Africa’s Intensifying Emergencies: To What Fresh Assistance will the US Commit?

H.E. Kwesi Quartey – Keynote Address
Former Deputy Chairperson, African Union Commission

H.E. Kwesi Quartey is the Former Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission. Ambassador Quartey “is a Ghanaian national with over 35 years of experience as a diplomat. He was elected as the […] Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission. Ambassador Quartey has served in various capacities in Ghana’s Embassies and High Commissions in Cotonou, Cairo, Brussels, Havana, and London. He was also Permanent Representative to the Ghana Mission to the United Nations in New York. He served as deputy Foreign Affairs Minister under the former President John Mahama’s government, and was Secretary to the President.” Click here to read his full biography: https://au.int/en/biography-he-quartey-thomas-kwesi

Franklin Moore – Looming Famine
Former Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Africa Bureau, US Agency for International Development (USAID)

Franklin Moore, as a career member of the U.S. Senior Executive Service (SES), served twice as Deputy Assistant Administrator (DAA) for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Africa Bureau (2012-2014 and 2008-2010). This is the highest civil service, career position in the Bureau. He also served as Agency coordinator for both Food Security and Climate Change during 2009. He was one of 66 members of the SES to receive a Presidential Distinguished Service Award. In between serving as DAA, Mr. Moore, was Senior Development Counselor to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations Agencies in Rome. Read his full biography here: https://afjn.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Franklin-Moore-Biography.pdf

Dr. Pauline Muchina – COVID-19 Pandemic
Policy, Education, and Advocacy Coordinator for Africa, American Friends Service Committee and Chair COVID-19 Working Group, Advocacy Network for Africa (AdNA)

Dr. Pauline Muchina is Chair of AdNA’s COVID-19 Working Group and the Policy, Education, and Advocacy Coordinator for Africa at American Friends Service Committee. She is a visiting Professor at Reykjavik University School of Management, where she teaches gender and religious diversity. Pauline serves on several boards and advisory groups including, the Global Room for Women and the Center for Health and Hope. She is originally from the Rift Valley Province in Kenya, where her family still resides. Read more here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pauline-muchina-phd-a981592b/

Professor Niikwao Akuetteh – Raging Wars
Chair, Security Working Group, AdNA
Adjunct Professor, George Washington University

Professor Niikwao Akuetteh is Chair of the Advocacy Network for Africa’s Security Working Group and Adjunct Professor at George Washington University. Since 1981, DC has remained the primary base from which Dr. Akuetteh operates as “a 24/7 global agitator for Africa”—though he immigrated in 1975 from Africa a continent now reeling from climate injustice and more. The US anti-apartheid campaign was his activism baptism of fire during which he met and shook Nelson Mandela’s hand in DC in June 1990. Since then, Dr. Akuetteh has headed five NGOs in the US and Africa and has taught students at Georgetown University and George Washington University. He has also provided numerous testimonies and briefings to Congress. He has been an editor and written dozens of essays and op-eds. TV analyses have made him a talking head in some parts of the world.

Dr. Nnimmo Bassey – Climate Injustice
Director and Founder, Health of Mother Earth Foundation

Nnimmo Bassey is director and founder “of the ecological think-tank, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) and member steering committee of Oilwatch International. He was chair of Friends of the Earth International (2008-2012) and Executive Director of Nigeria’s Environmental Rights Action (1993-2013). He was a co-recipient of the 2010 Right Livelihood Award also known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” In 2012 he received the Rafto Human Rights Award. In 2014 he received Nigeria’s national honour as Member of the Federal Republic (MFR) in recognition of his environmental activism.” Read his full biography at Health of Mother Earth Foundation here: https://nnimmobassey.net/about/

Dr. Iyabo Obasanjo – Moderator
Associate Professor, College of William and Mary

Dr. Iyabo Obasanjo is an Associate Professor at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia where she teaches Public Health courses. She got her PhD in Epidemiology from Cornell University in 1996, and a Masters from University of California, Davis in 1992. She also earned a Doctor of Veterinary degree from University of Ibadan in 1988. She worked in Clinical Research as a Project Manager in the US in the 1990’s and then moved back to Nigeria where she was Commissioner for Health in Ogun State from 2003 to 2007, then a Senator from 2007 to 2011. She has given lectures across the globe and has over 25 scientific publications and she has also written for Nigerian Newspapers and international
foreign policy journals.

Dr. Steven Nabieu Rogers – Opening Remarks
Executive Director, Africa Faith and Justice Network (AFJN)

Dr. Rogers joined AFJN in 2022 as Executive Director. His background is in public policy and urban planning with a special interest in globalization and governance in Africa. He has served in the public and private sectors as an academic, researcher, and thought leader and has several years of experience in higher education in Sierra Leone, the United States, and South Africa. Prior to joining AFJN, he was an Old Mutual Emerging Markets Fellow and Lecturer at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Cape Town, where he taught courses on Emerging Markets, International Trade, and Globalization.

Coumba Toure – Welcome
Co-Coordinator, Africans Rising for Unity, Justice, Peace & Dignity

Coordinator for Africans Rising for Unity Justice Peace & Dignity based in Dakar, she was born and raised in West Africa, Coumba Toure is a writer and a storyteller. She designs and produces a range of education material and programs for children and young people (books, clothes, games) through Falia artist collective and production house. She has extensive experience in facilitating meetings, engaging young people, and designing and implementing and evaluating programs promoting peace and justice specially for women. Read more here: https://www.trustafrica.org/en/about-us/board/item/3324-coumba-toure-trustee