From Data
to Decisions

Nelson Muffuh serves as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in South Africa, where he represents the Secretary-General and leads the work of the UN Country Team in support of national development priorities and the Sustainable Development Goals. In this capacity, he champions partnerships across government, business, civil society, academia, and development institutions to advance inclusive growth, sustainable development, and social progress. With more than 25 years of experience in international development and multilateral cooperation, Nelson has worked across Africa and globally on issues including poverty reduction, economic transformation, climate resilience, governance, social inclusion, and sustainable financing for development. His career has been dedicated to strategic influencing, policy making, fostering collaboration among diverse stakeholders to deliver impactful and lasting development outcomes. A strong advocate for Africa’s development potential, Nelson believes that strategic partnerships, innovation, and investment in people are essential to unlocking the continent’s opportunities and accelerating progress towards a more prosperous, equitable, and sustainable future. Through his leadership, he continues to promote collective action that places people at the centre of development while strengthening the role of the United Nations as a trusted partner in advancing sustainable and inclusive growth.

Holds a PhD in economics from the University of Geneva and has held various positions at the World Bank Group, advising governments on growth, financial markets, investment promotion, fiscal and tax policies, and labor markets. Published in the World Bank Economic Review, Journal of Development Economics and World Development; former Board member of the World Bank Economic Review.

A leading authority on African issues in Southeast Asia with a 25+ year career mobilising private-sector investment across frontier markets. Author of Back to Growth: Priority Agenda for the Economic Revival of Nigeria and recipient of the 2005 UK Panos-GKP Award. Non-resident fellow at the Africa Policy Research Institute and 2026 global visiting fellow at the John Curtin Institute of Public Policy, Curtin University.

Founder and former Executive Director of the ISS; extraordinary professor at the University of Pretoria. Author of Fate of the Nation and the Africa Tomorrow book series, including Africa’s Road to Prosperity: 10 Things to Know, launched at AFC 2026.

A strategic foresight practitioner working at the frontier of anticipatory governance, helping governments, international bodies and boards navigate emerging technologies and extreme climate futures. She currently directs a scenario project for SAFEGEOGOV, a UK-funded foresight programme on climate cooling governance, and is a former Strategic Foresight Counsellor at the OECD. Holds a PhD in climate science.

Associate Professor of Statecraft and Policy at the African School of Governance in Kigali, and senior policy scholar at the University of the Witwatersrand School of Governance, where he also serves as Outreach Manager at the Tayarisha African Centre of Excellence in Digital Governance. His work spans strategic foresight, institutional reform and the reform of state-owned entities; he recently completed a term as Head of the Secretariat of South Africa’s Presidential State-Owned Enterprise Council.

Joined the ISS in 2009 and has led special projects in the Office of the Executive Director since 2017, serving on the ISS Executive Committee and coordinating the Institute’s strategic partnerships. She has extensive experience in international law, human rights and migration policy, and serves on the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Good Governance.

Senior Futures and Systemic Innovation Researcher for the Futures Programme at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), and occasional Programme Convener for Executive Education at the UCT Graduate School of Business. Her work focuses on anticipatory governance and strengthening the capacity of individuals, organisations and governments across Africa to navigate complexity and realise long-term goals.

Lectures on anticipatory governance and strategic foresight, and is managing director of Stratnum Futures, a scenario planning and strategic foresight consultancy. Member of the OECD Expert Group on Strategic Foresight and a director of the South Africa Node of the Millennium Project. A regular analyst on African affairs for international media including Al Jazeera, CGTN, BBC and France24.

A futurist, economist and business trends analyst, and co-author of The Future Starts Now (Bloomsbury UK). A columnist for leading business and technology publications and a global keynote speaker on future trends and economic trajectories. Member of the Association of Professional Futurists and a volunteer with the Millennium Project; her research focuses on how macro socio-economic trends and emerging technologies will shape businesses, industries and nations.

Professor at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) and founding director of its Centre for African Management and Markets. Author of the Visa Africa Integration Index, the Investec-GIBS Savings Index and RMB’s Where to Invest in Africa Report, and co-author of It’s About Tyme: Banking Beyond Borders. Founder of Boundless World, an advisory firm focused on capital markets, business model innovation and growth strategy, and a UNESCO laureate.

Group Executive Director of Discovery Limited since 2011. A medical doctor with an MSc in Health Policy, Planning and Financing and an Executive MBA, he served as Director-General of Health (1998–2003) and Director-General of Foreign Affairs (2003–2011). Non-executive director of Clinix Health Group, member of the BRICS Business Council (South African chapter), trustee of the Africa Leadership Initiative and council member of the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflections.

