WWLA: Governance

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

We Will Lead Africa Volume: On Governance

Call for chapter submissions for a first-of-its-kind volume of stories on Great African Governance

       What governance models will take Africa forward, now and for the future?

We need YOU to help us tell stories of GREAT African governance that we can learn from to carry us into the future. We need you to help us answer questions like:

  • Where is GREAT governance already happening on the African continent and what makes it’s great.
  • What are the unique characteristics of Africa that must be considered in developing a new governance model?
  • What is the best governance model to lead Africa now and into the future? What does extraordinarily great governance in Africa look like?
  • What essential shifts need to happen now to establish impact through a new governance model?

Current views on governance in Africa centre on two polar extremes. On one hand, there is widespread awareness of the need for a new mental model for governance through extensive documenting of issues of corruption (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 2016). On the other hand, there are growing measures for ‘good governance,’ including the MIF’s Ibrahim Prize for achievement in African leadership and the Ibrahim Index of African Governance that was originally established with Harvard’s Kennedy School. However, there are no practical models for creating the conditions for said good governance and existing models do not account for the complexities of governance in Africa. As we know from a strategy perspective, it is the combination of a new model with a clear underlying mental framework and measurements that allow real transformation to occur (Bonchek & Libert, 2017). As the Mail and Guardian’s 2017 year-in-review for Africa summarises, there is much we can learn from and much still to do.

So we need you – everyday African leader – who is already making strides in governance to share your story with us and the world. Whether you are in public service, community leadership or a political leader with a verifiable story of advancing policies that exemplify We Will Lead Africa as follows, we want to hear from you.

We are looking for submissions for any work being done that is demonstrating impact and progress in African policy and governance across the spectrum of governance as defined by the Ibrahim Index
(http://mo.ibrahim.foundation/iiag/). That includes any writing, advocating, leadership of policy changes or work on projects/programs/initiatives that are creating progress anywhere on the continent in safety/rule of law, participation & human rights, sustainable economic opportunity, human development.
You and those you encourage to submit lead from an orientation of:
  • We: Collaborative and accountable leadership, taking unified action.
  • Will: The leadership WILL, grit and courage to do something, anything, now and for the future, demonstrated through action-oriented and aspirational leadership.
  • Lead: Everyday leaders, motivated by service, in every sector, including emerging leaders from marginalised groups. All the authors who submitted stories shared a deep authenticity and integrity in their leadership. They focused on a values-driven path, even if it is challenging.
  • Africa: A focus on a prosperous continent, where divides are bridged and leaders work across boundaries and borders to achieve a broader success.

We believe in the power of storytelling, an inherent part of African culture, as a powerful tool for imagining, sparking and driving progress. And as a way to inspire more change and shape the futures we want.

This book will speak to action and practice. It gathers the stories of those who have a deep interest in or connection to Africa, and have been stirred to action that is making a difference; stories about leadership in and for Africa.

Join #WeWillLeadAfrica. Tell your story of action, change and transformation.

 

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WeWillLeadAfrica @willleadafrica

Submission deadline for stories is 31st August 2018, midnight CAT.

Stories should be sent in Microsoft Word format to submissions@wewillleadafrica.com with the subject WWLA: Governance.

All stories should meet the submission criteria and use this Submission Form as the cover sheet for their story.

SUBMISSION SCHEDULE AND TIMEFRAMES

Submission schedule and timeframes will depend on number of stories submitted. However, we aim to publish the volume in mid-2019.

Call for submissions Ongoing in 2018
Reviewing submissions & editorial process From September 2018
Publishing process Early 2019

Editorial team

Yabome Gilpin-Jackson, PhD (Lead Editor)

She was born in Germany, grew up in Sierra Leone, West Africa, and completed her undergraduate and graduate studies in Canada and the United States. Yabome is a social scientist and an experienced professional with proven expertise in the areas of leadership development, organizational development, facilitating strategic change and systematic organizing for social change and transformation. She has worked with corporate, non-profit/social profit and public sector organizations, internationally. She is also a sessional and adjunct faculty for undergraduate and graduate courses in her areas of expertise. She was named an Institute for Social Innovation Scholar for her doctoral research into the growth and development needs of war-affected African immigrants and refugees.

@supportdevelop
Simiso Magagula (Advisory Editor)

Simiso Leslie Magagula is a proud South African. He is passionate about Africans on and off the continent contributing to changing, strengthening and accelerating exceptional governance in Africa. He has been the Head of Department of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Treasury, South Africa since 2010. Previous to that, his experiences have included Senior Researcher at Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa; Economist and Market Researcher, Caribbean Engineering and Management, Georgetown, Guyana; and Chief Director, Economic Services at National Treasury, South Africa from 2001-2005. Simiso has Masters degrees in Urban Planning and Economic Policy Management from the USA and Canada. He is lauded as a transformational leader in South Africa’s public service, who exemplifies the servant leadership qualities of We Will Lead Africa.
Ajarat Bada

Ajarat Bada was born and raised in Nigeria but moved to the United States for her college education. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Drexel University in Pennsylvania and obtained a Master of Public Health Degree from Loma Linda University in California and a Master of Public Policy degree from the Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar. As a student, she served as the editor of the student journal, the ‘Astrolabe’.

Ajarat speaks four languages. Her academic, professional and religious journey spans Africa, Europe, Asia, the Americas and the Middle-East particularly through her advocacy work with NGOs including the United Nations.  She writes professionally and has a blog on the huffington post. She has successfully pursued her interest in writing and editing, most recently of a book on Innovating South-South Cooperation (forthcoming Uni. Ottawa Press 2018). She is a contributor to We Will Lead Africa Vol 1, with a chapter in which she describes her  advocacy and leadership in creating the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 16, on peace for development.