As we slowly enter into the New Year, we would like to announce the new changes with the African Policy Forum. But before doing that, we would want to acknowledge that 2010 was a success as far as the APF is concerned. We would like to thank all those who participated at our last Panel Discussion at SOAS in November 2010. The event was such a success and the feedback has been great. This would not have been possible without the excellent partnership with SOAS, and for that we are thankful.
Some time toward the ending of last year, we did announce our intensions to expand the APF team and give all interested members the opportunity to become more involved with our activities. If you are based in the UK (with at least a Bachelors degree) and would like to get involve with our activities please send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. This is not to say those out of the UK cannot take a more active role within the APF. There are many ways in which our members globally can contribute to our activities, so please let us know if you would like to get more involve.
We did also announce that we will be introducing some new interesting programs to harness our activities and make APF a more enriching and resourceful forum.
It is in this light that we will like to introduce to you the following:
1. Migrating to the new website
As some of your might already know, the APF new website has been operational now for some time and those who have used it aready, can testify that the new site is more user friendly and has many interactive features compared to the old site. Many on the forum have already registered on the new site and if you havn’t done so yet, we will advise you follow the link below and register so as to have full access to the sites features. You can register by following this link: Registration.
2. The APF Expert Program. What is it and what are the benefits?
The APF expert program is aimed at bringing the knowledge and expertise of our expert members to the wider public. Our Experts are drawn from a poll of academics and practitioners on African policy. They bring a high quality of expertise to the discussion of issues pertaining to African policy such as good governance, democratisation, International development, environment, trade and many other related issues. Drawn from the ranks of researchers and practitioners, the APF experts exhibit strong academic credentials and distinguished policy expertise in their respective fields.
The benefits of being an APF expert includes regular invitations to participate at APF events such as panel discussions and conferences, full access to the APF document repository, personal blog on the APF website, publish their work on the website and many more. (Unlike before when everyone could start a blog on the APF site, blogs are now restricted to experts only).
In the coming days and weeks we shall be contacting some of you who are already members of APF and whom we think do qualify for the program. This will be based on the information you provided when you first joined the APF.
If you are interested for the program and meet the criteria as detailed on the expert page, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with a brief summary of your resume, including your area or field of expertise.
2.The APF Blog
As mentioned earlier, unlike the blog on our former website where everyone could start one, the current blog is restricted to APF Experts only. This is aimed at providing our enlarged audience with quality and insightful blogs. You will be able to start a blog only after you have been acknowledged and accepted as an expert in a specific area. The restrictions are only to do with starting and owning a blog. Once created, the blog will be open to the public to read. However, only registered members will be able to comment on the blog. The increasing daily traffic on the new website implies that blogs are now exposed to a wider audience.
3.The APF Newsletter
The APF now runs an intuitive monthly newsletter that brings to you a summary of our monthly activities and the new happenings that you might have missed. It is just another rich feature that has been added to the website, and we hope this will bring a summary of the APF news directly into your inbox.
4.The Repository:
This is one of the finest features on the new website. It is a document repository and will not only allow our registered users to view and download hundreds of documents for free, but will also allow them to upload and share documents with other APF users. For now all documents in the Repository are in pdf format and can be downloaded in this format. We hope to expand this repository and make it a one stop point where you can fine all declarations, agreements, resolutions, protocols etc. pertaining to Africa. A link to the repository is at the top right corner on the website.
