Lorian joins AERC as the Chief Finance Officer. He was previously working with BOMA NGO where he served as the Global Financial Controller.

He has previously worked in senior positions in other organizations including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, World Vision, PATH and Oxfam GB.

He holds a MBA from Daystar University, a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University of Nairobi and is a Certified Public Accountant of Kenya.

Prof. Victor Murinde is the new Executive Director of the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC). He joins AERC from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) University of London, where he has been serving as an AXA Professor of Global Finance. Prof Murinde is a distinguished financial economist with more than 25 years of experience post-PhD, mainly involving university research and teaching, but also including senior-level stints in practitioner, policy, and consultancy roles for governments and leading international organizations.

He enjoys fundamental knowledge of the AERC, its mandate, structure, and the operationalization of the AERC Strategic Plan, having previously served on the AERC Programme Committee and across the research, training, and policy outreach components. In his scholarly endeavours, Prof Murinde has contributed over 120 research papers on economics, banking, and finance topics. He was also the founding Director of the African Development Institute at the African Development Bank (2011-2014); and carried out major consultancy projects for a range of international organizations.

Dr. Rose Ngugi is the Executive Director of the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) and serves as the Secretary to the Board.

She is involved in providing technical guidance and capacity building on policy and strategy formulation to the Government of Kenya and other stakeholders, with the overall aim of contributing to the achievement of national development goals. Before then, she was a Senior Advisor in the Office of Executive Director, Africa Group 1, International Monetary Fund, and Washington D.C.

Dr. Ngugi has been a member of Central Bank of Kenya, Monetary Policy Committee and has vast teaching experience in the University of Nairobi, School of Economics.

Dr Ngugi has published widely. Her research interests are in public policy, financial sector, investments, reforms and institutional issues. She holds a PhD from Business School Birmingham University, UK specializing in Financial Markets, a Masters and Bachelors degree in Economics from the University of Nairobi, Kenya.

https://kippra.or.ke/board-of-directors/

Léonce Ndikumana is a Distinguished Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Léonce Ndikumana has served as Director of Operational Policies and Director of Research at the African Development Bank, Chief of Macroeconomic Analysis at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), and visiting Professor at the University of Cape Town. He is also an Honorary Professor of economics at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.

He has contributed to various areas of research and policy analysis on African countries, including the issues of external debt and capital flight, financial markets and growth, macroeconomic policies for growth and employment, and the economics of conflict and civil wars in Africa. He is co-editor of Capital Flight from Africa: Causes, Effects and Policy Issues and co-author of Africa’s Odious Debts: How Foreign Loans and Capital Flight Bled a Continent, published also in French as La Dette Odieuse d’Afrique: Comment l’endettement et la fuite des capitaux ont saigné un continent, in addition to dozens of academic articles and book chapters on African development and Macroeconomics.

He is a graduate of the University of Burundi and received his doctorate from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Dr. Kupukile Mlambo was appointed Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in July 2012 and is in charge of economic research, policy and finance. As Deputy Governor, Dr. Mlambo is also a member of the RBZ Board of Directors, Human Resources and Banking Sector Stability Committees.

Dr. Mlambo joined the RBZ from the African Development Bank where he rose from the rank of Senior Economist in 1997 to the post of Regional Director in January 2012, where he was in charge of country strategy formulation, country portfolio programming and management as well as leading policy dialogue in 7 countries in East Africa, Before that, he worked as a university lecturer in Economics, first at the University of Zimbabwe (1994), and then as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Fort Hare in South Africa (1995-96).

An economist by training, Dr. Mlambo’s areas of expertise include macroeconomic and exchange rate policy, economic growth, finance, investment, and productivity growth and efficiency analysis. He has published papers in referred journals and has chapters in edited books. Dr. Mlambo holds a Ph. D. in Economics from Gothenburg University in Sweden, a M.Sc. (Econ) and B.Sc. (Econ-Hons) from the University of Zimbabwe.

