African Activists, Doctors, Health Systems Experts, Entrepreneurs Named As New Voices For Global Development

The Aspen Institute has announced the first 12-member class of the New Voices Fellowship, a groundbreaking new program designed to amplify expert voices from the developing world in the global development discussion. The 2013-2014 fellows come from 10 countries in Africa: Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Somalia and Tanzania.

They include the founder of an organization which promotes African-focused children’s literature; a Somali civil war refugee turned youth leader; a primary care expert from Ethiopia; a Cameroonian activist campaigning for women’s rights;  a Malawian health systems expert helping to implement Swaziland’s universal HIV treatment program; the Ghanaian CEO of a technology company addressing social issues in West Africa; a physician working on preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Tanzania; a nonprofit leader from Mali spearheading efforts to boost small-scale farmer income; two activists from Nairobi’s Kibera and Korogocho slums; a doctor and helicopter pilot from Nigeria; and an expert from the Democratic Republic of Congo on health care in Africa’s most remote regions.

These Fellows will undertake a program of intensive media training and mentorship to help them reach a broader global audience through both traditional and new media and speaking engagements.

“All too frequently, the most powerful leaders and practitioners in the developing world do not have access to global communications platforms to tell their stories in their own words,” said Peggy Clark, executive director of Aspen Global Health and Development, and also vice president of policy programs at the Aspen Institute.

“The New Voices Fellows will give us insights into the most critical programs, solutions and innovations based on their own experiences and research.”

Supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the New Voices Fellowship was established in 2013 to bring the essential perspectives of committed development champions from Africa and other parts of the developing world into the global development debate.

The 2013-2014 New Voices Fellows are: