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The phenomenon of Donald Trump winning the United States presidential elections is tackled by Liberian academic and activist Robtel Neajai Pailey in an article for New African magazine - the cover of which is shown above - in her column Random Acts of Activism.  The 2010 Tutu Fellow examines the contentious US elections and its outcome in her piece Africa's lessons for Trump's America.  It begins by arguing that Trump's victory has exposed the emperor's nakedness and that Africa has much to teach Americans dismayed by the outcome of their election.

In the United States, she says that the least-qualified candidate of all time beat the most qualified through a deeply flawed electoral college system after an election marked by hate speech and mysogynistic vitriol.  By comparison, in her country, Liberia, a highly qualified septuagenarian, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, beat the hugely popular football star-turned-politican George Weah in a high-stakes runoff. With a 70% voter turnout in Liberia versus 56% in the US, Pailey says that the witty observation by Ghanaian scholar Dr. Takyiwaa Manuh was accurate when she encouraged Americans to consult Africa on 'how to trump your Trump.'

The full article can be read on page 28 of the January edition of New African.

The 2011 Tutu Fellow Victor Ochen has been named Commonwealth Youth Worker of the Year for 2015.  The award was announced at a ceremony in London on 5 November 2015.  Ochen and his organization, AYINET, was one of five outstanding youth workers recognised by the Commonwealth for their efforts to support young people in building peace.  Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma said: "The contribution of youth workers is vital to community cohesion and nation building. Their impact on individual development and public wellbeing is beyond measure – but not beyond recognition."

The Washington Post has published a lengthy article by 2015 Tutu Fellow Landry Signe on the most recent coup in Burkina Faso, just a few weeks before a democratic presidential election. In it, he outlines some of the signals people should watch for when it comes to the successful transfer of power in Africa.

In 2011, 2014 Tutu Fellow Mokena Makeka spoke at a TEDx event in Mfuleni township about the relationship between democracy and design. His perspective as an architect revealed to him how lot of problems are caused by the way design is used to separate and affect people.

Mokena is the Director of Makeka Design Lab an international award-winning Architecture practice. He said he noticed how areas of Cape Town that were more vulnerable to floods were inhabited by poorer people, while the ones with great views had homes for more privileged ones. This was not just about colonialism or apartheid, he said.  It was about the conscious choices of design in society.