WATCH: Takeaways from Yale Pres. Peter Salovey’s visit to Nairobi

On the 10th of March 2018, Yale University, President Peter Salovey made his inaugural official visit to Africa with a 6-day trip to Ghana and Kenya. The visit comes on the eve of the 5th year of the Yale Africa Initiative, a university-wide effort he announced at his inauguration in 2013. President Salovey visited Ghana for three days from March 10th-13th and later arrived in Kenya on March 14th.

The Yale Africa Initiative promotes African scholarship, contemporary discourse, and research at Yale and in Africa. It aims to strengthen Yale’s relationships with African institutions, increases career opportunities for Yale students across Africa, while attracting the best and the brightest African scholars to Yale. This initiative has led to greater partnerships with various African governments, universities, and individuals collaboratively tackling some of the most pressing challenges facing the continent ranging from health equity, environmental management, to economic development.

The resulting research, training programs, and bilateral learning are a cornerstone of the effort. Over his 6-day visit, President Salovey and his team will convene conversations and meetings linked to this initiative. They will also be renewing partnerships and exploring new avenues to strengthen existing relationships.

While in Ghana, Salovey attended a Yale Leadership Forum bringing together alumni of various Yale constituents such as the Senior African Women’s Leaders network, a group of prominent women in government. The forum explored the question of strengthening leadership pipelines to foster greater inclusion and enable a positive impact on society. Yale University will also be renewing their longstanding partnership with the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research at the University of Ghana, and the Fox International Fellowship. In an interview with a local Ghanian radio station Citi FM, Salovey commented on the government of Ghana’s free senior high school policy saying, ” I think there is nothing more important than a society that can provide free education at least up to a point.”

In Kenya they convened a symposium on Power of Partnership in Strengthening University Research co-hosted with the African Academy of Sciences. On the back of this symposium, the prestigious university reaffirmed strong links to entities such as the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), the National Museums of Kenya, The Kenyan Agricultural Research Organization (KALRO), the Mara Conservancy and others. Probably the most impactful discussion they university held was on ‘Leadership and Impact” with Strathmore University as they welcome Strathmore Business School to the Global Network for Advanced Management the first network member from the East Africa region.