Mr John Njiraini is a distinguished technocrat with vast experience in corporates having worked at various strategic levels including as Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Certified Public Accounts of Kenya (ICPAK), and Commissioner of Domestic Taxes and Large Taxpayers Office at the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) where he rose through the ranks to the position of Commissioner General. He holds a Bachelors of Commerce (B.Com) and an MBA from the University of Nairobi.

Currently the Ambassador of Malawi to the Kingdom of Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Monaco, Andorra and Luxembourg, as well as to the EU and FAO.

Served as Deputy Governor for the Reserve Bank of Malawi, 2012-17; Director in the Malawi Ministry of Finance for the Department of Aid and Aid management, 2005-2009; Lecturer and Head of Economics department, University of Malawi, 1998-2002; Board Member for CDH Invest Bank, 2018-2021; Board Member for NedBank Malawi 2005-2011. Member of lead team that evaluated the implementation of the Paris Declaration, 2009-10.

Prof. Anke Hoeffler is professor of Development Research at the Department of Politics & Public Administration at the University of Konstanz. In June 2018 she was offered an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship, Germany’s most valuable international research award.

Before coming to Konstanz she was a research officer at the Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE) at the University of Oxford.

She holds a Diplom in Volkswirschaftslehre from the University of Würzburg and an MSc in economics from Birkbeck College, University of London. She received my DPhil in economics from the University of Oxford in 1999. My research interests are wide ranging and often interdisciplinary. Broadly she is interested in the social causes of excess morbidity and mortality. At the University of Konstanz she is in the process of setting up research group on ‘Conflict and Development Research’, providing a forum for researchers from across the disciplines to collaborate on violence related topics. Since March 2020 she researches affiliate with ISDC – International Security and Development Center in the global research project life with corona

Festus Oisawereme Egwaikhide is a Professor of Economics at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, where he also got his doctorate degree. He was previously at the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), Ibadan, where he rose to the position of Senior Research Fellow. His teaching and research interests straddle macroeconomics, international economics, and public finance and fiscal federalism. Egwaikhide’s articles have appeared in scholarly journals in these subdisciplines of economics.

He has taught undergraduate and post graduate courses in Macroeconomics, International Economics and Public Sector Economics. In addition to teaching these courses at the University of Ibadan, he has also taught Trade Theory and Policy at the Collaborative MA Programme (CMAP) and the Collaborative PhD Programme (CPP) of the African Economic Programme based in Nairobi, Kenya. His areas of research interest include Public Finance, Macroeconomics and International Economics. He has over 70 publications to his credit.

Egwaikhide was Member, Editorial Board, Research for Development (Journal): 1992-97; Member, Publications and Selection Subcommittee, Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), Ibadan: 1995-97; and Member, Centre for Advanced Social Science (CASS) Board of Economists, a select group of Nigerian economists that evaluates national economic policies and social programmes and the budget; from 1999-2004. He is Associate Editor, Ibadan Journal of the Social Sciences, 2008 to date.

Professor Egwaikhide played a role in the National Economic Intelligence Committee (NEIC), The Presidency. He was a member of the research group constituted by National Economic Intelligence Committee (NEIC), which developed the most recent operational macro-econometric model of the Nigerian Economy in 2002. He also offered his expertise when NEIC was articulating “Proposal for Policies and Programmes of Government (2003- 2007)” in August-September, 2003.

He has been a resource person in numerous community service programmes in the areas of training of personnel at the three-tiers of government – federal, state and local governments. These have involved workshops and seminars in the areas of social policy, public policy, macropolicy, and public finance and trade policy. He served as Consultant/Director of Research, National Economic Intelligence Committee (NEIC), The Presidency, Abuja (July 2004-March 2005), Hall Master, Kuti Hall, University of Ibadan, Nigeria (October 2005 – September 2008) during which he ensured the smooth management of the hall. The hall now accommodates about five hundred students. Most recently, Professor Egwaikhide served as Head, Department of Economics beginning from 1 August 2010.

https://economics.ui.edu.ng/profile/4/Festus-Egwaikhide,-PhD

Bernadette DIA KAMGNIA is currently an International Consultant and Researcher at the Economic Policy Analysis Unit of the CIRES, Abidjan Côte d’Ivoire. From 20 November 2014 to 31 January 2017, she served as the Acting Director of the African Development Institute of the African Development Bank, having joined the Bank on 29 November 2011, as the Manager of the Policy Management Division of the Institute.