Director of the ISS Regional Office for East Africa and the Horn, based in Addis Ababa. First joined the ISS in 2007, holding positions including division head, research director and acting deputy executive director, and served on the UN Panel of Experts on the Central African Republic (2013–2018). Visiting lecturer at Rhodes University, with prior teaching posts at the Free University of Berlin; PhD from Leipzig (2005).

Senior development professional and economist with more than 25 years of experience in African development, development finance, country strategy and institutional reform, including as Country Economist in Nigeria, Uganda, Malawi and Zambia. In his current role he supports corporate strategic alignment, strategic foresight, digital transformation, knowledge management and the AI-enabling of operational policies and strategies. Holds a Master’s in Economics and Management from Aarhus University.

Senior Policy Officer in the African Union Commission’s Partnerships Management and Resource Mobilization Directorate, working on strategic partnerships and Africa’s engagement with international and emerging partners. He is interested in how African agency and forward-looking policy choices can turn continental aspirations into action, and brings that practitioner perspective to the African Futures Conference.

Andrés Felipe Olarte is a PhD candidate at Technische Universität Berlin working on climate policy, sustainability and computational social science. His research explores how evidence, modelling and emerging technologies can support policy decisions under uncertainty. He has professional experience in carbon pricing, emissions trading and international climate cooperation. His interests include anticipatory governance, green industrialisation, climate finance, just transitions and scenario-based approaches to long-term planning.

Anum Khan is an Associate Fellow at the National Maritime Foundation (NMF), where she is part of the Indian and Regional Maritime Security Cluster. Her research focuses on the Djibouti Code of Conduct and its Jeddah Amendments (DCoC-JA), the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) Member States, and the maritime geostrategies of Eastern African coastal and island States. She holds an M.A. in Politics (International and Area Studies) from Jamia Millia Islamia and an M.Phil. in African Studies from the University of Delhi, where she is currently pursuing a PhD on conflict dynamics in the Liptako–Gourma region.

Dominique Dryding is the Afrobarometer Capacity Building Manager, where she leads initiatives that strengthen the use of citizen-generated evidence among policymakers, civil society organisations, journalists, researchers, universities and Afrobarometer network partners. She designs and facilitates capacity-building programmes across numerous African countries and leads the development of Afrobarometer’s digital learning resources. Her work explores how public opinion data can strengthen democratic governance, deepen civic engagement, and contribute to informed conversations about Africa’s future.

Eli Haggai Ocen is the United Nations Youth Delegate for the Republic of Uganda, a technology and digital governance practitioner and a researcher specialising in AI for information integrity, diplomacy and peacebuilding. He previously served with the UN Department of Peace Operations’ Information Integrity Unit, addressing mis-, dis- and malinformation and hate speech in peacekeeping contexts. His work focuses on applying open-source data, digital analytics and strategic foresight to strengthen governance, peacebuilding and youth participation in Africa.

Gawah Emmanuel is a FinTech Architect, Researcher, Policy Analyst, and the Founder of the Cameroon FinTech Lab (CFL). A Chevening Scholar with an MSc in Financial Technology from Manchester Metropolitan University, he works at the convergence of digital finance, market infrastructure, data-driven policymaking and strategic foresight. Through the Lab, he leads strategic policy dialogue, regulatory advocacy and research on open finance, interoperability and financial inclusion, and convenes policymakers, regulators and innovators through the FinTech Chat.

Gerald Hatirutyi Macheka is an economist, researcher and research communicator, and an MSc Economics candidate at the University of Zimbabwe. He serves as Senior Economist and Chief Editor at Equity Axis, a Zimbabwean financial research and advisory firm, where he leads economic research, data analysis and communication for policymakers, businesses and the public across Southern Africa. His research interests include international trade, industrial policy, economic development, climate finance and structural transformation.

Habmo Birwe is a Research, Evaluation and Policy Consultant specialising in migration, climate mobility and social inclusion across Africa. He has over five years of experience supporting international organisations including the World Bank, IOM, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie and FEMNET on displacement, fragility and climate governance, with particular emphasis on the Sahel and Central Africa. He is a member of the Steering Group of the Climate Mobility Africa Research Network (CMARN).

Jackline Musuya is a Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning professional, researcher and emerging scholar with over ten years of experience supporting evidence generation, organisational learning and strategic decision-making across health, cooperative development, WASH and market systems programmes in East Africa. She is a Women in Leadership and Development (WILD) Network Fellow and an Online Monitoring and Learning Academy (OMLA) Fellow.

Jaynisha Patel is a Senior Analyst and in-house Africa expert at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, specialising in African geopolitics and geoeconomics. She advises senior political leaders across Africa, the Gulf and Europe on geostrategy and foreign policy, and briefs TBI’s executive leadership on geopolitical and political-economy developments. Her analysis has featured on the BBC World Service, Voice of America, Foreign Policy and Project Syndicate.

