Webinars

Dr. Laurie Nathan is a professor of the practice of mediation and director of the mediation program at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. He is a scholar-practitioner, doing academic and policy research on mediation, leading the annual United Nations High-Level Mediation Course in Switzerland, and also doing mediation training in South Bend. He has been involved, most recently, as a facilitator or coach in relation to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, the civil war in Sudan, the Ethiopia-Tigray war, and the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue.

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Dr. Abu Bakarr Bah is a presidential research professor of sociology and department chair at Northern Illinois University. He is the founding director of the Institute for Research and Policy Integration in Africa (IRPIA) and a faculty associate at the Center for Nonprofit and Non-Governmental Organization Studies. Professor Bah is also the founding Editor-in-Chief of African Conflict and Peacebuilding Review and the African Editor of Critical Sociology. He was a Senior Fellow at the Canadian Centre for the Responsibility to Protect and a visiting distinguished faculty (at large) at Riara University (Kenya).

Dr. Aribiah David Attoe is an early-career researcher recognized by the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa for his high potential to make significant contributions to his field. He is a Lecturer at the University of Witwatersrand and a former postdoctoral fellow at the University of Fort Hare. He holds a PhD in African Philosophy from the University of Johannesburg and has authored several works, including The Question of Life’s Meaning: An African Perspective (2023) and Groundwork for a New Kind of African Metaphysics (2022).

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Dr. Joseph Siegle is the director of research at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. Dr. Siegle’s research focuses on democratic transitions, democratic institution building, and the development and security implications of governance. In this capacity, he tracks Africa-wide security trends, the stabilization of fragile states, and the role of external actors in Africa. He has been a close observer of African elections offering an annual election preview for many years, including this year’s edition with Hany Wahila, “Africa’s 2025 Elections: A Test of Credibility to Uphold Democratic Norms.”

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Lise Rakner is a Professor of Political Science at the Department of Government of the University of Bergen, Norway. Her research interests cover the fields of democratization and autocratization, with particular emphasis on human rights, electoral politics, political parties, and processes of democratic backsliding. Rakner’s work also extends to political economy, with an emphasis on economic reforms, taxation, business associations, budget processes, and aid effectiveness. She has conducted several governance assessment analyses for international agencies and donor governments.

Dr. Romy Klimke is a senior legal researcher and lecturer at Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg. In March 2024, she published an article on gender as a trade concern under the African Protocol on Women and Youth in Trade. She currently serves as the representative of the Chair of International Law, European Union Law, and International Relations at Dresden University of Technology in Germany.

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Appiah Adomako currently leads the Consumer Unity & Trust Society International West Africa Centre. As a director, he delivers results on trade and development, trade facilitation, competition policy, and law, private sector development, investment, intellectual property, economic policy, and capacity building for state and non-state actors on trade and development, investment, and economic governance. 

Jason Tando is a world-traveling entrepreneur and minimalist with a strong focus on innovation. A passionate advocate for Bitcoin, he has dedicated himself to promoting its broader adoption. Over the years, he has traveled to all seven continents and more than 140 countries as a digital nomad. Jason is a co-founder of several startups, with two successful exits under his belt. In 2024, he emerged from self-imposed retirement to help co-found Tando, an app designed to make Bitcoin as easy to spend as mobile money in Africa, starting with Kenya. With Tando, Jason is working to demonstrate that Bitcoin is more than just a store of value—it’s a transformative financial tool.

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Yvonne Kagondu is a financial economist and software developer with a bachelor of business science in financial economics from Strathmore University and a software development certificate from Moringa School. She has extensive experience in Kenya’s financial sector and the Blockchain ecosystem. Her career began at the Kenyan Commercial Bank Group as an intern before joining Google Digital Skills for Africa in quality assurance. Her interest in Blockchain led to consultancy roles with leading firms such as Aeternity, KuBitX, Paxful, and Token Minds. Yvonne also founded the Kenya Blockchain Ladies DAO to promote inclusivity for women in tech.

Evelyn Nyadwera is a Professor of economics at Pennsylvania State University DuBois and a non-resident fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington, D.C. Her research focuses on international economics, technological change, and international development. She has published in leading journals, including The World Economy, International Labor Review, Journal of Economic Issues, and Feminist Economics.

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Esther Tawia is the founder and executive director of Gender Centre for Empowering Development (GenCED) in Ghana. She holds a masters in international politics from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. Over the last decade, Esther has worked to expand civic participation and gender equality in Ghana and across Africa. She founded the West Africa Young Women Political Leadership School, which operates in several countries, including Nigeria and Ghana. Her work at the Gender Centre for Empowering Development earned her the women’s political rights award in Africa at the celebration of the Maputo Protocol’s 20th anniversary in 2023.

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Abena D. Oduro is an Associate Professor in the department of economics at the University of Ghana, Legon. Her current research focuses on women’s economic empowerment, gender and trade policy, employment security, poverty, inequality, and vulnerability analysis. She has published works on gender-responsive budgeting, intimate partner violence, gender and asset ownership. Additionally, she serves as an associate editor for Feminist Economics. Oduro is a member of the International Association for Feminist Economics and was its President from 2021 to 2022. She is also affiliated with the African Centre of Excellence for Inequality Reseach.

Professor Geci Karuri-Sebina is a scholar-practitioner focused on the intersection of people, place, time, and technological change, with a particular interest in the global south. She is an associate professor in digital governance at Wits University in Johannesburg, an adjunct Professor at the University of Cape Town’s African Centre for Cities, and a principal at the School of International Futures. Geci also serves as the organiser of the Civic Tech Innovation Network. She holds dual bachelor’s degrees in computer science and sociology, dual master’s degrees in architecture and urban planning, and a PhD in planning and innovation studies at the University of Witwatersrand.

Al Kags is the executive director of the Open Institute, an organization dedicated to fostering open governance, citizen engagement, and data rights across sub-Saharan Africa. Recently recognized as an Ashoka Fellow for his pioneering contributions to social innovation, Al is a steadfast advocate for transparency in government and data rights across Africa. Al chairs on the board of Publish What You Fund and was previously a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data. His leadership extends through numerous key roles, including as a former member of the Global Open Data Working Group, co-chair of the Kenya OGP Working Group, and chair of the Kenya Open Data Taskforce.