Four distinguished thought leaders with collective expertise spanning governance, international diplomacy, social justice, and telecommunications have joined Afrobarometer’s board of directors.
The new board members, who were inducted during Afrobarometer’s 25th-anniversary celebrations in Accra in July, are:
- Fawzia Ali, chief consumer business officer at Safaricom, a leading telecommunications company in Kenya. Her career spans finance, marketing, sales, customer experience, product development, and enhancing engagement through personalised communication. Ali is also a board member at the Safaricom
Foundation and Moving the Goal Posts, where she has headed the audit and finance committees.
- Kamissa Camara, professor of practice in international diplomacy at the Gerald R.
Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan. Ambassador Camara is a senior Africa adviser at the United States Institute of Peace and a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute. She has held strategic positions in the Malian government, including minister of foreign affairs, chief of staff to the president, and minister of digital economy and planning. A respected voice in global media, she contributes to CNN, Al Jazeera, and the BBC on African and global politics. Ambassador Camara is finalising her doctoral studies in political science at the University of Oxford.
- Natasha Kimani, an advocate of the Kenyan High Court with more than 15 years of experience in gender mainstreaming, social justice research and activism, genderbased violence prevention and response, and protection. Kimani has been instrumental in drafting gender-responsive policies and legislation in Kenya. She has worked with prominent organisations and institutions, including the Kenya Law Reform Commission, the Commission for Implementing the Constitution, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, collaborating with both national and county government agencies.
Nic Cheeseman, professor of democracy at the University of Birmingham and former director of the African Studies Centre at the University of Oxford. Cheeseman’s research focuses on democracy, elections, and development, and he has authored and edited more than 10 books, including the acclaimed How to Rig an Election. His numerous awards include the GIGA Award for best scholarly article in comparative area studies and the Frank Cass Award for best article in Democratization. His insights as a frequent commentator on global events have been featured in leading
- publications such as the Economist, Le Monde, the Financial Times, and the New York Times.
Afrobarometer Board Chair E. Gyimah-Boadi said the additions will strengthen the research network’s efforts to amplify the voices of African citizens through reliable data and insightful analysis.