Until recently, American diplomats viewed Kenya as a success story, a strong American ally and a beacon of stability in the tough East African neighborhood. After the national elections on December 27, many observers began to question their previously optimistic outlooks. To discuss the election, the ensuing violence, and its consequences for the country, the region and the globe, please join Akwe Amosu, a Senior Policy Analyst for Africa at the Open Society Institute.

The conversation will be held from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. on Monday, April 14. To attend, please register by responding to events@ypfp.org with your name and affiliation.

Akwe Amosu

Akwe Amosu is a Senior Policy Analyst for Africa at the Washington Office of the Open Society Institute. She seeks to facilitate links between OSI's Africa-based foundations, initiatives and grantees, and the international policy community in Washington, DC, as well as sharing OSI perspectives on African issues and collaborating with other organizations in areas of joint concern. Amosu particularly aims to assist the US Congress and the wider policy community to understand Africa's challenges and ensure a hearing for African civil society.

Amosu has broad experience in African affairs and has written and broadcast extensively on the most pressing issues affecting the continent. For over 20 years she worked as a journalist and radio producer in leading African and Africa-targeted media. She joined allAfrica.com as its founder executive editor in 2000 and the site was twice nominated (2002 and 2003) in the Webby Awards' Best News Site category. At the BBC World Service during the '90s, during her leadership of the station's flagship breakfast show 'Network Africa' and other weekly feature programs for Africa, her team won several medals at the New York festivals and she conceived a landmark radio series on the history of Africa. She has also worked at the Financial Times in London and West Africa magazine. Most recently, in 2003-5, she was based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as head of communication at the UN's Economic Commission for Africa, and part of the strategic and policy-focused team supporting the UNECA executive secretary.

Amosu grew up in Nigeria and was educated there and in England. She has an Honours degree in Social Anthropology in African studies from the University of Sussex and was the Harry Oppenheimer fellow at the University of Cape Town's Centre for African Studies in 1991, researching the future of post-apartheid broadcasting in South Africa. The results were published by the Institute for a Democratic Alternative for South Africa as an occasional paper entitled: "New Routes for Radio: Ideas for Better Broadcasting in a Democratic South Africa". She is on the boards of the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF), of Trust Africa and of the AllAfrica Foundation.