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KSC Alumnus Explores Development Challenges in Africa in Sidore Lecture

John Uniack Davis
John Uniack Davis

KEENE, N.H., 11/02/06 - On Tues., Nov. 14, John Uniack Davis will present “W(h)ither Africa? Development Challenges in the 21st Century, ” the second of Keene State College’s Sidore Series on global economic issues. He will speak at 8 p.m. in the Mabel Brown Room of the Young Student Center.

In many African countries, a quarter or more of all children will die before age 5. At least 50 percent of Africans live on less than $1 a day. The numerous major conflicts on African soil, unequal terms of trade, and crushing levels of debt exacerbate the myriad social and economic challenges.

While African countries face daunting obstacles in the quest for better lives for their populations, the wave of democratization that began on the continent in 1990 gives cause for cautious hope.

John Uniack Davis, a 1984 Keene State College graduate in political science, has spent most of his adult life wrestling with issues concerning social justice and combating poverty in Africa. Since 2002 he has worked for CARE International, one of the world’s premier humanitarian and development organizations. He is currently based in Accra, Ghana, as CARE’s senior technical advisor for democracy and governance and deputy regional director for southern and West Africa, covering 17 countries from Madagascar to Sierra Leone.

Before moving to Accra this summer, John was CARE’s assistant country director for Mali, managing a $10.7 million annual development assistance budget. He also previously served as the development assistance coordinator for the U.S. Government in Niger and won the State Department Superior Honor Award for his efforts to find resources for the world’s poorest Muslim country in the months before and immediately following 9/11.

John has been a consultant for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Nations Capital Development Fund, the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV), and several nongovernmental organizations. He has written a number of scholarly and popular articles on subjects as diverse as democratization, aid policy, HIV/AIDS prevention, and the economics of farm worker safety.

Born in New Hampshire, he holds a doctorate in political science and a master’s degree in public administration from Michigan State University and a master’s degree in agricultural economics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. At KSC, he was active in student politics and served as the student member on the USNH Board of Trustees. He is particularly proud of having been publicly chastised by Governor John Sununu for being naïve and idealistic.

For more information, call Pat Dolenc at 603-358-2629.

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