In January 2019, 40 students from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH) and the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) worked in seven countries across Africa in support of health and education ministers in those countries who are part of the Harvard Ministerial Leadership Program. Students were charged with in-country policy-focused research to help inform implementation of the Ministers’ priority policy goals developed during their time at Harvard in June 2018. In March, participating students provided an in-person report-back to Chan School Dean Michelle Williams and HGSE Dean Bridget Long.

Through presentations and posters, students shared the results of their research, which included developing a tool for teachers’ performance evaluation in Côte D’Ivoire, exploring the feasibility of mobilizing more resources from universal health insurance premiums in Kenya, conducting a landscape analysis of existing health centers in Lesotho, and making recommendations for how to increase student enrollment in technical and vocational education and training in Mauritius. In addition to briefing Dean Williams and Long on the substance of their policy research, students attested to the unique experiential value of working directly with high-level government officials and contributing to priority issues these governments are dealing with.

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Current and former finance and economic planning ministers from 20 countries participated in the seventh annual Harvard Ministerial Forum at Harvard last week. A key focus of the Forum was groundbreaking new research from David Bloom, Clarence James Gamble Professor of Economics and Demography at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, correlating economic returns from human development investments. [link to David’s paper] Bloom found that highest returns result from reductions in fertility; increased life span resulting from better health care and more healthy living; and increased educational attainment.

Participating ministers were challenged to consider whether their current budget spending is building a foundation for sustainable economic growth. For example, health and education account for the largest part of most countries’ budgets, but in many developing countries health and education outcomes are poor. One result is substantial and growing numbers of unemployed young people. Another is population increase continuing to outpace GDP growth. Ministers mapped a human development pathway for each of their countries focusing on the key human development building blocks with highest long-term economic benefits such as early childhood nutrition and educational development, better quality primary school education, access to comprehensive reproductive health services, and strengthening primary health care.

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On January 2nd, 2019, 39 graduate students from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Graduate School of Education will board planes and fly off to conduct unique research projects with ministries of health and education across Africa.

As part of its post-Harvard support, the Harvard Ministerial Leadership Program offers Program alumni the opportunity to present research proposals that can support the achievement of their legacy goals. The Program matches each proposal to a set of talented Harvard graduate students, and together with support from Professors Rifat Atun and Fernando Reimers, the students are well equipped to conduct rigorous research that can drive policy decisions. 

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Over three days in late November about 25 currently serving government Ministers from across Africa gathered in Johannesburg, together with a similar number of selected young African achievers, to jointly develop new approaches to current high-levels of youth unemployment across Africa and to explore possibilities for optimizing the prospects of a demographic dividend.

Ministers, including finance, economic planning, education, health and youth had all participated in Ministerial Forums at Harvard over the past three years and continue to benefit from the post-Harvard support that is a key part of the Harvard Ministerial Leadership Program.

The Harvard Ministerial Roundtable for Policy Innovation in Human Capital Development in Johannesburg extended the on-going peer-networking among ministers participating in the Harvard Ministerial Leadership Program to include for the first time a cross-section of young African achievers from diverse backgrounds in discussions about optimizing Africa’s human capital.

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Speaking to participants in the seventh annual Harvard Ministerial Leadership Forum in early June, Margaret Kenyatta, First Lady of Kenya, outlined the impressive results of her groundbreaking Beyond Zero campaign: In Kenya, over the past five years, infant mortality has fallen from 52 per 1,000 to 39 per 1,000 live births; under five mortality came down from 74 per 1,000 to 52 per 1,000. Maternal mortality dropped from 488 per 100,000 to 362 per 1,000.

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Last January, Marisa Steinmetz and Allison Casey, two students from the Harvard Graduate School of Education landed in the Republic of Madagascar with a mission from the Ministry of Education: to understand teacher absenteeism and identify possible solutions to this problem.

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