Fellows
Distinguished experts bridging the gap between rigorous research and actionable solutions.
Democracy and Development Fellows
Our Democracy and Development (D&D) Fellows program is designed to bring on board, short-term, (three months) to long-term (two years), scholars, researchers, consultants, and expert-practitioners, based in Ghana or in the diaspora, whose current work or sectoral area of interest, specialty, and expertise overlaps CDD-Ghana’s policy, research, and programmatic focus, and are interested in collaborating with CDD-Ghana to influence policy processes and outcomes through research and other common interests.
We currently have D&D Fellow positions in a range of research and policy fields, including health; education; urban governance; social protection; public financial management; public procurement; public corporate governance; natural resource governance; fiscal decentralization; public sector reform; gender and women’s empowerment; energy policy; public law and justice; party and campaign finance; youth policy; private sector development; technology and innovation; and sustainable agriculture and agri-business.
Prof. Stephen Kweku Asare
Professor Stephen Kweku Asare is a D&D Fellow in Public Law and Justice at CDD-Ghana. A KPMG Professor in accounting at the Fisher School of Accounting, Professor Asare is better known in Ghana as a public intellectual and scholar-activist whose contributions and activism, including as plaintiff in a number of precedent-setting cases before the Supreme Court of Ghana, are helping to push the frontiers of governance and the rule of law, particularly in the area of constitutional law and practice.
Derrick Akpalu (PhD)
Dr. Derrick Akpalu is a D&D Fellow in the field of Public Health at CDD-Ghana. He holds a dual Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences/M.S. Clinical Research from Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta. He also holds an M.Res. in Biomedicine from the University College of London, and a B.Sc. in Biochemistry with Microbiology from the University of London.
Prof. Gretchen Bauer
Professor Gretchen Bauer is a D&D Fellow in the area of Gender and Politics at CDD-Ghana. A professor of African and comparative politics in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Delaware, Gretchen Bauer’s research focuses on women’s political leadership in Africa, with a current emphasis on women’s underrepresentation in parliament in Ghana.
John Osae-Kwapong (PhD)
Dr. John Osae-Kwapong is a D&D Fellow in the field of the Politics of Development at CDD-Ghana. Well known in Ghanaian civic and social media communities for his interest in research methods and data-based policy analysis, Dr. Osae-Kwapong holds a Ph.D. in political science from George Mason University, Virginia, U.S.A, a master’s degree in public administration with a concentration in public policy from Clark Atlanta University, and a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Houghton College.
J. Atsu Amegashie (PhD)
Dr. J. Atsu Amegashie is a D&D Fellow in Economic Governance. He is a Professor of Economics at the University of Guelph in Canada and a Fellow of the Center for Economic Studies and the Ifo Institute for Economic Research (CESifo) in Munich, Germany and the Tshepo Institute of Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada.
Maame Abena Mensa-Bonsu
Maame Abena Mensa-Bonsu is a D&D Fellow in Public Law and Justice. Maame holds a BA in Theatre Arts and Spanish with First Class Honours, and an LLB, also with First Class Honours, from the University of Ghana, and the Bachelor of Civil Law with Distinction from the University of Oxford, UK. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in Law at the University Oxford. Prior to that, she was the Program Coordinator for the Law Department and lecturer in Constitutional and Criminal Law at Lancaster University’s Ghana campus in Accra.
She also worked as a technical advisor to an arbitration tribunal at the Ghana Arbitration Centre. She is the Editor of the Lancaster University Ghana Law Journal and a member of the Ghana Bar Association. Maame is the recipient of several awards, including the Winter Williams Prize in International Economic Law, 2014, of the University of Oxford. Her research and scholarly interests centre on applying contemporary constitutional theory discourse to the Ghanaian experience. She has written on judicial review, discretionary powers, executive authority constitutional interpretation, natural justice, and separation of powers under the 1992 Constitution.
Esther N. D. Darku
Dr. Esther N. D. Darku is a D&D Fellow in International Trade and Domestic Market Competition. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Fort Hare, South Africa and an MA in African Studies from the University of Ghana. A CODESRIA-African Pathways Scholar, she works as a part-time research advisor at the School of Graduate Studies, Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ). She has worked on diverse projects, including “Play Time Africa Project” for play spaces in urban areas in Ghana; a temporary exhibition on African Print Fashion in Ghana mounted as part of the Institute of African Studies’ 50th Anniversary Celebrations in 2012; project on Non Communicable
Valentin Kwasi Mensah
Dr. Valentin Kwasi Mensah is a D&D Fellow in Public Financial Management and Corporate Governance. He is senior executive with over two decades of experience gained in business development, finance, audit, risk and operations management with multinational agribusiness, manufacturing and mining companies. Valentin is currently the CEO of CBS Training and Consulting Ltd. A Certified Internal Auditor, Valentin holds a PhD in Business Management from Oxford Brookes University, UK. He is a Fellow member of Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (FCCA), and a Graduate of Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (ACCA).
