Steering Committee 2008-09

Anthoni van Nieuwkerk

Current position: Associate Professor, Centre for Defence and Security Management, Graduate School of Public and Development Management, Wits University, Johannesburg; Chairperson of the FOPRISA Steering Committee.

Key qualifications: Professor van Nieuwkerk is based at Wits University.  He has worked at various academic institutions, and between 1994 and 1999, managed the research programme of the Institute for Global Dialogue (IGD).  At Wits, he is a member of a team coordinating the research and training activities of the Southern African Defence and Security Management (SADSEM) network.  He also teaches on the Masters of Management programme at the Graduate School of Public and Development Management.  In 2002-2003 he acted as the school’s director of research, and served on its management committee as area head for public policy and governance.

Professor van Nieuwkerk is co-editor of three books and author of various journal articles and book chapters.  He is a guest lecturer and external examiner at various South African academic and training institutions.  He is a council member of the South African Association of Political Science (SAAPS) and a research associate of the Institute for Global Dialogue (IGD) and Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA).  In 2002, he chaired the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) Standards Generating Body (SGB) for Diplomacy and coordinated African NGO input into the Commission on Human Security’s 2003 global report entitled Human Security Now.  He is a research member or research coordinator of a range of local and regional research projects funded by donors such as the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the Canadian IDRC and the Danish agency DANIDA.

Research interests include international relations theory, public policy and foreign policy analysis, and defence and security policy in Africa.

Happy Fidzani

Current Position: Executive Director, Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis; member of the FOPRISA Steering Committee.

Key Qualifications: Dr Happy Fidzani obtained a PhD in Economics, with specialization in the areas of Development Economics, Economics of Public Enterprise, and Economics of Agriculture and Rural Development from Boston University. Before joining BIDPA he was head of the Economics Department at the University of Botswana for five years. He also lectured in Advanced Macroeconomics and Advanced Microeconomics at graduate level; and Econometrics and International Finance at undergraduate level.

Dr Fidzani has written and published in the areas of Monetary Policy, International Trade, Agricultural Economics and HIV/AIDS. He has served as a director on a number of boards, including that of the Bank of Botswana (BOB), Botswana Meat Commission (BMC), Botswana International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), Botswana Insurance Fund Management (BFIM), and the Southern African Poverty Research Network (SARPN).

Jan Isaksen

Current position: Senior Research Fellow, Chr. Michelsen Institute; member of the FOPRISA Steering Committee.

Key qualifications: Mr. Isaksen is an applied economist with 34 years experience in research, research management, policy advice and public sector technical assistance. His geographical concentration is on Southern and Eastern Africa but also includes Eastern Europe and Asia. His experiences include operational work with Government as well as in-country advisory positions, consultancies and work with the United Nations (particularly UNIDO), the World Bank and other international organizations. On the consultancy side, his particular skills lie in conceptualizing, funding and running policy research projects, serving as Team leader/project director.

He played a key role in setting up two important research institutes in the Southern African region (BIDPA in Botswana and NEPRU in Namibia) and served as their first coordinator/director. Isaksen’s background is in econometrics, macroeconomics, macro economic management and public finance management, trade statistics and industrial sector research serves as a solid background for policy analysis. Current research interests are policy analysis for development including macro-economics, macro modelling and institutional aspects of macro-economic management. In addition, he takes a keen interest in fields like public finance, poverty analysis, development aid, regional co-operation as well as institutional development and capacity building for policy analysis.

Bohela Lunogelo

Current position: Executive Director, Economic and Social Research Foundation; member of the Steering Committee.

Key qualifications: Dr. H. Bohela Lunogelo, the Executive Director, holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics (Agricultural Policy) (1989), an M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics (International Trade, Business Management, Quantitative Methods) (1986), both from the University of London, United Kingdom, and a B.Sc. in Agricultural Science (Rural Economy) (First Class) from Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania (1984).

Dr Lunogelo’s professional career in the past 20 years includes undertaking numerous consultancy assignments, most of which involved translating policy into practical application at the national and regional levels. His engagement with international consultancy firms exposed him to working experiences in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Swaziland, UK, Thailand, PR China, United States and Tunisia. Most of the work involved interacting with development partners including IFAD, World Bank, UNDP, Sida, Danida, ILO and AfDB. During his early professional years he worked in the sisal and tea industries and with the Ministry of Agriculture (Planning Division) in Dar es salaam.

Angelo Mondlane

Current position: Head, Policy and Strategic Planning, SADC Secretariat; member of the Steering Committee.

Key qualifications: Prof. Angelo Mondlane is an economist and previously worked at the Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique.

Jonathan Mayuyuka Kaunda

Current position: Senior Research Fellow and Head of Public Sector Unit, Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis; Coordinator of FOPRISA and Secretary of the Steering Committee.

Key qualifications: Professor Jonathan Mayuyuka Kaunda is a public policy researcher, analyst, consultant and advisor. Kaunda studied at the universities of Malawi; Wisconsin-Madison in the United States of America; and East Anglia in the United Kingdom. His research and consultancy interests are in general policy analysis, public sector institutional reform, public-private sector interactions, and regulation and governance issues.

Kaunda joined BIDPA in 2002 to set up and head the Public Sector Unit, which covers institutional, political and public policy analysis, governance, regulation and other public sector issues, and also provides support to other multi-disciplinary projects. Prior to joining BIDPA, Kaunda worked for 23 years as an academic and researcher at the universities of Malawi and Botswana.

- top of the page -

Home - About Us - News - Events - Research - Publications - Resources - Researchers
FAQs - Links - Site Map - Contact Us