Women
Good Governance Africa is made up of a diverse team of academics, advisors and experts in their respective professions. Meet them all here.
Bethlhem Zewdu
Author
Bethlhem Zewdu is an Ethiopian young professional. She has been working in different positions as office manager, quality control and executive assistant manager. She obtained her Bachelors and MSc degrees from Addis Ababa University in Management and Quality Management and Organisational Excellence respectively.
Busisipho Siyobi
Editor
Busisipho Siyobi is the Programme Head of the Natural Resource Governance Programme at GGA. Prior to joining GGA, she headed up the Corporate Intelligence Monitor desk at S-RM Intelligence and Risk Consulting. Busisipho holds an MPhil in Public Policy and Administration from the University of Cape Town with a research focus on CSR within the South African mining industry. During her Masters, she worked as a research scholar at the South African Institute of International Affairs.
Susan Russell
Editor
Susan Russell is the editor of Good Governance Africa’s quarterly journal, Africa in Fact. She has worked in the media industry for more than 30 years as a journalist, editor, publisher, and as a general manager. Career highlights include several years working for Business Day and more than a decade as a reporter, editor and General Manager at the Sunday Times in Johannesburg.
Gifty Obeng
Author
Gifty Obeng is a monitoring and evaluation specialist with over 19 years’ experience in various fields of work. With an international training background (Masters level) in sustainable environmental practices, Gifty specialises in designing programmes and projects that protect the environment and thus limit the negative environmental footprint of human activities. She has been at the forefront of advising agencies like the B-Bovid (agro-processing social enterprise) on sustainable agricultural practices and climate change adaptative measures for farming communities. Gifty’s commitment to the use of best planning practices in all initiatives she has supported stems from her training as a development planning professional at undergraduate level (see CV). A trained school teacher with more than 10 years’ experience, Gifty is also skilled in training and mobilising stakeholders with various needs, and in designing content to suit various categories of clients. Gifty currently occupies the position of Programmes, Monitoring and Evaluations Manager at the Good Governance Africa Centre, where she uses her strong professional training background in business administration (Big Data), Quick Books and ComCare to steer programmes and activities.
Mabel Nhlabathi
Site Member
Mabel Nhlabathi is administrator and receptionist at GGA. She has extensive experience in the contact centre and training industry, having worked closely with the Services Seta on grants and learnership allocations. Mabel keeps everyone connected and is a true problem solver for all who come to GGA.
Gail Nel
GGA Office Admin
After completing a year at finishing school doing secretarial and accounting diplomas, and then working for her father’s medical aid organisation, Gail Nel spent two years in Los Angeles, California, performing typesetting and graphic design on two weekly Catholic Newspapers. Upon her return to SA, Gail worked for Douglas & Barry printing company where she ran the design studio, whilst completing her Marketing Diploma at the University of the Witwatersrand’s Business School. She then started her own small design studio, Le Projet, which she ran for eight years before being bought out by Young & Rubicam SA. She was MD of Wunderman Cato Johnson for five years before she gave birth to twin daughters, Ashleigh and Brittany. Gail then started a second design company, Two Fold Marketing, which she ran for 12 years, before joining Times Media, where she was marketing manager, working across The Sunday Times, Business Day, Financial Mail, Sowetan and Sunday World newspapers and online platforms for 10 years. Gail joined GGA in 2018 after five years as an independent marketing consultant, and was appointed Director of Operations in 2020.
Mischka Moosa
GGA Media and Marketing
Mischka Moosa is a data journalist at GGA. She holds a Bachelor of Social Science with majors in Gender Studies and Political Science that she obtained from the University of Cape Town. Her focus of interest is on decolonial approaches to justice, development and transformation in Africa.
Mmabatho Mongae
Author
Mmabatho Mongae is a Data Analyst within the Governance Insights & Analytics Programme. She is a PhD candidate in International Relations at the University of the Witwatersrand, and her thesis research focuses on how governance quality influences popular support for and satisfaction with democracy in Africa. While completing her PhD, Mmabatho worked as Sessional lecturer in the International Relations Department at the University of the Witwatersrand and as a research fellow at the Centre for Africa-China Studies (CACS) at the University of Johannesburg. Her research interests include democracy, governance, Africa’s political economy, and quantitative social analysis. Mmabatho has published research for Routledge, EISA, and The Thinker.
Prof Erin McCandless
GGA Advisory Board
Erin McCandless is an Associate Professor in the School of Governance at Witwatersrand University in South Africa and a Research Associate with the German Development Institute. A widely published scholar and policy advisor, she has near three decades of experience working on and in conflict affected settings, broadly on issues of peacebuilding, statebuilding, development and resilience - and their intersections. Her current research is focused on forging resilient social contracts, and the role of social cohesion, in countries affected by conflict, fragility and fraught transition, building upon a multi-country research and policy dialogue project that she directed from 2015-2018. Professor McCandless is author of more than 100 publications, including several influential, policy-shifting United Nations reports, and she is a founder and former Chief Editor of the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development.
