David Kwao-Sarbah – Ghana
Board Member Culture and Development International
David is currently employed as Senior Research Officer
for National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI),
Ghana. He is a graduate in Development Planning from
Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science and Technology (KNUST)
in Kumasi, Ghana. He grew up
in Dodowa in Ghana’s Greater
Accra region.
“My position is that sustainable human Development
cannot be delinked from
Culture. My interest is to apply my training in
Development planning in the environment of Arts and
Culture. I am now working to apply this knowledge and
make a positive contribution with the skills, passion
and enthusiasm that I bring to my chosen career. It is
important for me to further my active participation and
sharing with my peers from across Africa and from around
the World."
Hon. Samuel Kojo
Appiah-Kubi - Ghana
Chairman and Founder Culture and Development
International
District Chief Executive Offinso
North District
Founder of Culture and Development International and the
instigator for the International Conference on African
Culture and Development, Kojo
was in early 2009 appointed by the President of Ghana as
District Chief Executive for the
Offinso North District in the Ashanti region. He
holds a B.A (Hons.)
economics from the University of Ghana and an
MBA. He grew up in
Akomadan in the Ashanti
region of Ghana.
Mbizo
Chirasha
– Zimbabwe
ICACD
2009 Poet in Residence – Mbizo
will be presenting his Poetry at a number of
sessions and activities.
Chirasha
has recited his poems at events including the
Zimbabwe International Book Fair, Harare
International Festival of the Arts, dialogue among
Civilizations, International Youth day, National
Cultural Week, the National Book Week, United
Nations day and Peace day.
His
poetry, poetry reviews and profiles have been
published in national newspapers, national journals,
diplomatic and writers’ bulletins. His poems have
also been broadcasted extensively on radio and
television. Chirasha has
attended and facilitated a lot of writing and poetry
workshops.
Mr. Azonko
Simpi - Ghana
Deputy Chairman Accra Culture and Arts Network
Mr. Azonko
Simpi holds a B.A. Arts
Music and Ewe combined, Diploma Music Education
(Audio-Visual) from the University of Cape Coast.
He worked at the erstwhile Ghana Films Industry
Corporation before going private with
Azonko Synchronisations
Limited (A-Synchro). Mr. Azonko
Simpi the Synchroniser plays
three different musical instruments, the Guitar, the
Rat-Trap cowbell, Leg marakash
and sings along at the same time with his Classic Africa
Orchestra.
His band Azonko Ensemble
also plays all types of music from Highlife, Jazz,
Reggae to Classic African Orchestral form of music.
Azonko
is a synchronizer, composer, arranger, conductor,
performer, multi-instrumentalist, studio/sound engineer
and organizer. He has numerous relations in the
audio-visual arts which makes him a one-stop station to
reach the public.
Azonko
is currently working on the Classic Africa Orchestral
Delights Vol. I (CAOD)
project. His brain chilled the CAOD
project, is the fusion of Western symphony orchestra
with African traditional instruments and idioms to
revive and introduce into the repertoire of the top
Philharmonic Orchestras, a new genre of music that could
expand their listener-ship to a new frontier in Africa
and the entire Global Market.
Azonko
Simpi has embarked on a
planned series of public lecturing under the topic
“Music: One of the Golden Keys to Ghana’s Development”
Prof. Seth N. Asumah – Ghana
/ USA:
SUNY
Distinguished Teaching Professor,
Professor of Political Science & Chair, Africana Studies
Department, SUNY,
Cortland, USA.
Dr. Seth N. Asumah is State
University of New York Distinguished Teaching Professor,
Professor of Political Science and Chairperson of the
Africana Studies Department at the State University of
New York College at Cortland. Professor
Asumah earned his doctorate
in Government and International Relations and Master of
Public Administration degrees from Lehigh University,
Bethlehem, PA. He received his Bachelor of Science
degree from the State University of New York, College at
Oneonta. Dr. Asumah attended
Accra Academy in Ghana, Tottenham Polytechnic in
England, and Tarkwa
Secondary School, Tarkwa,
Ghana. His research and teaching areas include African
Politics and Society, Politics of Developing
Nation-States, Politics of the Middle East, Politics and
Multiculturalism, Comparative and International
Politics, U.S. Foreign Policy, World Politics, Public
Administration and Policy.