Jerome Arab is a PhD Researcher in the War Studies Department at King’s College London, based at the Leverhulme Centre for Research on Slavery in War. His doctoral research investigates how Congolese women in Solwezi, Zambia, use narrative practices to anticipate and navigate risks of conflict-related sexual slavery. He is the creator of The Copper Bullet Thesis and Founder of Underrated Individuals Ltd, bringing over two decades of experience in filmmaking, theatre and community development across Africa and the UK.

Jonathan Powell is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Campbellsville University and a Research Fellow at the University of Kentucky’s Patterson School of Diplomacy. He is co-creator of the Global Instances of Coups dataset and current director of Mutiny Monitor, a collaborative effort to forecast military coups and their consequences. He has presented research at the Atlantic Council, the U.S. State Department, the National Intelligence Council and the Institute for Security Studies.

Londiwe Buthelezi is a junior researcher and policy professional focused on digital democracy, democratic institutions and modelling pathways to alternate futures. Her master’s dissertation used backcasting to explore the feasibility of electronic voting in South Africa’s 2034 elections. She is currently an Assistant Lecturer for Political Science and International Relations at the University of Pretoria and a Research Fellow for the Africa Political Outlook (APO).

Margherita Fadda is a policy analyst at the OECD, in the Sahel and West Africa Club Secretariat. She analyses urban dynamics on the African continent and contributes to the Africa’s Urbanisation Dynamics report series and the Africapolis programme.

Nancy Kgengwenyane is an environmental and natural resources lawyer working in international environmental law, climate justice, critical minerals governance and the legal architecture underpinning African sovereignty in trade, resource and data governance. As Senior Associate at Innolead Consulting Africa’s Sustainability & Governance Unit, she advises governments, private-sector actors and civil society organisations on ESG and sustainable development frameworks.

Nixon Nembaware is a governance, gender and resilience specialist with over 15 years of experience supporting governments, UN agencies and international development organisations across Southern Africa. He developed the Gender Norm Score I & II (GNS-I & II), an evidence-based framework measuring social norm change, adopted by a UNDP programme in Zimbabwe and other development agencies. His current research explores how social norm data can support anticipatory governance and strategic foresight.

Dr Nsah Mala (Kenneth Nsah) is a multiple award-winning Cameroonian researcher and foresight practitioner working at the intersection of sustainability science, participatory foresight, governance and long-term policy design across Africa. He is affiliated with the Universities of Lille and Cologne, UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES Coalition and the Nkafu Policy Institute, and was recognised at the 2025 Dubai Foresight Awards for participatory scenario-building work across the Congo Basin.

Over the past 30+ years, Per Ostberg has worked across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East as a strategic foresight consultant, project director for multinationals, and entrepreneur, living and working in over 90 countries. As a foresight consultant, he helps leaders and executive teams think differently about the future by applying foresight thinking tools to signals, trends and events to identify opportunities and risks that might otherwise remain hidden. He also coaches teams and leaders on building effective multicultural organisations.

Dr Salah Ben Hammou is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and a Nonresident Fellow at the Centre for African Conflict and Development. His research focuses on political instability, civil-military relations and governance in Africa and the Middle East, with particular emphasis on military coups, post-coup politics and civilian agency. His work has informed policy discussions through Foreign Policy, the Washington Post and The Conversation.

Sara Tadesse Gebremariam is an independent policy researcher and consultant specialising in conflict analysis, peacebuilding and transitional justice across the Horn of Africa and East Africa, with particular depth in Ethiopia, Sudan and South Sudan. She holds an MSc in Global Leadership and Peacebuilding from King’s College London and a BA from SOAS, and is currently developing a research initiative on integrating CRSV accountability into DDR processes in post-conflict Ethiopia.

Sethu Nguna is Training and Instructional Design Manager at AidData Research Lab, an instructional and learning systems specialist with over a decade of experience designing immersive, data-informed learning environments that help practitioners and decision-makers test assumptions and adapt to complexity. She developed Plenum, an interactive simulation platform with the William & Mary Statecraft Simulation Group, and has delivered learning initiatives across Pakistan, the Philippines and the Mandela Washington Fellowship.

Dr Steven Lichty is the director of Frontline Futures, a boutique firm focused on transformative foresight in Nairobi, Kenya. He has 25 years’ experience across Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America, including post-conflict, transitional and fragile environments, working with strategic foresight, futures thinking, organisational development and systems mapping. Steven holds a PhD in African Studies and an MPhil in Futures Studies from Stellenbosch Business School, and currently researches vision statements of African states.