In her capacity as Acting Director, Bernadette DIA KAMGNIA led a Team of experts to mainstream capacity development in Bank operations. Beyond her contribution in resources mobilization and management since she joined the Bank, she launched the preparation of the Bank Group’s New Capacity Development Strategy for the period 2015 – 2020. The implementation of that strategy is based on a keenly selected set of capacity development activities that map the Bank’s Ten Year Strategy, combining, training, technical assistance and organization of Bank flagship conferences including the Bank’s Annual Meetings, Eminent Speakers Series and KOAFEC Ministerial Conferences, along with partnerships for capacity development, institutional networking on capacity development and e-learning which are coordinated for an efficient implementation of the Strategy.

Under her supervision, the Division of Policy Management run a network of top Think Tanks working on the development of Africa, for policy dialogue. Beyond the implementation of the Joint Partnership for Africa (JPA) with the IMF, the Division developed partnerships with a number of universities in the delivery of its work program, including University of Kenya, University of Makerere in Uganda, University of Namibia, University of Ghana, University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar, University Felix Houphouet Boigny of Cote d’Ivoire, University of Marseille Aix-en-Provence, and University of Massachusetts.

Dr. Namanga Ngongi is the founding chairman of the AFAP board of trustees. This is an honour that adds to the other accomplishments of his career that has included major contributions to agricultural development and international diplomacy.

Until April 2012, he was the president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), a job he took after decades of service to the United Nations. Namanga joined the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) in 1984 as head of the East and Southern Africa service. He rose through the ranks and later served the WFP as deputy executive director (1994-2001). He was appointed undersecretary-general and special representative of the Secretary-General of the UN to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2001-2003) to manage the peacekeeping operations, oversee the ceasefire, and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance. Namanga is Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and a member of the Programme Committee of the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC).

Namanga started his career as an agricultural extension officer in Cameroon, where he owns a farm. He earned his undergraduate degree in Agriculture from the California State Polytechnic University (1968) and graduate degrees in Agronomy from Cornell University (1973 and 1976).

Dr. Namanga Ngongi is an Officer of the National Order of Valour of Cameroon.

afap partnership board of directors

Senvy Maistry joined the AERC in December 2020, leading the communications, policy outreach and IT teams. Previously, Mr Maistry worked as Head of Communications for a range of organizations including the Economic Development Board of Mauritius, the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank, the African Union’s Pan-African Parliament and Air Mauritius. He was also a senior communications executive for the African Development Bank and the COMESA Secretariat. Mr Maistry specializes in building and executing global communications strategies, international events management and elaborating innovative digital media campaigns. Mr Maistry holds a Master’s degree in Media Practice from the University of Sydney and a B.A. in International Business from the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK. He is also an alumni of the Ecole Superieur de Commerce D’Amiens Picardie, France. Mr Maistry started his career as a News Anchor and Talk Show Host, focusing mainly on business and current affairs.

Professor Ann Veiderpass has been involved in the work of the AERC in several capacities; Resource Person, member of the Programme Committee, lately Chair of the Programme Committee and of the Programme Sub-Committees on Research and Training.

She is an associate professor of economics at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, where she also received her PhD in1993. Apart from research, supervising and teaching, she has had several appointments by the Swedish Government mostly linked to Energy and related Infrastructure Issues.

Inter alia, she served as a Member of the Board of Directors at the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate; Advisor to the Director General of the Swedish Radiation Authority in matters pertaining to financing of final repository for spent nuclear fuel; Senior Programme Advisor regarding Energy System Research at the Swedish National Energy Administration; Economic Expert to the County Administrative Court on issues relating to the identification of, and obligations for, undertakings with significant market power on the market for electronic communications.

During 2011 and 2012 she was hired by the African Development Bank to assess the structure of Ethiopia´s energy infrastructure and to make recommendations on areas that required emphasis and investment. The Report was subsequently presented to the Government of Ethiopia by the African Development Bank.