Dr. Mokong Simon
Mapadimeng- South Africa:
Research Manager
The National Arts Council of South Africa
Newtown, Johannesburg
Mr. Charlie Haffner – Sierra
Leone:
Director General Freetong
Players International Theatre Group, Freetown.
Over thirty years of continuous theatrical activities
worldwide. Theatre Consultant, Tutor, Playwright,
Actor, Composer, Founder of
Freetong Players International Theatre Group
(1985). Winner of Presidential Gold Award for dedicated
& meritorious service in the field of theatre Arts
(2006). His work has included Consultant for Anti
corruption /GTZ/ Media
Magic/Global Fund charged with responsibility to form
local/chiefdom community drama groups by giving
knowledge to local participants and equipping them with
the necessary skills to develop messages from resource
materials, develop songs, dramas out of traditional
songs and dramas out of traditional songs and stories,
understand the nature and practice of community
participatory theatre, and operate simple community
drama group and mobilize for community performances.
Ms. Lindsay McClain – USA
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
Member of the College Scholars
Honors Concentration: Peace and Reconciliation:
Exploring Creative Approaches in Africa. Currently
Co-President and Development Officer with The Jazz
for Justice Project in Knoxville, Tennessee. Ms
McClain has worked in Uganda with the Minority Health
International Research Training on a 2 ½ month study to
measure the efficacy of art therapy in reducing
PTSD in former child
soldiers, instructed youth (ages 12-17) in art
education, including painting, drawing, drama, music,
and storytelling. In 2009 she crafted a 160-page
manuscript of artwork collected in northern Uganda on
the impact of art in peace-building. She has received
many awards including the University of Tennessee
“Volunteer of the Year” Award 2008 and McClure
Scholarship, Honors Research
Grant, Nielsen Scholarship, Harold Eller Scholarship,
and the Jackson International Studies Scholarship, U.S.
Students Abroad Scholarship and the
UT Volunteer Scholarship.
Mr. Solomon Tsehaye
Baraki –
Eretria
Director of Cultural Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Education, Eritrea.
“I
joined the Eritrean struggle for independence in mid
-1970s where I served as a fighter - poet, writer and
cultural organizer until the liberation of the country
in May 1991. I write in Tigrinya, the most widely spoken
language in Eritrea, using one of Africa’s most ancient
alphabets called Geez. The
Geez alphabet is used both
in Eritrea and Ethiopia.
I have published my poetry in a book titled
Sahl, and I am the
author of the words (lyrics) of the national anthem of
Eritrea. I have written two novels and a number of
essays. I was highly involved in drafting Eritrea’s
national policy for culture. I was also editor and
regular contributor of Eritrea’s arts and culture
magazine Netsebraq
for ten years.
My thirty years long experience as a literary artist and
cultural worker made me grow high sensitivity to culture
and development, particularly when it comes to the
preservation and dissemination of oral traditions which
are fast disappearing with the passing away of our wise
and knowledgeable old people.”
Igodo: One Voice Cultural Ensemble - Imo State, Nigeria
Igodo: One Voice, is a youth
cultural organisation and is registered with the Imo
State Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and is an
affiliate of the Imo State Council for Arts and Culture.
Recent performances include Dance/1st Festival on Igbo
Civilisation (in commemoration of the golden jubilee of
Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Whelan Research
Academy, Owerri and the Democracy Day celebrations, Imo
Concorde Hotel Banquet Hall, Owerri.
Nana Aba Anamoah
– Ghana:
Journalist and presenter from Ghana’s TV3
Dr. Desta
Meghoo - Ethiopia
Born in Jamaica, educated in the USA, with experience
working in Africa since 1992. Dr
Meghoo is presently a
development consultant based in Ethiopia with over
twenty five years experience in entertainment, public
relations and social development. She hold a Bachelors
Degree in Business Management and a Juris Doctorate in
Law. While she has spent some years in academia and with
noteworthy organizations and coordinating various events
including Africa Unite Addis Ababa – 2005, she has also
independently produced several large and small events in
Ethiopia such as New Generation - New Attitude
Millennium Concert, Nazareth- 2007, Reggae By the Nile
Festival Bahir Dar 2009. Her
firm promotes several art exhibitions and music and
dance performances yearly. In July 2009 she coordinated
activities for President Barak
Obama’s visit to Ghana with
the African Diaspora groups where she was a guest of the
President of Ghana to a breakfast event for the US
President where she met President
Obama. She is passionate about the use of the
arts as an agent for social and economic development in
Africa.
