The APJ staff consists of graduate students from schools across Harvard University. Current staff information can be found below. If you have inquiries or if you would like to write for APJ, please send an email to africa_journal@hks.harvard.edu.
Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u (PhD), Editor-in-Chief, is Edward A. Mason Fellow in Public Policy and Management, and Mid-Career candidate in the master program in Public Administration at John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He works as Division Manager for Outreach & Communication at the Jeddah-based multilateral Development Bank, the IsDB Group. He is the author of Regional Parallelism and Corruption Scandals in Nigeria (2018), co-editor of The Palgrave Handbook of International Communication and Sustainable Development (2021) and co-editor of two volumes on Sustainable Development Goals: SDG18-Communication for All (2023). He has worked as a journalist with the BBC World Service, London. During his stint at the BBC, he has contributed content/punditry to BBC World Today, BBC Focus on Africa, BBC World Have Your Say, BBC Arabic and more. He coordinated the first multimedia election desk and represented the Africa Service in reporting the royal wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge for the BBC. Prior to joining the BBC, he was British Correspondent for Deutsche Welle (Hausa Service). He has served as a Senior Lecturer in Media and Politics and Program Leader for the master’s program in mass communication/business at Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK; Associate Lecturer in Global Journalism at the University of Sheffield; as well as a Lecturer in Mass Communication at Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria. He holds a PhD in Journalism Studies and M.A. in Political Communication from the University of Sheffield, UK, MBA from IE Business School, Madrid, Spain. Jameel is an alumnus of the Executive Education Program in Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Policy Considerations, JF Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and the Silicon Valley Executive Education Program in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley. His research has been published in leading journals such as Global Media and Communication, African Journalism Studies, Journal of African Media Studies and the Journal of Arab and Muslim Media Research. He has published several book chapters on online journalism, corruption and the media, critical discourse analysis, and representation of Muslims in the media.
Chiedza Juru, Deputy Editor-in-Chief (Development Policy), is an education and youth development specialist. She is the Chief Operating Officer- Programs at Higherlife Foundation, a non-profit organisation focusing on Education in Zimbabwe, Burundi, Kenya and Lesotho. She was appointed by the Zimbabwe Minister of Youth as Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Youth Council Board (ZYC), a government parastatal whose mandate is to advise government on the needs of youth. In this role she has been instrumental in ensuring the adoption of the revised National Youth Policy, launched by His Excellency the President of Zimbabwe on 20th December 2021, as well as the ongoing crafting of the Zimbabwe National Youth Act, a legal framework to enforce youth participation. Chiedza is Founding Trustee for two non-profits providing scholarships to disadvantaged students. She is a 2021 Public Service Fellow of the Future Elect Academy, a cohort of young people across Southern Africa who seek to become agents of change in their countries through public leadership. As a Past Curator of the World Economic Forum Global Shapers Harare Hub, Chiedza facilitated engagements for youth and policy makers including the first meeting for youths and His Excellency the President of Zimbabwe; to ensure economic participation and inclusion of young people. She is a member of the Apolitical Foundation New Voices Council, an international organisation supporting a new generation of transformational citizen young politicians to close the gap between political institutions and the people they serve. Chiedza is a member of the USAID Education Finance Network which convenes diverse education stakeholders with a focus on directing non-state resources towards creating inclusive, high-quality education in low- and middle-income countries globally. Chiedza has received numerous awards for demonstrating exceptional academic ability and professional distinction including the Institute of Corporate Directors 40 under 40 Most Influential Young Leaders in Zimbabwe (2022), the Institute of Chartered Accountants Young Achievers Excellence Award (2021), GoGetters Founding 100 Young Phenomenal Female Zimbabweans (2021) and the Gumiguru list of 40 under 30 years emerging leaders in Zimbabwe (2018). She is a Chartered Accountant, currently pursuing a Masters in Public Administration program with Harvard Kennedy School.