Mr Lesetja Kganyago was appointed Governor of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) with effect in 2014. He was reappointed by the President of South Africa for a second five-year term in 2019. He is the Chairperson of the Monetary Policy Committee, and the Financial Stability Committee. Prior to his appointment as Governor, Mr Kganyago served as Deputy Governor of the SARB from 16 May 2011 until his elevation to Governor.

Mr Kganyago chairs the Committee of Central Bank Governors of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), co-chairs the Financial Stability Board’s Regional Consultative Group for Sub-Saharan Africa, and chairs the Financial Stability Board’s Standing Committee on Standards Implementation. In addition, Until recently he served as the Chairperson of the International Monetary and Financial Committee, which is the primary advisory board to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Board of Governors, from 18 January 2018 – 17 January 2021

Before joining the SARB, Mr Kganyago was the Director-General of the National Treasury. He represented South Africa at international organisations such as the World Bank, the IMF, the G20 and the African Development Bank. In this role, he served as the Chair of the Development Committee Deputies and also co-chaired a G20 Working Group on the reform of the IMF.

He holds an MSc in Economics from SOAS University of London and a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Economics and Accounting from the University of South Africa. He also received various training in Finance, Economics and Management.

Dr. Julius Muia is the Principal Secretary at The National Treasury of Kenya. Prior to this, he was the Principal Secretary at the State Department for Planning – The National Treasury and Planning. Before his appointment as PS Planning, Dr. Muia served as the Director-General, Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat which operated under the Office of the President, Republic of Kenya to facilitate the implementation of Vision 2030. This is Kenya’s long-term policy framework that is premised on making Kenya a globally competitive, rapidly industrializing and upper middle-income economy by 2030.
Between April 2008 and October 2016, Dr. Muia served as the Secretary of, National Economic and Social Council, Office of the President. This is a top advisory government think tank whose flagship project was formulating Vision 2030.
An alumnus of the University of Nairobi’s School of Business, Dr Julius Muia graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Accounting; Masters Degree and PhD in Finance from the same university. His professional qualifications include Certified Public Accountant (CPA-K); Certified Public Secretary (CPS-K), Associate Kenya Institute of Bankers; Associate Chartered Institute of Arbitrators; and Certified Coach.
Dr. Muia has over 25 years of experience in leadership in the private sector in Kenya and UK. He started his career as an auditor with PricewaterhouseCoopers in mid-1980’s, and later worked as Head of Finance and Company Secretary in the hotel, manufacturing and banking sector. His other engagements include an adjunct faculty at Strathmore Business School; adviser on strategy and trainer on leadership.
Dr. Julius Muia serves as a non-executive board member in several companies and a number of not-for-profit organizations.

Dr. Benedict Okey Oramah assumed the position of President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the African Export–Import Bank (Afreximbank) on 21 September 2015.

He was previously the Executive Vice President in charge of Business Development and Corporate Banking from October 2008. In that position, he supervised the business development departments and units of the Bank, namely, Trade Finance and Branches; Project and Export Development Finance; Syndications and Specialized Finance; and Corporate Finance and Advisory Services. He also supervised the Research and Knowledge Management department and assisted the President in overseeing the Strategic Planning and International Cooperation functions.

Dr. Oramah joined Afreximbank as Chief Analyst in 1994 and was promoted to the position of Senior Director, Planning and Business Development in 2007. Prior to joining Afreximbank, he was an Assistant Research Manager at the Nigerian Export Import Bank from 1992. Dr. Oramah holds M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in agricultural economics, obtained in 1987 and 1991 respectively, from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. He received a B.Sc. degree, also in agricultural economics, from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, in 1983. He has published a book, “Foundations of Structured Trade Finance”, and has written more than 35 articles on a wide range of African economic, trade and trade finance issues. He is a regular speaker in trade and trade finance conferences around the world. Dr. Oramah serves as Chairperson of the Africa Chapter of the International Factors Group (IFG) and is on the Board of the IFG and the Editorial Boards of Trade and Forfaiting Review and the Journal of African Trade. He is also a member of the Consultative Board on World Cocoa Economy of the International Cocoa Organization.