Dr Elise Huffer – South
Pacific
Human Development Program, Adviser Culture
Secretariat of the Pacific Community – Fiji.
As the Advisor Culture in the Human Development Program,
Elise Huffer is responsible
for the promotion of culture in the Pacific Islands
region. This entails implementation of model laws for
the protection of traditional knowledge, the promotion
of measures to assist the development of the arts and
crafts sector (including the protection and promotion of
natural resources the arts and crafts sectors depend on)
and the promotion of cultural epistemology in policy
making.
The SPC covers 22 Pacific
Islands Countries and Territories and she works closely
with member countries, the civil society sector and
other governmental and non-governmental regional and
international agencies. Dr. Huffer
studied in the USA and France and was based at the
IRD (formerly
ORSTOM) in New Caledonia
where she undertook research on the Pacific for her
doctoral thesis in political science and
international relations. Her areas of expertise include
culture, gender,
politics, international relations and governance.
Dr Daisy Ebeniro – Nigeria
Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences,
University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria.
A Sociologist by training with specialisation in
Criminology, Police Science and Social work, and a
multidisciplinary researcher by choice, Dr.
Chioma Daisy
Ebeniro was born in
Omoku, Nigeria.. She is a
member of American Society of Criminology (ASC),
European Society of Criminology (ESC), British Society
of Criminology (BSC), African Criminology and Justice
Association (ACJA), and
International Sociological Association (ISA). She is
also an editorial board member of the Feminist
Criminology journal. She is also an editorial board
member of the Feminist Criminology journal. Although she
is best known for her work on prostitution and
unemployment in Nigeria, her research extends into
cognate areas such as gender and crime; gender and
HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa and environmental issues
in the Niger Delta. Dr. Ebeniro
currently teaches environmental sociology, criminology
and gender courses at the Department of Sociology,
University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Grace Flavia
Barya – Uganda
Lecturer of Development Studies at Uganda Christian
University, Mukono, Uganda.
Grace Flavia
Barya (Mrs) is a teacher by profession
specializing in rural development.. She has previously
taught at Makerere
University and Kampala International University. She has
worked as Executive Director, Uganda Women
Entrepreneurs’’ Association and is a consultant on
Gender, Business and Cultural issues in Uganda. She is
winner of the 2006 World International mentoring Award
at the 10th World Summit of Young
Entrepreneurs, Brazil and winner of the 5th
NURRU (Network of Ugandan
researchers and Research Users), research grant. She has
done extensive research in areas of Ethnicity and land
disputes, cluster production of handicrafts as well as
population issues. She has 8 years’ University Teaching
experience and presently boasts of 92 undergraduate
dissertations having successfully been completed under
her supervision.
Mulenga Kapwepwe – Zambia
Chairperson, National Arts Council of Zambia
Mulenga
Kapwepwe holds a Bachelor of
Arts Degree from the University of Zambia. She was the
founding Chairperson of the
ARTerial Network Task Team until September 2009
and now is one of the ten members of the newly elected
Arterial Network Steering Committee. In Zambia she is
the Chairperson of the Zambia National Arts Council,
where she works with a number of networks and
funders and civil society
organisations. She is a writer and has published a
number of books. She also has been actively engaged in
promoting various developments in the arts over the last
15 years and was Technical Advisor to the European Union
for the Zambia Culture Sector Development Programme, a
three-year programme that was aimed at developing the
arts and protecting heritage in Zambia. She is also
serving as a Commissioner for UNESCO (Zambia) and has
been involved in a number of policy developments in the
cultural sector.
Akorfa
Ejeani-Asiedu – Ghana
Actress and producer in the Ghanaian Film and Television
industry. She is best known for her films and television
drama.
