Press Release

For Immediate Release

19^th May, 2021.

Book Launch

Book Title: The Future of Africa in the Post-COVID-19 World

Editors: A peer-reviewed publication Edited by Nashon Juma Adero and Josephat Juma

Publisher: Inter Region Economic Network

Date: To be communicated

About the book

The Future of Africa in the Post-COVID-19 World is a signature book project of the Inter Region Economic Network (IREN), a private think tank which has since 2001 been promoting progressive, bold, Afro-centric development ideas and ideals through incisive scholarly debates and publications. It follows energising discussions on Covid-19 at the 10^th IREN East Africa Thought Leaders Forum forum that was held on August 26, 2020 and attracted top minds from Africa and all over the world.

The Future of Africa in the Post-COVID-19 World is a timely book on Africa, a continent whose strategic position in the nexus of emerging global megatrends and complex development challenges is receiving increased attention.

This book is a wellspring of thought-provoking ideas, facts, statistics, philosophical arguments, and scientific reasoning by fourteen authors and thinkers drawn from Africa, the African academic diaspora included. Presenting key lessons for Africa from the COVID-19 global pandemic with the authenticity and alacrity of native experience, the authors share insightful perspectives that all African leaders and decision makers will find invaluable in redirecting the course of Africa’s development to compete on an equal footing with other regions in the post-pandemic world.

Wading through the six engrossing sections of this book, you will be enlightened on:

• Key lessons at the science-policy interface for African leaders on disaster governance, drawn from COVID-19 models and their implications for technological advancement, data integrity, scientific metrics, and civic engagement
• Post-pandemic perspectives on education and skills development aimed at empowering Africa’s youth agenda and addressing youth unemployment
• Perspectives on geopolitics and geoeconomics in a post-pandemic Africa
• Multilateralism and its promises to enable Africa to bargain on an equal footing with the rest of the world
• Recommended priorities for revamping Africa’s agri-food systems, environmental sustainability, and natural resource management during and after COVID-19
• Independent and informed voices on how Africa should reinvent herself to build back better during and after COVID-19

The book cautions Africa against mistaking her relative escape from the worst hit by the pandemic for a final victory. A growing challenge, therefore, remains in building institutions and systems that can assure adaptive resilience to similar emergencies and disasters, which are bound to be more frequent in a connected world experiencing increasing pressures from human activities, urbanisation, and population growth.

For more information contact

Esperance Chesoli

IREN Communications and Digital Content Manager

+254 702 636 591

chesoli@irenkenya.com