Professor Oliver Saasa is the Chancellor of Mulungushi University. He is Professor of International Economic Relations and Managing Consultant/CEO of Premier Consult Limited, a social, business and economic consulting Firm based in Lusaka. Before he joined the Consulting World in 2000 by setting up his own firm, Prof. Saasa served for 12 years as the Director of the Institute of Economic and Social Research at the University of Zambia. Before that, he was Head of the Department of Development Studies at the same University. During his 21-year academic career with the University of Zambia, he served for the most part in the University Senate and as member of some of the University Council committees. He was promoted to the rank of Professor in 1994.

A Rhodes Scholar, Prof. Saasa obtained his doctorate in 1983 from Southampton University in the UK. His doctoral thesis is on the regulation of transnational corporation in developing countries: A Comparative Analysis of national policy-making towards international investment in Zambia and Tanzania.

Prof. Saasa has published widely in the field of trade, international economic relations and economic development, concentrating in earlier years on regional integration and trade promotion in Southern Africa. In the past 15 years, he has released several publications on the relations between developed and developing countries, focusing primarily on aid flows and donor-recipient structures for aid management. His most recent publications include the book published in Sweden, Aid and Poverty Reduction in Zambia: Mission Unaccomplished, a highly acclaimed publication in the field of aid relationships and effectiveness.

Prof. Saasa has served as a consultant for many regional and international organisations that include the World Bank, OECD, UNDP, UNICEF, USAID, EU, UNCTAD, Sida, IFAD, NORAD, GIZ, JICA, DfID, Danida, COMESA, and SADC, mainly evaluating their programme and project support to Southern Africa and Zambia. Prof. Saasa serves on many boards at both national and international levels. These include the National Governing Council of the APRM (Zambia); Zambia Railways Limited Board of Director where he is Vice-Chair; Public Service Pensions Fund (Zambia); Stanbic Bank; and Governing Council of the International Africa Institute (UK), and African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS). Lastly, Prof. Saasa was hired by the Zambian Government to prepare Zambia’s Aid Policy and Strategy and did put together on behalf of the Ministry of Finance the country’s Fifth National Development Plan (FNDP).

Andrew Dabalen is the World Bank’s Africa Region Chief Economist since July 1, 2022. The Chief Economist is responsible for providing guidance on strategic priorities and the technical quality of economic analysis in the region, as well as for developing major regional economic studies, among other roles.

He has held various positions including Senior Economist in the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia Region, Lead Economist and Practice Manager for Poverty and Equity in Africa and most recently, Practice Manager for Poverty and Equity in the South Asia Region. His research and scholarly publications focused on poverty and social impact analysis, inequality of opportunity, program evaluation, risk and vulnerability, labor markets, and conflict and welfare outcomes. He has co-authored regional reports on equality of opportunity for children in Africa, vulnerability and resilience in the Sahel, and poverty in a rising Africa.

A Kenyan national, Dabalen holds a master’s degree in International Development from University of California – Davis, and a PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from University of California – Berkeley.

Dr. Matlanyane is the Minister of Finance and Development Planning in the Government of Lesotho. She is the immediate former Governor and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Lesotho, a position she held from 2012 to 31 December 2021. She was the first female Governor in the history of the Bank. She joined the Bank in April 2006 as the Second Deputy Governor to oversee the research, financial markets, and operations departments. She was promoted to the position of First Deputy Governor in April 2007 and later as the Acting Governor, a position she held until her appointment as Governor.

Adelaide has been associated with the AERC for more than 20 years in various capacities. She has served as a member of the AERC Programme Committee (2008-2014) and was the Chair of the Programme Committee over the period 2010–2014, having taken over the from the Late Prof. Benno Ndulu. In the capacity of the Chair of the Programme Committee, Dr. Matlanyane also served as an ex-officio member of the AERC Board. She is an AERC Alumnus of the Collaborative Training programmes.

