Our people

INCLUDE is a platform of African and Dutch professionals: platform members, a steering group, and a secretariat. Our platform members, most of whom are African experts, are the driving force of INCLUDE. They bring diverse perspectives, deep expertise, and first-hand experience that guide our strategic direction and keep our work anchored in real-world challenges and opportunities.

Our structure

The INCLUDE platform consists of:

  • The Secretariat – Responsible for implementation and coordination, jointly managed by the African Studies Centre Leiden (ASCL) and the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) in Nairobi.
  • Platform Members – Providing strategic insight, advice, and decision-making to shape the platform’s agenda.
  • The Steering Group – Overseeing governance and strategic direction, with the Executive Director of the Secretariat serving as a member.

Together, we form a collaborative community working to make evidence matter for inclusive development across Africa.

Platform members

INCLUDE is a platform of African and Dutch professionals. Our platform members bring with them their personal expertise from the field of sustainable and inclusive international development.

Maggie Kigozi Consultant, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
Pauline Ngimwa Acting Executive Director, Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR)
Désiré Assogbavi Director, ONE’s Francophone Africa
Nicky Pouw Researcher at the Governance and Inclusive Development (GID) | University of Amsterdam
Assefa Admassie Lecturer, Department of Economics Addis Abeba University
Marina Diboma Director of 2Scale
Edward Brown Director of Policy Advisory Service, African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET)
Adriano Nuvunga Director, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD)
Philomena Apiko Policy Officer in the Economic recovery and transformation and the African economic integration teams
Moussa Toure Investment Promotion Agency of Mali
Basil Jones Gender Program and Policy Coordinator, African Development Bank
Maty Konte Economist, United Nations University Maastricht (UNU-MERIT)
Fatoumata Lamarana Diallo Senior Economist, West African Monetary Agency (WAMA)
Sonia Onovughakpo (Odije) Fajusigbe Economic, Trade and Investment Policy Officer, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Lagos
Nadia Owusu Advocate for Youth Empowerment and Sustainable Development
Rolph van der Hoeven Emeritus Professor of Employment and Development Economics, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) & UN Economic and Social Council member
Rens Twijnstra Senior Advisor Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL), Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Dzodzi Tsikata Director, Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana
Marleen Dekker Director, African Studies Centre Leiden
Lemma Senbet The William E. Mayer Chair Professor Finance, University of Maryland: Immediate Past Executive Director of AERC

Steering group

INCLUDE’s Steering Group governs the activities of the platform and decides on its research agenda based on contributions by the platform members.

Sarah Ssewanyana Executive Director, Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC)
Dennis Arends Senior Analyst, Porticus
Nicholas Awortwi Director, Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS) Ghana
Isa Baud Emeritus Professor in International Development Studies, University of Amsterdam

Secretariat

The Secretariat drives and coordinates the platform and is run as a virtual consortium of the African Studies Centre Leiden (ASCL) in Leiden and the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) in Nairobi. Our knowledge managers make evidence accessible and available for use to policymakers and practitioners for policy making and implementation.

Anika Altaf Executive Director
Olaoluwa Abagun Knowledge Manager
Obadia Miroro Knowledge Manager
Siri profile picture
Siri Lijfering Knowledge Manager
Joscha Betke Knowledge Manager
Al Albertson Communications Manager
Victoria Manya Knowledge Manager

Consortium partners

Get in touch

The Secretariat of INCLUDE is hosted by the African Studies Centre.

Herta Mohr building, Witte Singel 27A  2311 BG Leiden
The Netherlands
+31(0)71 527 6602

For general inquiries, please contact info@includeplatform.net

An independent knowledge platform dedicated to advancing evidence-based policymaking for inclusive development, with a primary focus on Africa.

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