Mr. Israel Jacob Massuanganhe, PhD – Angola
Chief Technical Advisor. Head, Project Management and
Coordination Unit Decentralization and Local Governance,
UNDP
A Senior Economist with a Master in Economics and Policy
Analysis and PhD in Economics, oriented to Policies,
Governance and Local Development. “Prior to joining
UNDP in Angola, I was in
LEAD Programme (2006). In general, in my experience I
served UN in Policy and Programming (UNDAF,
CPD, CPAP), Management:
Executive Snapshot, Project Management Dashboard and
RBM, resources planning and
management, capacity building and resource mobilization
maintaining upstream and downstream UN &
UNDP’s comparative
advantage. I prepared and publish different papers
related to governance and local development in different
networks. 2008, I was acknowledged as frequent
contributor of Democratic Governance Practice Network
(Ref link: DGP News Update,
Issue No.64
<http://practices.undp.org/democratic-governance/news/2009/issue-64.cfm>).”
Prof. Irene K. Odotei –
Ghana
Professor in History at the Institute of African
Studies, University of Ghana.
Prof. Odotei served as
acting director of the Institute from October 1998 to
September 2002. During her tenure, she sourced for
funding for the Institute to construct and move into the
new premises known as the Kwame
Nkrumah Complex.
She initiated capacity building workshops for Chiefs and
their administrators, Women Traditional Leaders,
Teachers, History Graduate Students among others.
She has assisted in the establishment of NGOs and other
bodies such as Culture, Education and Technology
Network; Culture, Governance and Development; Women in
Leadership and Development; Council of Women Traditional
Leaders and International Institute of Advance Studies.
Currently, she serves on the Presidential Commission on
Chieftaincy Affairs and the National Peace Council. She
is the President of the Historical Society of Ghana and
also the Vice President for Africa of the Bible Society.
Marisa N. Benson- USA
Marisa N. Benson has served two years as a Cultural
Program Specialist for the U.S
Department of State. During this period, she
contributed to the success of cultural exchange,
professional development and residency programs in the
performing, literary and visual arts that have included
the Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad Program, the
Cultural Visitor and Fellows Mentoring Program, the
Cultural Envoy program, and Performing Arts Initiative
and the International Writing Program. She
currently administers the International Internship
Program at Princeton University that sends Princeton
undergraduate students on internships with international
organizations and companies in all world regions.
In addition, she has conducted significant research into
traditional cultural expressions as it related to
artistic design and copyright law in African countries,
as well as research into the topics of the role of
cultural diplomacy in the U.S. foreign policy and the
role of music as an instrument for change.
Dr. Akinola
Oriola – Nigeria
Department of English, Faculty of Arts, University of
Ibadan,
Ibadan, Nigeria.
Holds a Ph.D in Literary
Theory, African and African – American Drama from the
University of Ibadan,
Nigeria. Has worked as Research Fellow at the Syracuse
University, New York, USA and was formerly Head of
Department , Department of General Studies, School of
Management and Business Studies, Lagos State
Polytechnic.
Professor F. Nii-Yartey -
Ghana
Associate Professor, Department of Dance Studies, School
of Performing Arts, University of Ghana and Director,
NOYAM African Dance
Institute.
After his formal education in the Arts,
Nii-Yartey took over the
Artistic Directorship of the Ghana Dance Ensemble at the
University of Ghana (1976 – 1993). He was awarded the
prestigious Visiting Cornell Professorship at
Swathmore College,
Pennsylvania, USA.
His publications include: Alvin Alley: a Revolutionary
in Dance; Creation and Presentation of Traditional
African dances – A Review of Basic Ghanaian Attitudes;
The Development and Promotion of Contemporary
Choreographic Expression in Ghana and; Principles of
African Choreography – Some Perspectives.
In 1998, he established the Noyam
African Dance Institute, the first of its kind in Ghana,
to formally train dancers and the pre-University level.
Both in his written work, scholarship and choreographic
works, Nii-Yartey works to
investigate ways in which dance can both reflect and
shape social change.
Mrs. Apakama Lucy
Mgbengasha – Nigeria
Department of Nigerian Languages,
Alvan Ikoku Federal
College, Owerri, Imo State,
Nigeria.
Since 1993 Dr. (Mrs) Apakama
Lucy Mgbengasha has been a
lecturer in the Department of Language Studies, she has
a Masters Degree in Linguistics from
Abia State University ,
Uturu, Nigeria and
completing PhD in Igbo Culture from the
Nnamdi
Azikwe University , Awka
Anambra State , Nigeria .
