To view the original post was done by Public Affairs via UC Berkeley news and is available here.

Launched at UC Berkeley in December 2013, the African Alumni Project was a two-year research effort to chronicle the life and career trajectories of almost 300 sub-Saharan African scholars who graduated between 1966 and 2014 from six universities in the U.S., Canada and Central America.

The idea, an outgrowth of the partner universities’ participation in the MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program, “had to do with the foundation’s goals, and its theory of change,” Robin Marsh, the campus’s lead researcher for the project, told Berkeley News last year. “They’re essentially saying, ‘We are willing to invest in these young people — large investments, international tuition — because we believe they will be agents of change, transformative leaders. They will take their knowledge and skills and contacts from Berkeley, go home to their countries of origin and spread that knowledge and transform society in positive ways.'

“The foundation called it ‘Go back, give back,’” Marsh explained. “And we thought it would be worthwhile to know whether past African scholars at UC Berkeley did, in fact, go back and give back.”
Among the researchers’ findings — as laid out in a newly released report, “Beyond ‘Brain Drain’: Career Choices, Return Paths and Social Contributions of African Alumni —  was that “overwhelmingly, the alumni who participated in the study indicated a deep commitment to Africa and to African development,” though students who go abroad for graduate study are “significantly more likely to return to Africa” than those enrolling as undergraduates. The report also found that a greater proportion of women than men settle in the diaspora.

The full report is available online here, and an abridged version of the report is available here.

On September 21, former EASST Fellow Constantine Manda will be a featured discussant at an event to launch the British Council report Next Generation: Youth Voices in Tanzania, which seeks to gain a better understanding of key issues as perceived by Tanzania youth as priorities in a post-election environment.  

At current rates of growth, Tanzania’s population of 53.5 million is projected to increase by more than fivefold by 2100, making it one of the 10 largest countries in the world by the end of this century. This large population will also be very young – the average Tanzanian today is 17 years old.

As the country’s youth reach working age they will wield significant economic and political influence. For political leaders, laying the groundwork for improving outcomes for this population is crucial to ensure that it has both the capacity and opportunity to contribute to a positive future trajectory for Tanzania.

During the event, Constantine and other speakers will outline the report's findings and will discuss how the views of Tanzania's youth can be incorporated into policy. The discussion will take place on September 21st at Chatham House in London. For more information on the event, go here. To view the report, go here. 

Each month, EASST compiles a list of funding, research, and employment opportunities for East African researchers. The view opportunities available in the month of September, please visit the "Other Opportunities" page here. 

Of note, the Working Group in African Political Economy (WGAPE) invites researcher to submit papers/research designs  to present at this special meeting and to circulate the call for submissions to your graduate students and networks. Paper/research design submissions must reflect WGAPE's broad research agenda on core issues within the political economy of African development, including ethnic politics, civil conflict and violence, decentralization and democratization, corruption and local governance. Please feel free to submit early-stage works! Graduate students are particularly encouraged to apply. See archive of papers discussed at past WGAPE meetings here.

• Please submit papers to https://cega.submittable.com/submit/b496e233-fd29-441e-86eb-c1e71af71af9 by 11:59pm PT on October 6, 2016. 
• Successful applicants will be notified by October 24th, 2016 and will be invited to attend the full symposium. WGAPE will cover the cost of economy travel, accommodation and related expenses.

For more information, please see the attached flier.

CEGA is excited to welcome two new EASST visiting fellows to  UC Berkeley this fall: Dr. Jayne Tusiime (Uganda), who holds a PhD in Epidemiology from UC Berkeley and is currently head of the Department of Public Health at Busitema University,  and Dagim Belay (Ethiopia), who is currently finishing his PhD in Economics from the University of Copenhagen. Both fellows will spend the semester in Berkeley auditing courses, presenting their research at seminars, visiting other campuses in the CEGA network, and designing impact evaluations in partnership with CEGA researchers.
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