IMANI Center for Policy & Education

IMANI

Visit our enhanced e-bookstore

MY IMANI

Join a community of thousands of like minded fans of freedom and prosperity by supporting the IMANI mission

IMANI/ AFRICANLIBERTY.ORG Seminar: A Rewarding Summer Experience for 40 Young Africans

Our weeklong seminar for students and young professionals ended last week Friday, the 27th of June. We had spent the preceding 3 months in a grueling selection process that saw 40 sharp, young, minds emerge triumphant from a competitive pool of 250+ candidates. Which of course meant that we were faced with the challenge to craft a program worthy of such special people. We think we did a fair job of measuring up to that task (though we say so ourselves:)) You can judge for yourself, dear friend, by visiting the seminar website: here and pondering over this email sent to us by some of the participants

Participants Experiences Shared

You might be pondering over these emails sent to us by three of the participants;

Augusta Kolekang

"Sypala "2008" It was like fertilizer applied to a land with stunted growing crops, medicine injected into a dying population. I just became a new person within 5 days! I can't still believe that such a thing is possible but it happened. I do not know what to tell Imani, maybe there is a John Galt behind the scene.
I am confident that the results of the work of Imani will help put the political and civil societies in their rightful places to contribute meaningfully to his joint venture of making the world a better place for mankind. It was a real life changing experience."

Thank you
Augusta Kolekang

Susu Allordey

Dear Franklin

It has been a week since we graduated from SYPALA 2008"Liberty Abreast African Intellect' seminar organized by Cato Institute and IMANI. I must say in all honesty that it was a great experience that I will forever recommend to everybody, especially to young people who wish Ghana ,and for that mater Africa, becomes a better and prosperous continent to live in sooner than later.
The week long conference has really opened my mind to a lot of things that I would have otherwise not known if I had not been part of this year's seminar. Indeed, what Africa needs at this current socio-political dispensation is liberalized socio-economic system devoid of excessive governmental control by minimizing political power whilst upholding the principles of rule-of-law and good governance so as to create an atmosphere for innovation which will consequently lead to alleviation of Africa's worse disease poverty.

Susu Alordey

Christopher Bennett wrote:

Hi Mr. Franklin Cudjoe, I just wanted to send you a quick note to again thank you for the invitation to participate in the SYPALA 2008 "Liberty Abreast African Intellect" seminar. My time at the event was very rewarding and inspiring and I learned a lot. It was a pleasure to meet you in person and I look forward to many years ahead in working together creatively in Advancing Freedom and Prosperity in our world.. I definitely plan to attend the next IMANI event.
I am still digesting all the information from the event and I will be in touch soon to discuss specifics on how we may work together, including in the short-term to draw attention to the good work you are doing. Congratulations on putting on a wonderful event. It was obvious how much effort you put into it. Well done.

Harriet Buatse Dear Franklin,

greetings to you and all at imani. am sure you have regained your strength by now after the intensive and activity filled seminar.
I will like to thank you for the recent opportunity to meet with such wonderful people to share ideas and also to find the best solutions to the problems we are facing in our world.

This seminar was really an eye opener. i have gained a lot of knowledge and more light has been thrown on a lot of pressing issues.
Thank you also for creating a platform for us the youth to freely express our views and opinions as well as share ideas.
I am grateful to imani for such an experience. Am now ready to step out and in my own small way try to help make the world a better place for us all.
imani is truly a place for policy and education. IMANI THINK -TANK.
I pray that the good old lord will grant you all the wisdom and strength to carry on.God bless.

Harriet Buatsi.

Atlas Fisher Venture Grant Awarded to IMANI

March 25, 2008 - The Atlas Economic Research Foundation announced fisherthat IMANI Center for Policy and Education (Accra, Ghana) is the only African think tank among its first class of recipients of Dorian & Antony Fisher Venture Grants. More than 180 think tanks competed for the grants in this program, but only nine were selected to receive up to $100,000 from Atlas over the next three years. Franklin Cudjoe, the founding director of IMANI Center for Policy and Education, remarked: "Receiving this grant from the Atlas Economic Research Foundation is another great vindication of the important work IMANI began 3 years ago. We are determined to see that public policy debate in Ghana and West Africa involve students who should be informed by principled, non-partisan viewpoints." Read more

John Templeton Prize for IMANI

IMANI is the only think tank to have been awarded the John Templeton Prize twice in Africa for Advancing Freedom.

This year, IMANI was the sole recipient in Africa of the Antony & Dorian Fisher Award (Out of 180 think-tanks globally) that recognise thinkanks playing a crucial role to ensure that public policy debates are not dominated by government insiders.

A judge on the Templeton Prize awarded to IMANI commented, "I give them [IMANI] the highest points for being most specific and rigorous in applying free-market solutions to an array of complex social problems. Their submission shows the importance of using rigorously derived, quantifiable research outputs to gain credibility in shaping the policy debate. Crisp, clear, compelling data is the most useful tool to provide to any media outlet, and it's easy for the media to use, without interpretation."

Anti-Foreign Aid converts in Spain

JUNE 2008

AfricanLiberty.org editor and director of IMANI, Franklin Cudjoe, is in Madrid as a guest of the Regional Governmnet of Madrid.

He was invited to speak on a range of development issues, especially aid and delivery of public services.

The programme went very well. After speaking today before a 450 audience, Franklin was told by the Minister for Immigration and Development that he was the "discovery" of the conference. True, as there were intermittent applauses as he dislodged some fundamental notions of development aid. Franklin says, he could feel some of my panelists, themselves aid 'experts'very uncomfortable, but the audience was his real target. The audience, which was until yesterday full of praise for the sumptuous reports of aid experts gave up when they were faced with the reality of entrenched failure of 'development aid' to even account for the delivery basic of public services by developing world governments.

So, today the regional government officials tasted what it is to support NGOs that stand aloof for bad governnance to reign and then come in to offer help. Many lined to thank Franklin for 'opening their eyes'.

Instantly, the Minister for Immigration and Development and his assistants asked IMANI to collaborate on better ideas to gradually counter these aid misfits. More than this opportunity, Franklin was indeed happy that over 400 people changed their understanding on development aid. The ripple effects will begin.

Remember, the Regional Governmnet of Madrid is Right of Centre politically and a sensible one too...

Franklin Cudjoe is editor of http://www.africanliberty.org/ and executive director of IMANI Center for Policy and Education, a think-tank located in Accra, Ghana. His email is franklin.cudjoe at gmail.com