Soraya Mohideen, Lead Technology and Innovation Policy Editor, is a Harvard South Africa Fellow, an Edward S. Mason Fellow and a Kistefos Africa Public Service Fellow. For more than 20 years, Soraya has worked in the tech sector and economic development. Before joining HKS, Soraya has worked in local government at the City of Cape Town as a Principal responsible for catalytic sector development and growth coalitions. Between 2018-2021, Soraya and her team at Africa’s oldest tech incubator unlocked $15 million in salaries, and nearly 4,000 job opportunities for over 2,000 previously unemployed South Africans. This was achieved through stimulating the tech-enabled economy and delivering skills development and job placement into the market. She is determined to tackle youth unemployment in the Global South. Soraya holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) degree in Information Systems from the University of Cape Town. Soraya pursuing a Master in Public Administration at the Harvard Kennedy School to gain the economic development expertise needed to make a broader, scaled impact towards job creation, socio-economic mobility and racial equity. She hails from Cape Town, South Africa.
Enitan Okedji, Lead Interview Editor (Policy Engagement), is an international development professional with about 10 years of experience in Non-Profit Management, Development Communication, Knowledge Management, and Media. She is passionate about social impact and has gained experience by contributing to the design and implementation of donor-funded development projects. She has worked with, as well as managed teams tasked with project management, strategic communication, advocacy, media relations, stakeholder management, and public policy. Enitan is currently a Candidate for a Master’s in Public Administration at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She was also elected as the Kennedy School Student Government’s Vice President of Academic Affairs. Prior to joining HKS, she worked as a Manager for the multi-state USAID-Global Health Supply Chain in Nigeria; Communications Adviser for DFID-Voices for Change project; Knowledge Management and Communication Specialist for DFID- Growth and Employment in States; Knowledge Management Coordinator for the Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta She holds a B.Sc. in Mass Communications and a master’s in International Development from the University of York as a Commonwealth Scholarship recipient. She was the pioneer advocate of the African Union Youth Charter representing Nigeria. In this voluntary role, her contributions centred around raising awareness of the rights of youths, advocating for policy implementation, and increasing the participation of young women in leadership positions. Through this platform, she has promoted Pan- Africanism, SDGs, and inter-generational leadership/strategic partnerships with youth groups.
Boris Houenou, Lead Development Policy Editor, brings a wealth of experience that spans academia, international development, policy, politics, and private sector, anchored in Africa with a global exposure. For more than two years, he has chaired the publications department of the Paris based think tank “L’Afrique des Idees”, where he led forty plus economists overseeing policy memo and in-depth economic analyses as well as their dissemination to decision-makers across Africa. Boris Houenou had worked in political strategy, government plan design and communication when he was assistant to the leader of the largest political party of Benin in the years 2010, and 2011, where he was involved in preparing and running presidential and legislative campaigns. He is a graduate of Washington State University where he double majored in Economics (PhD) and statistics. Prior to joining HKS he was in the tech sector working on deploying broadband internet service around the world including in Africa and was at the intersection of how investments, demand generation, regulation and policy are critical to unlock the promises of technology for growth, development, and sustainability in Africa and globally.
Aissatou Seck, Development Policy Editor (Business, Law, and Governance), is a lawyer and development finance professional. She started her career in leveraged acquisition and structured finance in international law firms in Paris before transitioning to the development sector at the International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations’ specialized agency for information and communication technologies in Geneva. She currently serves as a senior counsel for the World Bank in Washington DC and in Abidjan. She is active in several initiatives designed to foster economic and legal empowerment, particularly for women, through pro bono advisory services, reproductive rights advocacy, training and mentoring such as the Women’s Investment Club, the Association des Juristes Sénégalaises and the Women in International Affairs Network. At the Kennedy School, she is interested in exploring innovative ways public policies can support the private sector. She is an Obama Foundation 2022 Leader for Africa and was recognized as a “Woman to watch” by the Institute of African Women in Law. She is a qualified attorney with the Paris Bar, holds an MBA from ESSEC Business School and a Master’s in International Business Law from Paris Dauphine University.
Velaphi Mamba, Development Policy Editor (Education, Health, and Agriculture), is a Mid-Career Master’s in Public Administration (MC-MPA) Candidate at the Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is an education and social policy expert, human rights advocate, economic and social justice campaigner and a development practice and implementation expert. Velaphi has over 15 years of experience working in the civic society and philanthropy sectors in Africa. His most recent role before pursuing his studies at Harvard was that of Team Leader for the Economic and Social Justice Cluster at the regional level (Southern Africa) for the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA). He holds a Master’s in Development Studies from the University of the Free State (UFS). Velaphi is the founder of the Net Zero Racism concept – a ground-breaking initiative aimed at ending racism world-wide.