Suhaylah Peeraullee is the capacity building trainer for Afrobarometer. She started her career in market research before moving to the socio-economic and policy sector, working across academia and applied research — including as a part-time lecturer in Mauritius and delivering training workshops in Mauritius and Malaysia. With over eight years of experience in research, facilitation and consulting, she holds an MBA in Global Business from Coventry University and completed the Public Policy Analysis programme at UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University. She is particularly interested in democracy and governance across the African continent.

Tanja Hichert is a futures/foresight and systems-thinking practitioner with over 20 years’ experience running Hichert & Associates. She is a Fellow at the Centre for Sustainability Transitions at Stellenbosch University, where she co-chairs the UNESCO Chair in Complex Systems and Transformative African Futures, and previously served as Strategic Foresight Advisor to UNDP HQ. She recently co-authored the UNESCO MOST policy paper Social Investment Across Africa’s Demographic Transitions.

Tatjana von Bormann co-founded and co-directs the Southern Africa Food Lab, Africa’s longest-running multi-stakeholder platform for food systems change, an initiative of Stellenbosch University. She holds an MPhil in Future Studies (Cum Laude) from Stellenbosch Business School and has applied Three Horizons and related foresight tools across food systems and non-profit settings, drawing on 25 years of experience including a multi-year corporate partnership at WWF South Africa.

Tsakane Matsilele is a researcher with the National Strategic Hub, with a background in policy and research. Her current work focuses on analysing spatial transformation in South Africa and developing practical, data-driven guides that help municipal planners strengthen evidence-based planning. She is particularly passionate about the intersection of digital transformation and social justice, examining how emerging technologies and data systems can either reinforce or reduce vulnerability for marginalised communities.

Victoria Olaonipekun is a PMP-certified project and programme associate working at the intersection of technology, education and entrepreneurship in Africa. At TechCabal, she supports the design and delivery of ecosystem programmes including Moonshot by TechCabal and TC Battlefield, convening founders, investors, policymakers and emerging talent. She has also coordinated inclusive women-in-STEM programmes with WeTech and supported the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Conference.

An Ivorian development economist and Africa Programme Specialist researching the relationship between social capital and economic development. At SeeD, his research examines social cohesion, political and electoral violence, resilience to violent extremism, and the links between climate change and armed-group recruitment across West Africa and the Sahel, generating evidence to inform education, violence-prevention and peacebuilding interventions.

Deputy Director and Programme Coordinator at Resilience for Peace (R4P), an organisation based in northern Côte d’Ivoire working to strengthen community and data-driven approaches to resilience against violent extremism. An experienced facilitator, trainer, researcher and project manager with over a decade leading multi-million-dollar peacebuilding and resilience programmes across West Africa; previously held positions at Equal Access International and Interpeace.

Research Officer in the AFI programme at the Institute for Security Studies, drawing on the International Futures (IFs) forecasting platform to analyse Africa’s governance and demographic trajectories. She has written on Nigeria’s governance trajectory and on how African leaders are preparing for the continent’s demographic transition, and leads the programme’s digital communication. Her research interests include African political economy, governance, foreign policy and strategic foresight.

An economist who joined the ISS in January 2023, specialising in long-term forecasting and policy analysis to explore Africa’s development trajectories. His research covers development economics, international trade, public policy and econometric modelling, and he has co-authored numerous reports and policy briefs using data-driven scenarios. Previously an assistant lecturer and research assistant at the University of Pretoria, where he holds a PhD in Economics.

Senior Research Consultant at AFI with a PhD in Economics from the University of Johannesburg. Recipient of the 2024 Megatrends Afrika Research Fellowship at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and the 2020/2021 China Africa Research Initiative (CARI) fellowship at Johns Hopkins SAIS. His research spans international, political and development economics, with an emphasis on Africa–China economic relations.

Joined the ISS in February 2021 and manages the AFI website. Holds an honours degree in international relations from the University of Pretoria and works extensively on data analytics, visualisation and chart design to make AFI research more accessible. His research interests include gender equality, international trade and international geopolitics.

Researcher with the AFI programme at the ISS in Pretoria, focusing on strategic foresight for development and helping decision-makers understand long-term change and its implications for Africa. Holds a master’s degree with distinction in Futures Studies and is a member of the Association of Professional Futurists. Previously led primary research projects, authored cross-sector foresight articles and reports, and co-facilitated scenario-planning workshops.

Maryam Yousuf is a Project Manager at the Dubai Future Foundation, where she leads the Global Futures Society, a global network connecting foresight practitioners, researchers, and institutions. Her work focuses on strategic partnerships, foresight initiatives and publications, and international programmes and dialogues that advance collaboration and knowledge exchange across the futures field. Before joining the Foundation, she worked in the space science sector, where her experience with planetary missions shaped her interest in long-term thinking and the relationship between present decisions and future possibilities. Her work sits at the intersection of foresight, institutional collaboration, and future readiness, with a focus on strengthening long-term thinking across sectors and geographies.