Closing Keynote Address

Centering Young People in Regraming Equity, Partnership, and Social Change Dr. Tade Akin Aina is currently Head of Research at the Mastercard Foundation, which is one of the largest private foundation’s in the world, seeking to build a world in which all people can learn and prosper. The Mastercard Foundation is enabling pathways to work and economic opportunity for indigenous youth in Canada, and millions of young people in Africa. Prior to joining the Foundation, Tade served for 6 years as the Executive Director of the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR – Kenya), which is an independent, nonpartisan, pan-African not-for-profit organization in Kenya. Before that, he was Program Director of Higher Education and Libraries in Africa for the Carnegie Corporation of New York, USA, from 2008-2014. Over the course of his career, Dr. Aina has consulted for numerous multilateral agencies, including UNDP, UNICEF, UN-HABITAT, the United Nations University and the World Bank on issues ranging from urbanization and urban poverty, to governance, to social, educational, public health, and environmental issues such as higher education reform, nutrition and child development, environment and development. Dr. Aina is a founding member and member Board of Trustees of the Nigerian Environmental Study Team (NEST) and founder of the Lagos Group for the Study of Human Settlements. He is or has been a member of boards such as: Trust Africa, Dakar, Senegal, the African Population Health Centre (APHRC),, the Council of the United States International University Africa (USIU-Africa) , the Kenya Human Rights Commission., the Seeding Labs, USA, Winrock International, USA, King Baudouin Foundation, USA, the Council of Management of the African Books Collective, UK, the Habitat International Coalition Council and the Governing Board of the Canadian University Overseas (CUSO). Dr. Aina was appointed full Professor, Department of Sociology at the University of Lagos, Nigeria and later served as Deputy Executive Secretary (publications) at the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), Dakar, Senegal . He worked with the Ford Foundation in the Nairobi office from 1998 to 2008 where he was the Regional Representative from 2003-2008 and acting Representative for a short period between 2001 and 2002 in the Cairo Office. Dr. Aina has authored and co-edited 12 books/monographs, 36 chapters in books, 25 articles in journals and learned publications, and several conference papers and addresses. He was Editor of Africa Development between 1993 and 1998. He has also been a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Environment and Urbanization: the journal of the International Institute for Environment and Development, London and the Africa Review of Books, CODESRIA, Dakar. He was an Editorial Advisory Board member of the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, London between 1999 and 2005 and International Sociology, Netherlands. He had served as the Joint Chair of the Executive Committee of the 7 Foundations’ Partnership on Higher Education in Africa (PHEA) between 2008-2011. Professor Aina has been an Informal Visiting Fellow to the London School of Economics, Centre for Civil Society (2006), a Guest Researcher at the Nordic African Institute, Uppsala, Sweden (1990), a Research Fellow at the Human Settlements Program of the International Institute for Environment and Development, London (1986-1987) and was appointed a Visiting Scholar, the African Leadership Centre of King’s College; London in 2020. His publications include The Challenge of Sustainable Development in Nigeria, co-edited with Ademola Salau (Ibadan: NEST, 1990), Child Development and Nutrition in Nigeria, co-edited with M.F. Zeitlin and F.E. Etta (Lagos: UNICEF, 1992), The Experience of Migration in Africa, co-edited with Jonathan Baker (Uppsala: The Nordic African Institute, 1995), Globalization and Social Policy in Africa: Research Directions and Issues (Dakar: CODESRIA, 1997), Globalization and Social Policy in Africa (Dakar: CODESRIA, 2004) co-edited with CSL Chachage and Elisabeth Annan-Yao; Beyond Benign Neglect: Early Childhood Care, Development and Nutrition in Metropolitan Lagos, Nigeria(Lagos: Malthouse Press, 2008) co-authored with Ibinabo Agiobu-Kemmer, Florence Ebam Etta, Marian Zeitlin and Kelebogile Setilone; Giving to Help, Helping to Give: The Context and Politics of African Philanthropy, Amalion Publishing, Dakar, Senegal, 2013, co-edited with Bhekinkosi Moyo; and Beyond Tweets and Screams: Action for Empowerment and Accountability in Nigeria-The Case of the #BBOG Movement-authored with Martin Atela, Ayo Ojebode, Dayil Plangsat and Fatai Aremu. IDS Working Paper, Volume 2019, N0. 529, Dr. Aina holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Lagos, Nigeria and a Master’s degree in the Sociology of Development from the London School of Economics. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Sussex. *Please note this session will be recorded and posted on this page after the conference