Adefemi Bucknor-Arigbede, Development Policy Editor (Energy and Climate Change) has over 14 years’ experience in the financial sector and non-profit, promoting public diplomacy through capacity development in education, climate action, women and youth development. She is currently the Executive Director, Initiative for Information, Arts and Culture Development in Nigeria (IACD), a community-based organisation in Ibadan, Oyo state Nigeria with a vision of an enlightened Nigerian populace adequately exposed to the best that has been thought and written in the world’s civilisation. Her role includes development of educational support through the provisions of books, promotion of cultural and intellectual engagements between the people of Nigeria and the rest of the world; sponsorship of concerts, capacity building for local policy stakeholders. Concurrently, she is also the Director of the American Space Ibadan under the auspices of the United States Diplomatic Mission in Nigeria. As the Director, she facilitates public diplomacy between the people of the United States and Nigeria in tandem with the United States Mission Goals in Nigeria. Her role includes design and implementation of programs to build capacity across a wide spectrum of disciplines that include climate and energy, Youth and women development, Non-profits and governmental agencies at the state level. Adefemi is also the Education USA adviser at the American Space Ibadan, guiding students with accurate, comprehensive and reliable information on US Study, through the Educational and Cultural Affairs section of the US Department of State. She is also the coordinator of the United States Government Exchange Alumni Association, coordinating activities of the United States Government Alumni in Oyo State. A 2020 International Visitor’s Leadership Program Alumna of the US Department of State and a member of the Society for Peace Studies and Practice in Nigeria.
Mena Prince, Partnership Editor, is a second-year candidate in the Master of Public Policy program at Harvard Kennedy School. She graduated from Georgia State University with a BBA in Finance in 2016 and went on to serve in the Peace Corps in Liberia teaching math and economics at a government public school. While serving in Liberia, she worked on a secondary project focused on providing resources and training to young Liberian women to pursue their own advocacy projects within their respective communities. After completing her service, Mena went on to be a project manager for FEDSIM, working on large government projects for various federal agencies before coming to Harvard Kennedy School. Mena recently finished a summer internship with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs where she worked on the High-level political forum for sustainable development focused on Agenda 2030. Throughout the duration of her internship, she was able to work on and attend panels focused on her areas of interest for research such as gender equity and social and economic development. Her hope in the future is to work at the intersection of social and economic development policy and programming that is transformative for Black women.
Dennis Delasi Nyanyo, Interview Editor, is a dual MD/MPP candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Harvard Medical School. Prior to Harvard, he obtained his bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from Cornell University. Dennis is passionate about expanding access to education and was awarded the Samuel Huntington Public Service Award in 2018 which enabled him to lead the renovation of the Bolgatanga Regional library in Ghana. He also co-founded Apomden, a health tech startup that aimed to improve access to emergency care in Ghana through optimizing bed use in hospitals. His current policy interests include health systems design and financing in low- and middle-income economies.
Eniitan Tejuoso, Interview Editor, is a poet, writer, and multimedia creative. She spent the first half of her life in Abuja, Nigeria before heading to the United States to further her education, and her passion for using creative inquiry as a cornerstone for societal change and vision-building has led her to pursue interdisciplinary degrees at both Johns Hopkins University and Harvard Medical School. Her professional experience ranges from community engagement to health policy, and she is interested in doing work at the intersection of health, media, and business. As a Media, Medicine, and Health master’s student, her research is focused on maternal health and child development within the context of Nigeria and Nigerian identity.
Ruvimbo Mushavi, Interview Editor, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. She has four years of experience in the development sector, having worked one year at a non-profit organization, and the remainder in the United Nations System. While working as a communications officer in her current position at the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Zimbabwe, Ruvimbo has harnessed the power of storytelling and youth engagement to advocate for quality services for survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) and urgent action by the government to end the scourge of GBV in Zimbabwe. Through her work, she has confronted deeply rooted cultural and religious practices that perpetuate GBV and child marriages in Zimbabwe, as well as systemic socio-economic challenges that hinder gender equality. Ruvimbo is currently pursuing a Master in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and hopes to use her education and experience to build a career at the forefront of creating of effective policies that protect women and children from violence in varying contexts.
