenya/ 

Child Youth Protection and Development (CYPD) Coordinator 

IRC Liberia seeks a Child Youth Protection and Development (CYPD) Coordinator to lead the strategic direction and 

overall management of CYPD funded projects, including administrative supervision, budget management, grants 

compliance and staff development. S/he will be a member of the senior management team, with direct responsibility for 

managing and developing all programming related to child protection, education, youth and livelihoods. The successful 

candidate will have a strong technical background in the CYPD portfolio areas. S/he will have a demonstrated ability to 

think strategically, innovate and mentor teams. The coordinator will be expected to travel at least 30 percent of the time 

to IRC’s multiple field sites, currently in Monrovia, Lofa, Nimba and Grand Gedeh counties. S/he will provide guidance 

and oversight to programs, supervise 5 direct reports and oversee a team of 40 Liberian staff. The position reports to the 

country director. http://ch.tbe.taleo.net/CH02/ats/careers/requisition.jsporg=IRC&cws=1&rid=8482 

Assistant Country Director Programs, South Sudan 

The Assistant Country Director Programme (ACDP) is a member of the GOAL South Sudan Senior Management Team 

(SMT) with overall responsibility for the strategic development of GOAL’s programmes, currently operational in four 

underserved locations in South Sudan. The role focuses on programme planning and development, reporting, M&E and 

capacity building, as well as coordination internally and with relevant line ministries, UN agencies, NGOs, partners and 

other relevant stakeholders. http://unjobs.org/vacancies/1347569526870 


Fall 2012

Spring Symposium 

Growth, Poverty, and Inequality: 

Confronting the Challenges for a Better Life for All of Africa 

In honor of Erik Thorbecke, 

H.E Babcock Professor Emeritus of Economics, Cornell University 

Sponsored by the Cornell Institute for African Development (IAD) and 

the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) 

April 19–20, 2013 

Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 

Call for Papers 

The Institute for African Development at Cornell University, in collaboration with the African Economic Research 

Consortium (AERC), will hold a conference, April 19–20, 2013, on the theme Growth, Poverty, and Inequality: Confronting the 

Challenges for a Better Life for All in Africa. 

The conference is in honor of Erik Thorbecke, H.E Babcock Professor Emeritus of Economics, Cornell University, 

for his lifelong work in the areas of economic and agricultural development, the measurement and analysis of poverty 

and malnutrition, the Social Accounting Matrix and general equilibrium modeling, and international economic policy. 

More particularly, we honor his contribution to African economic development. 

The symposium will critically examine a variety of issues such as identification of strategies for ensuring that growth 

translates into improved livelihoods for people, policies and institutions that empower the poor and landless, and educational 

policies that build the capacity of youth and other disadvantaged communities and enable them to participate 

in the economy. Realizing that the fight for the eradication of poverty involves not only the government but civil society 

and the private sector as well, it is hoped that the symposium will include the roles of these sectors in discussions on the 

eradication of poverty. On a comparative note, the symposium will examine how other regions such as Latin America 

and Asia have fared and what lessons and applications are available there for Africa. 

Abstract submission 

Interested persons are invited to submit proposals for the symposium. Proposals must be no more than a page in 

length, single-spaced, and must have the name, title, and institutional or organizational affiliation and full contact details 

of the person or persons submitting the abstract. Deadline for proposals/abstracts is November 30, 2012. Funding 

is available to assist presenters in paying for travel expenses and lodging at Cornell. If multiple contributors authored 

one abstract, IAD will assist only one contributor to travel to Cornell. As with all IAD symposia, proceedings from this 

symposium will be published as a book. 

For the full conference abstract and call for papers, visit http://iad.einaudi.cornell.edu/ 

Fall 2012 


21

GROWTH, POVERTY, AND INEQUALITY: 

CONFRONTING THE CHALLENGES FOR 

A BETTER LIFE FOR ALL IN AFRICA 

(In honor of Erik Thorbecke, H.E Babcock Professor Emeritus of Economics, 

Cornell University) 

April 19-20, 2013 

# 423 ILR Conference Center 

Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 

Organized by the Institute for African Development, Cornell University, 

and the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) 


Fall 2012

Professor Dotsevi Sogah (Chemical Biology) speaks with Basil 

Jones (Assistant to the Chief Economist and Vice President of 

the African Development Bank) at the Report Launch. 

Dr. Abebe Shimeles (Manager of Development Research Division, African 

Development Bank) speaks with a student after the African Economic Report 

Launch. Dr. Steve Kayizzi-Mugerwa (Director of Development Research) 

speaks with other attendees in the background. 

Boniface Dulani, former Fulbright Scholar and Lecturer at 

the University of Malawi, tours the Cornell campu after his 

seminar lecture. 

Students line up for the 5k run to benefit the Zambia Initiative 

Fall 2012 


23

w.einaudi.cornell.edu/Africa 

http://iad.einaudi.cornell.edu/ 

Institute for African Development 

Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies 

190 Uris Hall 

Cornell University 

Ithaca NY 14853 

ciad@cornell.edu 

http:iad.einaudi.cornell.edu/ 

ISSN 1551 - 8051

Africa and the Generation of Knowledge - Institute for African ...

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