Nelson Oppong
Dr. Nelson Oppong is a D&D Fellow in International Development. He has over a decade’s experience working with governments, international organizations, and NGOs on governance, public sector reform, and institutional development. He holds a D.Phil. (Ph.D.) in International Development from University of Oxford, UK, where he served as tutor in global governance, development studies, and African politics. His research explores the interface between ‘good governance’ norms and domestic drivers of reform in Africa’s oil-rich countries. Since 2012, the Commonwealth Secretariat in London has engaged him as a consultant; a position that has taken him to a number of countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific, where he researched and authored policy briefings on the machinery of government, public service leadership, political-administrative interface, and sustainable development of Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
George K. Ofosu
Dr. George Ofosu an Assistant Professor of Political Science in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics. His research focuses on political representation and accountability, election integrity, legislator behavior, and the causes of democratic responsiveness, with a regional focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. He also works on issues of research design and transparency.
Kelly Ann Krawczyk
Kelly Ann Krawczyk (PhD) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Auburn University. Her research focuses on African elections and civic engagement, as well as on West African civil society. Kelly earned her Ph.D. in Political Science, as well as a Master’s in Public Administration, from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Her work is situated in developing democracies in Anglophone West Africa, and explores the role and influence of civil society on democratic governance, including their impact on citizen participation and civic engagement. She also has extensive experience with West African elections, serving as in international observer in Ghana (2012), Liberia (2011 and 2017), and Nigeria (2019). She is a founding committee member of the Strengthening Research on Civil Society in West Africa project, an initiative of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), funded by the Ford Foundation.
J. Jarpa Dawuni
J. Jarpa Dawuni (PhD) is Associate Professor of Political Science at Howard University, Washington D.C. She holds a Doctorate in Political Science from Georgia State University and is a qualified Barrister-at-Law before Ghana’s Superior Courts of Judicature. Her primary areas of research include judicial politics, women in the legal professions, gender and the law, and democratization and women’s civil society organizing.
Kwame Sarpong Asiedu
Kwame Sarpong Asiedu (PhD) is a D&D Fellow in Public Health. He is a pharmacist by profession, with 19 years of practice to his name, including lecturing in Ghana and the United Kingdom. He previously held various senior leadership roles at Alliance Boots, now Walgreens Boots Alliance, rising to the position of Head of Pharmacy Operations for East Anglia. Kwame is a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, Institute of Pharmacy Management International, and The Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana.
Manasseh Azure Awuni
Manasseh Azure Awuni is a freelance investigative journalist based in Accra, Ghana. He has over the years investigated high level corruption and scandals that have resulted in shaping policy, saving and retrieving hundreds of millions of cedis and imprisonment of some offenders. Manasseh holds a bachelor of arts degree from the Ghana Institute of Journalism and a master of arts degree from the University of Ghana’s School of Communications Studies. Apart from his investigative work, Manasseh is also a prolific writing whose piercing pieces seek to prick the conscience of duty bearers and fearlessly speak truth power.
Musah Khalid
Musah Khalid (PhD) works as a Senior Specialist, Housing Research, at Canada’s foremost housing authority, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) degree in Economics from the University of Cape Coast, Master of Arts in Economics from Youngstown State University in Ohio, U.S.A., and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Manitoba, Canada. Dr. Khalid’s research interests and fields of specialization are applied micro-econometrics, housing, health, development and labour economics.
Ohene Aku Kwapong
Ohene Aku Kwapong (PhD) is founder and Managing Partner of the Songhai Group, a corporate development company, and of the Practice School, a management program focused on developing senior management for African companies. Ohene Aku is a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Sloan School of Management, where he studied Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, and has an MBA in Financial Engineering from Sloan School of Management. He holds a PHD in Non-linear Systems Dynamics from Columbia University. Currently, on the board of NORDICOM (Denmark) and Ecobank (Ghana), Ohene Aku previously held senior positions at Exxon Mobil, Deutsche Bank, Microsoft Corporation, and GE Capital.