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A 2009 Tutu Fellow, Dr Julie Makani, has been awarded the Dr Lee Jong-wook Memorial Prize for Public Health. The award, which was made in November 2020, is awarded annually to a person, institution, a governmental or nongovernmental organization that has made an outstanding contribution to public health. It was presented at a special ceremony during the World Health Organisation Assembly.

Julie was awarded the prestigious prize at the WHO event due to her leading work at the Sickle Cell Disease Consortium in Tanzania, which provides an academic and scientific environment that serves as a platform for the professional development of clinicians and scientists working to combat sickle cell disease.

2019 Tutu Fellow Robin Miller has been appointed to serve on the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on the New Agenda for Work, Wages and Job Creation.  The council considers what the new pathways are to creating more and better jobs in the new economy. The work of the council is possibly more relevant than ever when seen against the backdrop of the COVID-19 crisis that has led to significant economic and social disruption with sharp increases in unemployment and underemployment and radical changes in how work is done. This disruption could accelerate previous trends towards the displacement of workers through automation and digitalization – possibly leading to a jobless recovery – without proactive efforts by governments, business and workers.

Robin is a Partner and founding member of Dalberg’s Africa Team and has been recognized as a thought leader and expert on the topic of digital transformation on a range of global platforms, including the BBC, Financial Times, and the World Economic Forum.

2007 Tutu Fellow Brilliant Mhlanga has written an intimate and moving tribute for the late former Ghanaian President and military officer, Jerry John Rawlings. JJ Rawlings - as he was commonly known - led the country from 1981 to 2001, a period that included a military junta until 1992. He went on to serve two terms as the democratically-elected president of Ghana, stepping down at the end of the constitutionally-limited time frame.

Brilliant describes Jerry Rawlings as a “true Pan African” and a “Giant of Africa”, giving us an intimate look into this man's personality, political views, and dreams for the African continent.

Forbes Africa Magazine has profiled 2013 Fellow Danladi Veheijen and Eric Idiahi who was selected for the Tutu Fellowship Class of 2020 in their cover story of the October/ November 2020 Special Edition on Private Equity in Africa.  Danladi and Eric are co-founders of Verod Capital Management Limited. They founded the company at the apex of the global financial crisis in 2008, and it was one of the first indigenous venture capitalist firms in Nigeria.

Verod is a $300 million Africa-focused private equity firm which invests in high growth, medium sized companies across several sectors, including consumer products, manufacturing, technology/media and real estate.

The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) has announced the appointment of 2012 Tutu Fellow Lydie Hakizimana as its Chief Executive Officer. The AIMS International Governing Board (IGB) made the announcement on the 4th of November 2020, following a unanimous decision.

Founded in 2003, AIMS is a pan-African network of centres of excellence for post-graduate training in mathematical sciences, research and public engagement in STEM. With centres in South Africa, Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon and Rwanda, AIMS is leading Africa’s socio-economic transformation through innovative scientific training, cutting-edge research, and public engagement.

2019 Tutu Fellow Edwine Barasa PhD has been appointed visiting Professor of Health Economics at the University of Oxford. In this role, he will be responsible for Health Economics research, student supervision, and teaching at the Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health at the Nuffield Department of Medicine at Oxford.

Edwine is already a professor, and the Director of the Nairobi Programme of the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme and also heads the Programme’s Health Economics Research Unit. He has a PhD in Health Economics (University of Cape Town), a Master’s degree in Health Economics (University of Cape Town), and a Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy (University of Nairobi).

2014 Tutu Fellow Linda Kasonde has been at the forefront of a legal battle since 2019 to prevent a change to the constitution by the Zambian government. Zambia’s Constitution Amendment Bill (No. 10 of 2019) aimed at weakening the legislature, judiciary, and state institutions that provide necessary checks and balances. “Bill 10”, as it was known, also threatened to change the electoral system to make it easier for the incumbent to win the 2021 presidential election and to hold on to power through gerrymandering. In a victory for the people, the bill has been defeated in the legislature.

Chapter One Foundation - which she founded - and the Law Association of Zambia, sued the state on the basis that the proposed Constitutional Amendment Bill was unconstitutional when it was first proposed.