She is an accomplished economist and seasoned policy maker with vast experience in Finance. Prior to her illustrious career at the Central Bank of Lesotho, Dr. Matlanyane was a Lecturer at the Economics Department of the National University of Lesotho. She previously served at various Universities and regional and international institutions in different capacities, including as Board Member and Vice Chairman of the Board of the Lesotho Revenue Authority; Chairman of the African Rural and Agricultural Credit Association; Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Macroeconomic and Financial Management Institute (MEFMI) and a member of the Steering Committees of AFRITAC (Technical Assistance Centre) South of the IMF and Africa Training Institute (ATI). She has also served as an Economist in the African Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). She continues to serve various local and international professional institutions in varying capacities, including as representative of SADC Central Bank Governors in the Financial Stability Board Consultative Group for Sub-Saharan Africa; a Board Member of MEFMI. In addition, she has, and continues to lead financial sector reforms including modernization of payment systems, legislative changes that enable development of the financial system, promotion of financial inclusion, modernization and strengthening of governance structures of financial institutions and advocacy for access to finance, especially for women.

Dr. Matlanyane holds a PhD in Economics with specialization in Macro-econometric and Economy Wide Modelling from the University of Pretoria, South Africa, a Master’s in Economics from the University of Botswana and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the National University of Lesotho. She was named among the Inaugural List of 100 Most Influential African Women in 2019 by the Avance Media.

Prof. Shantayanan (“Shanta”) Devarajan is Professor of the Practice of International Development and Chair of International Development Concentration at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. He was previously the Senior Director for Development Economics and former Acting Chief Economist of the World Bank Group. Previously, Prof. Devarajan was the Chief Economist of the World Bank’s Middle East and North Africa Region. Since joining the World Bank in 1991, he has been a Principal Economist and Research Manager for Public Economics in the Development Research Group, and the Chief Economist of the Human Development Network, the South Asia Region and Africa Region.

He was a director of the World Development Report 2004, Making Services Work for Poor People. Before 1991, he was on the faculty of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Prof. Devarajan has authored or co‐authored of over 100 publications and his research covers public economics, trade policy, natural resources and the environment, and general equilibrium modelling of developing countries. Born in Sri Lanka, Prof. Devarajan received his A.B. in Mathematics from Princeton University and his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Ramata Ly-Bakayoko was appointed Minister of Women, Families, and Children of  Côte d’Ivoire in 2018.
She served as Ivory Coast’s Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research from 2016 to 2018. She was appointed Minister of Women, Families, and Children in 2018. She earned degrees in dental surgery from Paris Diderot University in 1980 and in dental science from Paris Descartes University in 1985.

Ly-Bakayoko was a professor of pediatric dentistry. She headed the pediatric dentistry department at the University of Cocody (now Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny) in Abidjan, later becoming vice-dean of the faculty of dentistry, then vice-president of the university. From 2012 to 2016, Ly-Bakayoko served as the first female president of Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny.[3] As president, she developed the Scientific and Innovation Centre in Bingerville, home to the West African Virus Epidemiology (WAVE) program.

Ly-Bakayoko served as Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research from 2016 to 2018, succeeding Gnamien Konan. She was the first woman to hold this position.

Dr. Anthony Mathae Maruping is the former Commissioner, Deptartment of Econic Affairs, The African Union Commission.

BA, MA, PhD, Economics and MBA. 1982-86, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, NUL; 1988-98, Governor, CBL; 1998-2005, Executive Director, MEFMI, Eastern and Southern Africa; 2006-12, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Lesotho to UNOG, WTO, etc. and 2009-12, to the Swiss Confederation. Since 2013, Commissioner for Economic Affairs, African Union. Has chaired boards, councils and committees in various national, regional and international organizations.

Dr. Philipp Krause is the Head of Technical at CABRI. Prior to this, he was a senior advisor in the Gates Foundation’s Africa Office, after serving as Deputy Director for Country Finance for several years. Philipp led the Foundation’s portfolio of work to strengthen public finance in priority countries, as well as its global policy engagement on issues ranging from DRM to fiscal policy and PFM.

