Prog Cramer and Dr Di John, two of the co-directors of Development Leadership Dialogue (DLD) along with Ha-Joon Chang in the SOAS Economics dept, in mid-February ran the first of the DLD Future Leaders Programme events, a five day workshop on African Economic Development: from Wish Lists to Strategies.

20 participants (16 from a number of African countries and four from South Korea) joined the DLD directors and a group of guest speakers including the distinguished Ethiopian policy maker and public intellectual Dr. Arkebe Oqubay (SOAS Development Studies), Dr. Carlos Lopes (former Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa and now an Honorary Professor at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance in Cape Town), Dr Adeyemi Dipeolu (a Nigerian diplomat and former chief economic advisor to the Vice-President in the previous administration), John Sender (Emeritus Professor of Economics at SOAS), Professor Dzodzi Tsikata (SOAS Development Studies), and Dr Nimrod Zalk (formerly of the Department of Trade and Industry in South Africa, now also at the Mandela School) for a highly successful and intensive week of discussions.

The Development Leadership Dialogue was launched in October 2023 to bring together leading academics and professionals  to discuss the challenges in implementing development policies and it aims to foster better understanding of new practices and ideas.