Financing Alliance for Health - the company 2019 Fellow Dr Angela Gichaga leads - has developed a seven part series of courses on financing in public health. Financing Alliance serves government Ministries of Health and Ministries of Finance, globally, in building resilient and sustainably-financed health systems. At a time when the global coronavirus pandemic is affecting people everywhere, financing stretched public health systems is a hot topic, so the timing of the programme is fortuitous.

The newly-developed Financing Community Health Programs for Scale and Sustainability course presents an in-depth exploration of the financing value chain needed to understand resource needs as well as to mobilize resources for community health.

In October 2020, two Nigerian Tutu Fellows, Akin Oyebode and Serah Ugbabe, co-hosted a Zoom discussion, entitled, Let’s Run for Office: Spotlight on Local Government Chairman. The guest speaker for the event was Folarin Gbadebo-Smith PhD, the Director General for the Nigerian Institute for Social and Economic Research as well as the Local Government Chairman for Lagos from 2003- 2007.

In the Zoom discussion, Folarin shared his history, personal anecedotes, and insights into working and rising through local governance in Nigeria.

2011 Tutu Fellow Charles Washoma has been appointed as Vice President of International Affiliated Institutes at the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). The appointment was made on 26 October 2020.

The CII is the largest professional body operating in the insurance and financial services market and has membership of over 129,000. Governments, regulators and employers see the organisation as an important source of thought leadership, expertise and best practice.

The following is the full text of an open letter from Nigerian Tutu Fellows to President Muhammadu Buhari on the violent treatment by Nigerian security forces of #EndSARS protestors.

Open Letter to the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

October 21, 2020

President Buhari,

You appealed to Nigerians to give you a mandate in 2003, 2007 and 2011.

2010 Fellow Edwin Macharia has been appointed as a member of the Nature Conservancy global Board of Directors. He was elected to his first three-year term, which started on October 15, 2020. The Nature Conservancy is a global environmental non-profit working to create a world where people and nature can thrive. The NGO impacts conservation positively in 79 countries and territories across six continents.

Edwin Macharia is Dalberg Advisors’ Global Managing Partner. In this role, he sets Dalberg’s direction and oversees activities across offices worldwide.  “As The Nature Conservancy continues our mission to tackle some of the world’s biggest environmental challenges with creative, bold, scientifically-based, and scalable solutions, we need creative, bold, and strategic thinkers like John, Michelle, and Edwin to help us accomplish our goals,” said Jennifer Morris, The Nature Conservancy’s CEO.

2014 Tutu Fellow Aua Baldé has been appointed to the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances by the Human Rights Council. The appointment was made during its 54th session, in October 2020.

The main goal of the Working Group is to assist families of missing people to discover their fate or whereabouts, and act as a channel of communication between the families of victims and governments.

The UN African States for the Working Group, established in 1980, was the first thematic mechanism created under the United Nations Human Rights Program to address specific violations of human rights of a particularly serious nature, practiced worldwide.

2006 Tutu Fellow Thulane Ngele PhD has been appointed as the General Manager People Relations at Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd, where his role has been described as delivering people relations solutions that are grounded on theoretical concepts, fuelled by data and led by insights.  Thulane was appointed on 1 October 2020. Eskom is the largest producer of electricity in Africa.

Prior to this appointment, he was Head of Employment Relations and Employment Equity & People Governance and Assurance at Absa Group Limited. On a part-time basis, he pursues his love for education through supervising and marking MBA dissertations at Milpark Business School. 

2006 Tutu Fellow Aidan Eyakuze has been elected as Civil Society Co-Chair of the Open Government Partnership (OGP). Aidan is the Executive Director of the policy and civil society nonprofit, Twaweza, in Tanzania.  Twaweza works to demonstrate how citizens can come together to collectively address their problems and make government work better for them.

His term as Lead Co-Chair alongside the government of Italy will begin next year.  Until then, and in collaboration with the government of Italy, he will support the new Lead Co-Chair, Maria Baron, the Executive Director of Directorio Legislativo, and the government of South Korea, to advance the work of the Open Government partnership.