Between 2012 and 2016, Philipp built and led the public finance team at the Overseas Development Institute. He previously worked on public finance issues for the World Bank and for Germany’s technical assistance agency GIZ, as well as Mexico’s Social Development Ministry. He has advised more than 25 governments worldwide on strengthening public management, budgeting, and fiscal governance. He has held visiting scholar positions at NYU, the German Development Institute and the University of Maryland; and is an executive education faculty member of the Harvard Kennedy School. He holds an MA from the University of Potsdam and a PhD from the London School of Economics.

Marie-Claude Martin is the Director of Global Initiatives at the Alliance for Human Development, in Toronto, Canada. The Alliance for Human Development focuses on strengthening global research and partnerships for early childhood health, growth, learning and development. At AHD, Marie-Claude manages and conducts intervention research aimed at supporting the healthy development of children in low- and middle-income countries. She also focuses on the development of a global partnership to foster a sustainable alliance of knowledge producers and users around the globe.

Prior to joining the AHD, Marie-Claude spent three years as Associate Director and then Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Office of Research – Innocenti in Florence, Italy, where she provided leadership for the development of a UNICEF-wide research agenda and helped disseminate and apply research findings to policy development, advocacy and programming. Before that, she served in a number of senior positions at Canada’s International Development Research Centre where she developed and led a large portfolio of global research initiatives. Her areas of research include human development, child well-being, poverty analysis, health equity and determinants of population health. Marie-Claude holds an M.A. in development economics and a Ph.D. in public health.

Marie-Claude is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and serves on the Board of the African Economic Research Consortium. She also served on the Board of the Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP) and chaired its finance and audit committee from 2012 to 2019.

Dr Keith Jefferis is the Senior Policy Advisor at Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Government of Botswana. He was Deputy Governor of the Bank of Botswana (BoB) from November 1999 until March 2005, on appointment by the President of Botswana, H.E. Festus Mogae. Prior to this Dr Jefferis worked in the Research Department of the BoB; as a Senior Research Fellow at the Botswana Institute of Development Policy Analysis; and as an academic lecturing and researcher in economics at universities in Botswana and the United Kingdom. He has degrees in economics from the Universities of Bristol (B.Sc) and London (M.Sc), and the Open University in the UK (Ph.D), and started his career as a professional economist by winning a Fellowship of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), London.

Dr Jefferis has undertaken a wide variety of research, analysis and consultancy work on economic policy issues. At the Bank of Botswana, he worked extensively on the formulation and analysis of macroeconomic policy issues, especially monetary, exchange rate and fiscal policies; development of the financial system, including competition and efficiency in the banking sector, regulatory issues, broadening access to financial institutions, and payments system development; and macroeconomic data compilation and dissemination. He has also worked on stock market development, trade policy and regional integration issues, industrial policy and SMME development, poverty analysis and poverty alleviation policies, and the economic aspects of HIV/AIDS, combining both academic rigour and policy relevance. Dr Jefferis has written extensively on economic issues in Botswana and the countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and has played a key role in deepening the public understanding of economic issues in through teaching, writing and public speaking.

Dr Jefferis is a citizen of Botswana and is accredited to the Technical Assistance Experts Register of the IMF’s Monetary and Financial Systems Department.

Pramila is Professor of Development Economics at the University of Oxford. Her research interests include analysis of household behaviour and rural institutions in developing countries; microeconometric approaches to development economics; household economics and labour economics.

Pramila Krishnan began her academic life as an econometrician working on models of self-selection before seeing the light and moving on to work in development economics.

Her research has concentrated on applied microeconomics and she has worked on topics ranging from household portfolios of poor households, to risk-sharing, intra-household allocation and informal insurance, social networks, non-cognitive skills and whether migrants might be both rich and happy.

Abbi M. Kedir is the Director of Research the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC). He joined AERC in 2023 from the University of Sheffield, UK where he was serving as an Associate professor of International Business since 2016. In addition to long years of service in UK academia since 1999, he has experience of working in government (Ethiopia); the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and on various consulting assignments with the World Bank, UNDP, UN Women and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

He has published more than 50 journal articles and several book chapters. He is an editorial board member of Journal of Development Studies and Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research. Currently, he is co-editing a Routledge Handbook on Development Economics and Development Finance and is a member of the IMF, Climate and Development Taskforce and the Technical Advisory Group of AUDA-NEPAD.