Nobel laureate in economics explains why African societies are ready for rapid economic development

Foresight Africa host Landry Signé and Drs. Oscar Otele and Danielle Resnick examine the nuances of the state of democracy across Africa, providing insights into strategies for democratic resiliency moving forward. Show notes and transcript Foresight Africa podcast is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, Afripods, and wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].

On this episode of Foresight Africa, hosted by Landry Signé, Gargee Ghosh, president of Global Policy and Advocacy at the Gates Foundation, explains why collaborative, context-specific, and innovative solutions elevate development success across Africa. Show notes and transcript Foresight Africa podcast is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, Afripods, and wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].

Adefunke Ekine and Mary Otieno, university educators from Nigeria and Kenya respectively, and alumnae of the Echidna Scholars Program at Brookings, talk with Foresight Africa host Landry Signé on why innovation and listening to girls’ stories are crucial to advancing girls’ education across Africa. Show notes and transcript Foresight Africa podcast is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, Afripods, and wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].

During the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C., Foresight Africa host Landry Signé caught up with Axel van Trotsenburg, senior managing director of the World Bank, who spoke about how to mobilize the private sector to help create more jobs for African youth in the coming years, while also addressing the debt distress crisis many African governments face. Show notes and transcript Foresight Africa podcast is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, Afripods, and wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].

During the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings in April 2025, Foresight Africa podcast host Landry Signé interviewed leaders in the global finance and development space to glean their key takeaways from the meetings and how they might shape policy decisions and deliver tangible results across Africa. In this special episode, you will hear highlights from each of the conversations, and you can find full interviews at brookings.edu/ForesightSpringMeetings.  Show notes and transcript Foresight Africa podcast is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, Afripods, and wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].

Host Landry Signé and Belinda Archibong, a fellow with the Africa Growth Initiative at Brookings, discuss inequalities that hinder development across Africa and policy choices that can overcome them. These include increasing job opportunities for women and youth, passing laws against gender and youth discrimination, and providing access to financial resources to both demographics. Archibong uses Nigeria as a case study to show how these inequalities hinder economic development. Show notes and transcript Foresight Africa podcast is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, Afripods, and wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].

Host Landry Signé and Dr. Karim El Aynaoui, executive president of the Policy Center for the New South, discuss the rapid shift toward transactional relationships between countries in the South and North that may prove difficult for less stable countries in the New South to navigate. Macroeconomic stability and independent monetary policy are fundamental, he says, and countries must create their own specialized strategies for economic growth. Show notes and transcript Foresight Africa podcast is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, Afripods, and wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].

Foresight Africa host Landry Signé discusses the findings of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s newest governance index with Nathalie Delapalme, the Foundation’s CEO. Countries that have continued to make progress, she says, have done so by putting equal emphasis on all four dimensions of governance: human development, sustainable economic opportunity, security and rule of law, and participation and rights. Show notes and transcript Foresight Africa podcast is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, Afripods, and wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].

The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) provides a blueprint for the continent to overcome development challenges through intra-African trade that is economically and environmentally sustainable. On this episode of Foresight Africa, host Landry Signé talks with AfCFTA Secretary-General Wamkele Mene, who shares his vision of how the world’s largest free trade area can address Africa’s development needs with African solutions. Show notes and transcript Foresight Africa podcast is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, Afripods, and wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].

Foresight Africa podcast host Landry Signé speaks with James Robinson, 2024 Nobel Laureate in economics and University Professor at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, about the critical importance of societal institutions in driving economic prosperity in Africa and the imperative of homegrown solutions in unlocking the continent’s potential. Show notes and transcript Foresight Africa podcast is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, Afripods, and wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].