Dr. Leslie Casley-Hayford –
Canada / Ghana
Development Consultant / Researcher
Doctorate International Education, University of Sussex,
UK. Over 20 years experience in the field of
International Development in Asia and Africa. Consulted
for a number of International development Agencies
including: The World bank, Department
ofr International
Development, Canadian International Development Agency,
Danida,
USAID, the World Food Program,
UNAIDS, UNESCO,
International development Research centre, CARE, Action
Aid and Plan International in rural, urban and conflict
settings. Director of Associates for Change (AfC),
a research and consulting firm focussed on social
development and policy transformation.
Dr Olu-Adeyemi -
Nigeria
Dept of Political Science and Public Administration,
Adekunle
Ajasin University,
AKungba
Akoko, Ondo State,
Nigeria.
Dr Olu-Adeyemi holds
B.Sc. Political Science (Hons), 1997; M.Sc. Political
Science (2000) and PhD Political Science (2008) from
Ondo State University, Ado-Ekiti
(now Adekunle
Ajasin University);
University of Ibadan and
Adekunle
Ajasin University,
Akungba
Akoko respectively. Dr. ‘Lanre
Olu-Adeyemi joined the
services of the Adekunle
Ajasin University,
Akungba-Akoko (AAUA),
Ondo State, Nigeria in 2001
as a Graduate Assistant. He is currently a Lecturer 1 in
the University. Dr. ‘Lanre
Olu-Adeyemi already has more
than 17 academic publications in books and journals
around the world. Among his published works are
“Globalisation and human security in Africa:
Interrogating the barriers to its concrete realization”,
2000; “African Indigenous democracy and Western
Democracy: Conflict of relevance in Yoruba, Nigeria,”
2004; “Inequality in the International System -
Globalisation and Africa in Perspective”, 2005; and “The
Phenomenon of `Child Labour` and ‘Child Soldiering` in
Conflicts: The African Dilemma” 2007.
Leopold Gadagoe – Ghana
University of Ghana Graduate Student
Recently completed Masters program at University of
Ghana with a BA in Philosophy and Religion. Has worked
with the Department of Religion, University of Ghana and
the Global Evangelical Church, Accra.
Akinola Adeoye O – Nigeria
Department of Political Science,
Obafemi Awolowo
University, Ife
Ife,
Osun State, Nigeria.
“I, Akinola
Adeoye O (myself) obtained
B.Sc (Political Science)
Hons in the Department of Political Science in 2002. I
subsequently enrolled for a M.Sc
degree in 206 and am set o sit for an oral defence in
2009. I took up a lecturing appointment in 2007 and have
engaged in a series of academic and professional
endeavours. Some of my published articles include:
1.
2008 Socio-Economic Reforms and the Future of the Nigerian
State, International Journal of Politics
abd Development (IRPAD),
and
2.
2008 An Overview of Selected Public Policy in Nigeria in
Concise Readings on Public Policy Analysis.”
Helga Mangueira
Olavo
Gamboa – Angola
PhD candidate at School of Art at Aberystwyth
University, UK
MA / PGDIP Artefacts and
Archives, University of West of England, Bristol, UK.
Practicising ceramicist and artist having exhibited in UK,
Portugal, Brazil, Moldovia,
Russia, Angola, Congo, Nigeria and the USA
Henry Kam
Kah - Cameroon
University of Buea, Cameroon
Luckmore Jalisi - Zimbabwe
Students Partnership Worldwide (SPW)
Zimbabwe.
MSc Sociology and Social Anthropology, University of
Zimbabwe. An active member of his community with
participation through positions including Executive
Member in the Global Call Against Poverty Youth
Coalition (2007 to date), Project Planning and
Management for HIV projects at the
NAC-University of Zimbabwe and Youth
Representative in the National
Behavioral Change Strategic Committee 2008. He
actively took part in the framing of the Zimbabwe
National HIV and AIDS Strategy 2006 to 2010. Winner of
the 2006 University of Zimbabwe Book prize for Academic
Excellence.
Ukachi Wachuku – Nigeria
Alvan
Ikoku Federal College of
Education. Owerri.
Director of Igodo: One Voice
Cultural Ensemble. MA Linguistics, University of Port
Harcourt, Nigeria.
