THE AFRICA POLICY JOURNAL FIRESIDE CHAT: A CONVERSATION WITH DR. SAULOS KLAUS CHILIMA, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF MALAWI
Date:
Tuesday, March 8, 2022, 8:00am to 9:00am
Location:
Virtual Event
Register Here: https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xMJm1KPjSQ6uhObJFIfRGQ

In this Africa Policy Journal Fireside Chat, Public Policy and African Studies Lecturer, Prof. Zoe Marks of the Harvard Kennedy School, explores the role of agriculture, technology, and entrepreneurship in harnessing the potential of Africa’s young people, in conversation with Right Honourable Dr. Saulos Chilima, Vice President of the Republic of Malawi. Dr. Chilima has been Vice President in the Southern African country since 2014, and prior to entering politics had garnered extensive experience in both multi-national organizations and at the intersection between the public and private sector. The conversation will also highlight the role of policy making in creating and implementing a sustainable vision for the future of Southern Africa
Guest: Right Honourable Dr. Saulosi Klaus Chilima, Vice President of the Republic of Malawi
Moderator: Prof. Zoe Marks, Lecturer, Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School

Right Honourable Dr. Saulos Chilima: Right Honorable Dr. Saulos Klaus Chilima is a Malawian trained-economist and thought -leader who is serving as the 5th Vice President of the Republic of Malawi and recently served as the Minister of Economic Planning, Development and Public Sector Reforms. He is currently spear heading public sector reforms in the country. He has served as the country’s Vice President since 2014. Before joining politics, Dr Chilima held key leadership positions in various multi-national companies including Unilever, Southern Bottlers Limited (Coca-Cola) and Airtel Malawi Limited. At Airtel Malawi, Dr Chilima rose to become the First Malawian Managing Director. His debut as head of Airtel in Malawi, brought with him deep knowledge and popularization of the digital economy. Dr Chilima possesses a wide multi-sectoral experience spanning from financial Services, Fast Moving Consumer Goods and Services, and Telecommunications. He has led strategic and breakthrough projects namely Project Precision, Yabooka, Airtel Money, 3G network upgrade that resulted in significant impact on industrialization. Dr. Chilima has also authored the “Africa’s sustainable and inclusive development: Understanding the capacity challenges” in the Africa Development Memoir in 2016 of the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), a specialized agency of the African Union on capacity building. This is an Africa series that features prominent African leaders in political and technical fields of specialization. In this series, he shared his memoirs, insights, and experience on ‘The role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).’ Apart from being a philanthropist, Dr Chilima is driven by a strong inclination towards self-discipline and service to others. He is an accomplished motivational speaker, whose style is grounded in pragmatic thought; focus on results and people-centered leadership.

Prof. Zoe Marks: Professor Zoe Marks is a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Her research and teaching interests focus on the intersections of conflict and political violence; race, gender, and inequality; peace-building; and African politics. Her current book project examines the internal dynamics of rebellion in Sierra Leone to understand how and why rebel groups can sustain a viable threat to the state without widespread support. It draws on nearly a decade of fieldwork, several hundred interviews with former combatants and community members, and private archives from members of the Revolutionary United Front. Professor Marks is leading a separate project that examines how wartime experiences shape individual wellbeing and community reintegration after war. Using surveys and social network analysis in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the project compares peaceful and protracted conflict settings, respectively, to explain how mobilisation for violence affects prospects for poverty alleviation and peace. Prof. Marks holds a DPhil in Politics and MSc in African Studies from the University of Oxford, and a BA in Government and African American Studies from Georgetown University. Prior to joining the Kennedy School, she was a Chancellor’s Fellow and Lecturer (tenured) at the University of Edinburgh, where she directed the master’s program in African Studies and was Director of the University’s Global Development Academy. She has previously worked for UN and non-governmental organisations in Ethiopia, France, Sierra Leone, South Africa, the UK, and the US.
ORGANIZERS: Harvard Africa Policy Journal in partnership with the Harvard Center for African Studies
REGISTER: https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xMJm1KPjSQ6uhObJFIfRGQ