Category: Africa

Understanding the problem is critical to policy implementation

Guest blog by Mustapha Samateh After 11 years of public service- 7 years at the Central Bank and 4 years as Director at Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, I joined the private sector a year ago serving as the Deputy Managing Director at the Investment and Commerce bank.  My experience in public sector made me…Continue Reading Understanding the problem is critical to policy implementation

Building the foundation for economic growth in Burkina Faso

Guest blog by Gillesamadou Ouedraogo “We do not inherit the land from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children”. A saying that paints well what I’ve gleaned from this insightful journey. This class has helped me come to the realization that growth stems from a meticulous, intentional, minute, and coordinated ensemble of efforts deployed to…Continue Reading Building the foundation for economic growth in Burkina Faso

Youth Unemployment in Kenya: My Journey as a Leading Economic Growth Student

Guest blog by Albert Waudo What can I say?  This has been one of most interesting trainings I have attended in a while.  Right from the first class where we were asked to think about crossing a country in 2015 with a well-drawn map versus crossing the same country in 1804 when there was no…Continue Reading Youth Unemployment in Kenya: My Journey as a Leading Economic Growth Student

Impact of COVID-19 on Benin Republic’s Economy

Guest blog by Aadam Soulebon My expectations: When I was offered to sign up for the online version of this program, at first glance, I had concerns. This was my very first HKS course. Indeed, I was afraid that the resulting interaction would not add a substantial value to me besides the class materials. I was…Continue Reading Impact of COVID-19 on Benin Republic’s Economy

A Hands-on Deconstruction of Youth Unemployment in Kenya

Guest blog by Moses Sitati When I received a work email asking for my interest in taking the Leading Economic Growth course, I quickly had a look and was not entirely sure that it was the one for me. I did some quick mental calculation to check whether it made sense for me to devote scarce…Continue Reading A Hands-on Deconstruction of Youth Unemployment in Kenya

Tackling high rates of poverty and low growth among MSMEs in Nigeria

Guest blog by Member Feese My key learning from the Leading Economic Growth course is how to effectively define a challenge / problem using the 5-whys technique and not use the solution to define the problem. For instance, the definition of my first economic problem was lack of transportation infrastructure in Nigeria, however, I discovered that…Continue Reading Tackling high rates of poverty and low growth among MSMEs in Nigeria

Troubled Waters Under the Bridge: Time for Inclusive Growth in Equatorial Guinea

Guest blog by Cesar Augusto Mba Abogo Equatorial Guinea (EG) is a little known country. In fact, Wikipedia in its entry on the country warns not to confuse it with Guinea Conakry and Guinea Bissau. In the period between the month of April 2019 and the month of October 2020, I had the honor of…Continue Reading Troubled Waters Under the Bridge: Time for Inclusive Growth in Equatorial Guinea

Agri inputs market reform in Liberia through the PDIA lens

Guest blog by Darkina Sie Cooper I was super excited signing up for the Implementing Public Policy (IPP) Online Program, especially haven completed the Leading Economic Growth (LEG) program and being introduced to the PDIA concept and meeting already Prof. Matt Andrews and seeing how amazing he is; I was also eager to dive deeper into…Continue Reading Agri inputs market reform in Liberia through the PDIA lens

How PDIA helped me build Nigeria’s poverty alleviation plan

Guest blog by Tayo Aduloju The HKS Implementing Public Policy Executive Program appealed to me because I was looking for an alternative to planning and control styled approaches which I had learnt, known and practised for most of my career and considering the challenging problems I faced daily at the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, I needed…Continue Reading How PDIA helped me build Nigeria’s poverty alleviation plan