Spring 2006, Volume 1
Over
the past 3 decades, Africa’s economic growth has lagged behind other
regions. Africans today are barely better off than they were in the 1970s,
despite the best efforts of policymakers. This state of affairs has troubled
Africans, development experts, and policymakers on the continent and beyond.
To create a fundamental change in African development over the coming decades
will require real innovation, wise leadership, and the serious and systematic
analysis to go with it. As a publication, the Africa Policy Journal seeks
to make an important contribution to the dialogue on effective policies
to propel Africa’s development.
It is fitting that this journal has been produced by students at the Kennedy School. The Kennedy School, and Harvard University, have a palpable interest in Africa. Dozens of African policy-related talks, panels and conferences happen on the Harvard Campus every year, many of them at the Kennedy School. Recently elected Liberian President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, is an alumni of the Kennedy School. Other African presidents have spoken on Harvard platforms. The ideas, breakthroughs and policy advice of the university’s pre-eminent development and medical scholars contribute to African development policy.
Nested in this community, the Africa Policy Journal has the potential to be an excellent and productive forum between the Africa-focused activity at Harvard, and the policy world.
I commend the students of the Kennedy School of Government for taking this initiative. Equally, I hope that you, the journal’s readers, find the contents of this inaugural volume valuable, challenging and entertaining.
David T. Ellwood
Dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University