Sustainable Development and Human Security in Africa : Governance As the Missing Link

Many new development initiatives have been introduced in Africa over the past few decades. Each of these has been heralded as marking a new era in the continent’s development. However, many of these initiatives have failed to produce sustained results due to numerous challenges, including, most importantly, the lack of good governance. The Africa Progress Panel stated in 2011 that good governance is the key enabling factor for sustainable development. This book discusses the role good governance plays in achieving sustainable development and eradicating extreme poverty in Africa.

The contributed chapters in this book seek to broaden the policy debate and provide conversations about the sustainable development challenges facing African countries from multiple viewpoints and interdisciplinary perspectives―from academics, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners in the field. The book focuses on the governance perspectives of practitioners who deal with day-to-day realities on the ground, with the goal to use evidence-based information to make informed policies, programs, and strategies to move the continent toward achieving sustainable development.

This book tries to strike a balance between recognizing the need to bring politics back into development programs and understanding the limitations of political institutions in weak states. To that end, it looks at the challenges of development from the perspective of human security, with a focus on strengthening the human resource component of African economies in order to achieve better governance as part of a sustainable development process.

Dr. Louis A. Picard is professor and director of the Ford Institute for Human Security, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. He is also the former director of the International Development Division of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA). He served as president of Public Administration Service from 2002 through 2005. His research and consulting specializations include international development, governance, development management, local government, civil society, and human resource development. His primary area of interest is Africa. Dr. Picard has served as a United Nations Development Programme and World Bank advisor and worked in more than 46 countries, 38 of which are in Africa and the Middle East. Dr. Picard has carried out research on regional and district governance in South Africa, Tanzania, and Botswana as well as research on U.S. foreign aid, security, and diplomacy.

Dr. Terry F. Buss, is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. Buss was past executive director and distinguished professor of public policy at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), in Adelaide, Australia, from 2008 through 2014. Buss earned his doctorate in political science and mathematics at Ohio State University. Over the past 30 years, Buss has built his career in both academe and government. Before coming to CMU, he directed the program in International, Security and Defense Studies at the National Academy of Public Administration for five years. From 2000 through 2003, Buss served as dean of the School of Policy and Management at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami. In 2000, Buss worked as a senior policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington, DC.

Dr. Taylor B. Seybolt is associate professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. From 2002 to 2008 he was a senior program officer at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) in Washington, DC. He has been a professorial lecturer at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies and an adjunct professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University. From 1999 through 2002, he was leader of the Conflicts and Peace Enforcement Project at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in Sweden. Seybolt is the author of Humanitarian Military Intervention: the Conditions for Success and Failure and co-editor of Counting Civilian Casualties. He was an advisor to the Genocide Prevention Task Force, co-chaired by Madeleine Albright and William Cohen.

Dr. Macrina C. Lelei is the interim director of the African Studies program (ASP), University Center for International Studies (UCIS), at the University of Pittsburgh. She is also an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Administrative and Policy Studies, School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh. She received her PhD in social and comparative analysis in education, and her master’s degree in library science, both from the University of Pittsburgh. She received her bachelor’s degree in education from Kenyatta University, Kenya. Her region of research and teaching focus is sub-Saharan Africa in the area of educational development with a specific emphasis on educational issues of access, opportunity, and equity especially gender equality, and the challenges faced by girls and women in accessing education.