Senior Visiting Appointments at the ALC, King’s College London

We are pleased to announce new Senior Visiting Appointments at the African Leadership Centre, King’s College London as part of the Centre’s programme on the Practice of Leadership:

Professor Abdoulaye Bathily

Professor Bathily holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom and Doctor of State from University Cheikh Anta Diop in Senegal. Prior to retiring as a Professor from Cheikh Anta Diop, he served as the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Representative in Mali (MINUSMA). Professor Bathily subsequently served as the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General and Head of the UN Office for Central Africa (UNOCA) as well as Representative of the Secretary-General in the International Mediation on Central African Republic. Professor Bathily had the honour of presiding over the Praesidium of the Bangui Forum in 2015. In addition, he has held several key positions in the Government of Senegal including as Minister of Energy and Water Resources and Minister of Environment. Professor Bathily has been a Member of the National Assembly and Deputy Speaker of Senegal’s National Assembly. He was a Member of the ECOWAS Parliament and Chair of the Parliamentary Commission on Environment and Natural Resources. He was Head of African Union (AU) Observers for several election processes. He has also been Convenor of the Coalition on Dialogue in Africa at the UNECA in Addis Ababa. Professor Bathily has written and published extensively on Africa History and Politics. Among these are Mai 68 à Dakar la révolte universitaire et la Démocratie, 1992; and The Military and Militarism in Africa, which he co-edited with Eboe Hutchful. Professor Bathily continues to work as an Independent Expert, on conflict resolution, peacebuilding and democratic processes in Africa.

Ms. Thoko Didiza

Ms. Didiza is currently a Member of Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, serving as the House Chairperson in the National Assembly. She is also Chairperson of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians, Africa Region, and Member of the Steering Committee of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians internationally. She was a Member of Parliament in South Africa’s first democratic Parliament post-1994. Didiza served as the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, the first woman to hold such a portfolio in the agricultural sector in South Africa. She served two terms as Minister of Agriculture and Land as well as Public Works respectively. During this period of transition within South Africa, she was critical in the implementation of the cooperative governance system post-1994. In addition, during the transformation of the Organisation of African Unity to the African Union, Didiza contributed to the development of the Common African Agricultural Development Programme, which formed part of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).

 

Ms. Bisi Adeleye Fayemi

Ms. Adeleye-Fayemi is a Feminist Thinker and Activist, Writer, Social Entrepreneur, Policy Advocate, and Social Sector Expert. She is currently Principal Partner, Amandla Consulting, specializing in leadership development for women. She also runs an online community, Abovewhispers.com, in addition to her role as a UN Women Nigeria Senior Consultant. She served as the Director of Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA), an international development organisation for African women based in London, UK, from 1991-2001 where she established the African Women’s Leadership Institute that has trained over 6,000 African women leaders. She subsequently co-founded the African Women's Development Fund (AWDF) – the first Africa-wide grant-making foundation for women, serving as its first Executive Director from 2001-2010. She has designed and implemented policy, advocacy, grassroots empowerment and social inclusion programs across many African countries. She has also led campaigns to successfully pass legislation to promote and protect women’s rights. Bisi is the author of Speaking for Myself: Perspectives on Social, Political and Feminist Activism in Africa (2013), Speaking above a Whisper, (2013) an autobiography, and Loud Whispers (2017). She is also co-editor (with Jessica Horn) of Voice, Power and Soul (2008), a compilation of images and stories of African Feminists.

Leading Practitioners and Visiting Senior Research Fellows 2016-2017 

  • Leading Practitioners and Visiting Senior Research Fellows 2017-2018

Visiting Senior Practitioners & The Practice of Leadership Programme

The African Leadership Centre brings experienced policy practitioners on an invitation only basis to King’s College London and the ALC in Nairobi for a period of reflection, writing as well as mentoring of ALC Fellows. In addition, practitioners give seminars, lectures and participate in ALC activities. The practitioners will typically have served in governmental and inter-governmental organizations as well as civil society organizations. Selection is based on the relevance of the experts’ work to the overall programme of the ALC. In the course of the programme, it is expected that Senior Practitioners who hold visiting positions will produce working papers and articles for publication by the ALC among other outputs. 

In 2015, the ALC proposed several Senior Visiting Appointments to support its programme on the Practice of Leadership, which connects research and postgraduate education at the Centre. Students, researchers and Fellows at the ALC are exposed to the experiences of leaders in the fields of peace, security and development in order to strengthen theoretical analysis of leadership and to document lessons of these experiences for future leaders. Leading Practitioners contribute to the generation of empirical evidence and to transforming the student experience at King’s/ALC. In the process, their leadership experiences are systematically documented over a period of time and subsequently published in a variety of sources.

An aspect of this programme is Leading Practitioners’ Reflections on Peacebuilding, which gives dedicated attention to the efforts to bring stable peace and security to societies affected by conflict, not least in Africa. Students and researchers will gain access to a select number of Leading Practitioners (who typically hold Visiting Appointments with ALC/King’s), learning from their experiences and contributions to peacebuilding through seminars, lectures and reflection sessions. Leading practitioners, will in turn, have an opportunity to reflect on specific experiences in relation to key contributions they have made toward peace and security while carefully documenting lessons from these experiences.

Three inter-related aspects of peacebuilding experience form the focus of study in this Practice of Leadership programme. Leading practitioners are targeted and invited to reflect on their experiences in a number of peacebuilding contexts:

  • Peace missions/ peace operations
  • Peace making/ Mediation:
  • Political transitions

Select ALC Fellows and Alumni are designated as Research Aides to accompany Leading Practitioners in order to record their reflections and to analyse these experiences and identify relevant learning for the future. This provides an important experience and learning opportunity for ALC Fellows and early career researchers. Attachment to Leading Practitioners offers them an invaluable mentoring opportunity and exposes them to policy actors and practitioners in the network of the Leading Practitioners, that they might otherwise not have access to.

In 2015/2016 the ALC brought in two Leading Practitioners to this programme:

General Martin Agwai, Former Force Commander UNAMID, Former Deputy Force Commander UNAMSIL, former Military Adviser to the Secretary-General

Research Aide: Akinbode Fasakin, (ALC Fellow 2013-14)

Professor Youssef Mahmoud, former Special Representative of the SecretaryGeneral (SRSG) in Burundi, former UN Resident Representative

Research Aide: Albert Mbiatem, (ALC Fellow 2013-14)

 

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Africa Week Opening Keynote and Open Debate

Africa Week Opening Keynote and Open Debate

02 March 2024

Is African Agency for sale, for hire or self-renewal? How can Africa shape the UN Summit of the Future? The African Leadership Centre (ALC) invites you to the King’s Africa Week 2024 (https://www.kcl.ac.uk/africa-week) opening Keynote and Open Debate titled: “Is African Agency for Sale, for hire or self-renewal? How can Africa shape the UN Summit of the Future?” Time: 17:30 to 20:00 GMT Date: 4 March 2024 Venue: Bush House, Central Block 8th Floor, Strand...

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