Imen Ghedhioui, Technology and Innovation Policy Editor, is a Digital Transformation Expert at the United Nations University Operating Unit on Policy-Driven Electronic Governance (UNU-EGOV), Guimaraes, Portugal office. She has served as Advisor to the Tunisian Ministry of Technology for the digital transformation agenda, leading the e-gov/gov-tech component in partnership with the Presidency of government office, since October 2020. She is a Harvard Kennedy School Mid-Career Master in Public Administration Candidate & Edward Mason Fellow, class of 2023. Imen joined as a digital advisor, the experts board members of the parliamentary committee working on the law drafting for the Social Protection framework for women in the Agriculture sector (Ahmini – the Social Digital Service). Previously, she founded the Gov-tech Start up BSDL (Behavioral Science Design Lab) since 2017, dedicated to supporting and advising policy’s transformation process using evidences from research in behavioral science and technology. She designed the GOVINOV package, a supportive tool for decision making exercise aiming to modernize parliamentary work. The project has been selected as part of the innovative solutions for the European Union civic4tech final competition. She took part at the Rightscon Conference 2019 for the panel “Data, citizens and decision”. She has supported several institutions in implementing innovative policies: As a researcher with York University-UK (Transformative Justice Project), she advised the Women’s Committee president at the Truth and Dignity Committee (TDC) in introducing Evidence based approaches to design reparation policies for Victims. Imen serves as a mentor for a legal start-up as part of the Senior Women in Business mentoring program, as well as for the Ayadee Foundation fellowship program focusing on Blockchain use to support Tech Innovators for environmental, social and governance impact.
Idia F. Irele, Partnership Editor, is a two-year MPA student at the Harvard Kennedy School who has spent the majority of her career working in education policy at international NGOs. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Government and International Relations from Smith College and a Master’s Degree in International Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is also a 2016 Fulbright Fellow and was named an Emerging Leader by Morocco’s Policy Center for the New South in 2017. Idia is Nigerian-American and grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Prior to attending HKS, Idia worked as the Director of Curriculum and Strategic Relations Manager at the Latin American Leadership Academy in Medellín, Colombia. Before that, she worked at a regional education policy organization in Mexico City. Her professional experience spans across six countries: Spain, Andorra, Liberia, Mexico, Colombia, and the United States. She cares deeply about global equity, youth/human development, and is passionate about challenging the single story about Africa, especially throughout other Global South regions, where nuanced, multidimensional stories about Africa are scarce. Idia is a 2021 Rangel Fellow for International Affairs. After graduating in May 2023, she will work for the U.S. Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer. She hopes to center her diplomatic career on international relations between diasporic communities.
Michael Rain, Contributing Editor, is Master in Public Administration candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is the founder of ENODI, a media and research company that highlights the lives, cultural innovations, and entrepreneurial work of people with immigrant backgrounds with a particular interest in people of African, Caribbean, and Latin descent who identify as Black. He was a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University, an Aspen Institute Tech Policy Fellow, and a Tow-Knight Fellow in Entrepreneurial Journalism at CUNY Newmark. Michael was twice selected for the TED Residency, a sibling program to the TED Fellows. His writing, photography, film work, and research has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Tech Policy Press, NBC News, The Journal of Business Education, and Upscale Magazine. Michael is a TED Speaker whose TED Talk has surpassed 1 million views and has been translated into 28 languages. He has delivered remarks at major events and conferences, including talks at the U.S. Department of State, Google, Harvard Business School, SAP, Santander, Wharton, and Columbia Law School. As a third-generation entrepreneur, he co-founded and was chief editor at a media and technology startup that published “cool stories” about the global Pan African community through mobile app, web, and email products built in-house. The company was a selected member of Google’s Launchpad, Facebook’s FbStart, and Microsoft’s BizSpark accelerator programs for tech startups. He earned a B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from Columbia University, where he served as vice president of the Black Alumni Council. He’s a Ghanaian-American, a lifelong New Yorker, and a Brooklyn native.
