We started the year by conducting a temperature check on African students and their experiences on campus. This is helping us to outline our priorities for the year ahead. We wanted to ensure that as the Africa Initiative grows, we continue to support the needs of our students. We are asking students about the accessibility of internships on the continent, about their acclimating process on campus and about the insights they could pass on to future freshmen on campus. On the partnerships front, leadership development is fast becoming a central focus of our Initiative. In response to requests from our partners in Africa, we will be welcoming a number of African leaders for programs over the next few months. We also remain committed to bringing the best speakers to campus so that we continue to enhance and diversify the African discourse at Yale. I am pleased to end on such a high note as I say goodbye to the Yale Africa Initiative. It has been a special year for me at Yale and I will continue to support the efforts of the University on the continent. It is with great anticipation and excitement that I return home to Zimbabwe to develop my leadership and coaching practice. I am thankful for all of the support that you have given and until next time I say (in my native tongue) musare zvakanaka mese.  

 

Rachel Nyaradzo Adams, Associate Director for Africa

Announcing AFRICA SALON

 

AFRICA SALON will be the first-ever contemporary African arts and culture festival at Yale. The lively two-day event will feature a series of panels, readings, exhibits, workshops, and performances by some of the most consequential artists from the continent and diaspora. The festival will be hosted on campus by the Yale Africa Initiative on March 27-28. Explore and register here >>

 

Poynter Fellow Ang�lique Kidjo Speaks on Her Music and Activism

 

Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, and performer Ang�lique Kidjo spoke at a standing-room-only master's tea as a guest of the Poynter Fellowship in Journalism. The public talk was hosted at Ezra Stiles on January 28 in conjunction with her acceptance of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas' fifth annual Visionary Leadership Award. More >>

 

African Universities Participate in Global Network Week

 

This March, the University of Cape Town and the University of Ghana Business School will host a Global Network Week giving Yale MBA students the opportunity to participate in mini-courses on the economics of emerging markets and contemporary management issues in Africa, respectively. Both courses with have a focus on entrepreneurship and innovation. These programs are offered by member schools of the Global Network for Advanced Management, spearheaded by Yale SOM. More >>  

Yale Rep Hosts World Premiere of "Familiar"

 

"Familiar," a new play about the complicated relationships between mothers and daughters, sisters, wives, and husbands - as well as the customs they keep and the secrets they keep buried - premiered at the Yale Repertory Theatre in February. Commissioned by the Yale Rep, "Familiar" was written by Danai Gurira, an American-born playwright raised in Zimbabwe. More >>  

Kenyan Journalist and Anti-Corruption Activist Speaks at Yale

 

John Githongo, one of Kenya's most prominent anti-corruption activists and CEO of INUKA Ni Sisi!, a citizen empowerment and good governance NGO, gave the bi-annual Coca-Cola World Fund at Yale Lecture on February 11. His Global Perspectives interview on "Advocating for Transparency in Today's Globalized World" can be found online. Watch >>  

Fourth Annual Sankofa54: African Youth Empowerment Conference

 

Themed "The Next Chapter: Africa in a Global Context," the Sankofa54: African Youth Empowerment Conference will gather scholars, professionals, and global thinkers to discuss Africa's social, economic, political, and cultural capital in a global context. The Yale Undergraduate Association for African Peace and Development will host the conference on April 10-11. More >> 

African Authors Win Prestigious Windham-Campbell Literary Prize

 

The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library has awarded the 2015 Donald Windham-Sandy M. Campbell Literature Prizes to nine international writers, including Nigerian writers Teju Cole and Helon Habila and South African writer Ivan Vladislavi?. Honored for their literary achievements as well as their potential, the winners will each receive $150,000 to support their work. More >>
To see the schedule of upcoming Yale Africa events taking place both on campus and on the continent, click here >>