Ken Ofori-Atta
The Africa Initiative for Governance (AIG) has issued a call for applications for its 2017 scholarships for a Masters Degree in Public Policy at the renowned Blavatnik School of Government, the UK’s first school of Government at the University of Oxford.
The call was issued by the AIG Chairman and Founder, AigbojeAig-Imoukhuede and Founding Directors –Ofovwe Aig-Imoukhuede, Herbert Wigwe and Dr. Jeya Wilson – ahead of the inaugural meeting of the Initiative’s Panel of Advisors in Lagos, Nigeria.
From 2017, the AIG will fund five scholarships each year as part of a new five-year partnership which is based on the shared purpose of building good governance and public leadership.
The AIG is a Foundation established in recognition of the fact that Africa’s poor record of public sector governance is a critical factor preventing the continent from achieving its true potential.
The AIG Scholarships will have an initial focus on candidates from Nigeria and Ghana, allowing the students to study for a Master of Public Policy (MPP) alongside classmates from across the globe.
The scholarships will be available to those who can demonstrate academic excellence, proven leadership and commitment to public service and who intend to return to the public sector in Africa after completing their studies.
Along with the scholarship scheme will be an academic fellowship scheme.
The AIG Visiting Fellowship will also be available from 2017, open to candidates who can demonstrate an outstanding contribution to public policy that has yielded meaningful impact on the public good, and commitment to public service in their country, region and globally.
The Fellowship is open to senior officials or practitioners working in or with government and who are resident in West Africa.
Ken Ofori-Atta, Co-Founder and Former Executive Chairman of Databank, Ghana, commenting on the initiative said: “After we have trained these potential future leaders, it is important to ask the question: how do we protect them? How do we reinforce and create an environment where people are conscious of the impact that they could have? And just as importantly, we must ensure that we develop an environment which is retraining and reorienting the entirety of the civil service on a broad scale.”