Sikhululekile Mashingaidze
Site Member
Sikhululekile Mashingaidze entered the governance field in Zimbabwe while she was a part-time enumerator for the Mass Public Opinion Institute’s diversity of research projects during her undergraduate years. She has worked with the Habakkuk Trust, Centre for Conflict Resolution (CCR-Kenya), Mercy Corps Zimbabwe and Action Aid International Zimbabwe, respectively.
Leleti Maluleke
Author
Leleti Maluleke is a Researcher for our Human Security and Climate Change programme. She completed her Bachelor of Political Science in Political Studies in 2017, and her Honours in International Relations in 2018 at the University of Pretoria. She started her career at International SOS in the Security Services department as a Political Risk and Security Intern. Socially, her countries of interests include Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi.
Shoni Mabutha
Site Member
Shoni is an office assistant and cleaner at GGA and has been at GGA for over four years. Her confidence, personality, and ability to work with people makes her a very valuable member of staff. Her good communication skills and punctuality go a long way to keeping the office organised.
Dr Aikende Kwayu
GGA Advisory Board
Aikande Clement Kwayu is a social scientist with experience in both academia and practice. Her work includes development and management consulting as well as academic research. She consults with Bumaco Limited (Tanzania) on management, political economy analysis, policy analysis and evaluation of development projects. Akande’s areas of research interest are party politics, religion and politics, and development politics. She has published two books: (i) “Religion and British Development Policy”- Palgrave (2020); and (ii) Co-authored with Amy Stambach “Pragmatic Faith and the Lutheran Church in Tanzania: Erasto N. Kweka’s Life and Work” – Lexington (2020). Aikande is a honorary research affiliate fellow of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is also a part-time lecturer at the University of Tumaini Makumira. From 2013 to 2015, she was a research affiliate of the University of Oxford (UK). Aikande has a PhD in Politics and International Relations from the University of Nottingham (UK).
Helen Grange
GGA Media and Marketing
Helen Grange is a seasoned journalist and editor, with a career spanning over 30 years writing and editing for newspapers and magazines in South Africa. Her work appears primarily on Independent Online (IOL), as well as The Citizen and Business Day newspapers, focussing on business trends, women’s empowerment, entrepreneurship and travel. Magazines she has written for include Noseweek, Acumen, Forbes Africa, Wits Business Journal and UJ Alumni magazine. Among NGOs she has written or edited for are Gender Links and INMED, a global humanitarian development organisation.
Chrissy Dube
Author
Chrissy Dube is the Chairperson of the GGA Management Committee and also a member of the GGA Executive Committee. She is Head of Governance Insights and Analytics at Good Governance Africa. She completed her Master of Commerce Degree at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2013. She also has qualifications in Advanced Project Management, Data Analysis, Ethics, and Compliance. With her experience in interrogating data, Chrissy specialises in analysing and interpreting data for informed decision-making in both the private and public sectors. Chrissy is a registered member of the Institute of Risk Management South Africa. Her interests include monitoring economic and social developments.
Amanda Chetty
GGA Media and Marketing
Amanda is a media professional with over 15 years of experience specialising in subscription marketing and sales, and audience development. Her core expertise is in identifying new business opportunities, networking with stakeholders, and managing audience focused projects. Amanda has led successful subscription campaigns and driven digital subscription strategies on multiple titles.
Julia Bello-Schunemann
Author
Dr Julia Bello-Schünemann is a multilingual research consultant. She is versed in integrated forecasting across sectors (including demographics, infrastructure, economics, conflict and violence, etc.), trend and risk analysis, data analysis, policy advice for governments and international organisations. Her expertise straddles Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the European Union. She possesses vast experience in project management, fundraising, strategic planning, multi-stakeholder consultations, training and facilitation. She is currently an Associate Senior Research Consultant with Good Governance Africa-Nigeria. She holds a PhD in International Relations from the Complutense University Madrid, Spain and an MA in Communication, Political Science and Economics from Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich in Germany.
Lawal Asiata
Author
Lawal Asiata is currently the office manager and project coordinator for GGA Nigeria. She has worked as a librarian and personal assistant in both private and government parastatals. Asiata holds a bachelor's degree in Library, Archival and Information Studies from University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Her hobbies include reading and travelling.
Tina Asante-Apeatu
GGA Executive Directors
Tina Asante-Apeatu is the executive director of GGA-West Africa Centre. She holds a BA in psychology and politics and eMBA in project management. She manages various projects, including research and advocacy in the areas of land governance, property rights and early childhood education. She is also currently the president of the Police Wives’ Association of Ghana. Tina is married with two children and loves travelling to new places.
