Dear Readers,

The Spring/Summer 2008 Edition of the Africa Policy Journal is the culmination of a year of a dedicated staff of public policy students at the Harvard Kennedy School. As the only legitimate scholarly journal on African policy we take our responsibility seriously and set out during our initial planning process with this in mind. We began the year with the objective of upholding the reputation and standards our predecessors established in previous editions, but also increasing our coverage by creating a hard-copy version of our journal. While we were unable to reach our goal of publishing a hard-copy version, we continue to explore means of raising funds for our endeavor.

This volume of the APJ has contributed to the overall sentiment that we are here for the long term. During the 2007-2008 academic year we were officially placed under the umbrella group, which supports our fellow Harvard Kennedy School journals. The knowledge transfer helped us as we progressed through the Call for Papers, selection process, and the final edits of our current edition.

We are proud of each section of the journal. From the interviews to the commentaries, the scholarly studies to the book and music reviews; we have managed to capture the spirit and voice of today’s African scholar, advocate, leader, and artist. We have made it a priority to present Africa in its entirety, not simply regionally. Throughout our process of reaching publication, our selection process remained consistent with the APJ’s vision: relevance, timeliness, strength of arguments, quality of writing, and geographic diversity.

The contributors to our Spring/Summer 2008 Edition are diverse in their positions, backgrounds, and influence. We had the fortunate pleasure to interview the former South African Opposition Leader, Tony Leon and publish an Op-Ed from revered former South Africa President F.W. De Klerk. Each contribution sheds light on an aspect of African history and politics that are rarely explored. Leon’s responses to questions about Opposition leadership in Africa, Zimbabwe, and the future of the ANC will leave readers questioning their previous conceptions. Former President De Klerk, similarly, reflects on his tenure while also contributing his perspective on the future of South Africa on the continent and in the world. Though objective in his views, De Klerk’s commentary is useful to those of us who continue to study the debilitating affect the apartheid regime had on South Africa, but also the contributions all South Africans have made to its current development and place as a regional and continental actor.

The cast of notable contributors continues as we present former Assistant National Security Advisor and current Special Advisor to the President of the International Crisis Group (ICG), John Prendergast’s, and perspective on the long-standing genocide in Darfur, Sudan. Prendergast offers both recommendation and strategy for bringing an end to the tragedy. We also had the privilege to interview Former Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, Bishop Desmond Tutu who continues to shed light on his opinion of the root of Africa’s conflict and underdevelopment and the role clergy can play in addresses these shortcomings.

This year’s journal issue features the following eight articles covering a wide range of policy and development topics including agricultural policy, HIV/AIDS services in Africa, public partnerships, anti-corruption institutions and good governance:

• Integrated Approach to HIV/AIDS Services in South Africa: Private Pharmacies and Policy Recommendations (Joao L. Carapinha)
• Roles of Governance in Explaining Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa (Fuje N. Habtamu)
• Climate Change, Subsistence Farming, Food Security, and Poverty: The Consequences of Agricultural Policies on Women and Men Farmers in Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire (Grace S. Hemmings-Gapihan)
• Malawi’s Starter Pack: A Smarter Policy to Empower the Poor with Science-based Agriculture (Charles K. Mann)
• General Budget Support and the Incentives IT Creates to Improve Performance in Tanzania (Sagita Muco and Dimitri Stoelinga)
• The Ombdusman Phenomenon in African States Public Services (Dr. Akpomuvire Mukoro)
• Public Space in Post-Apartheid Johannesburg (Markus Scheuermaier)
• The Impact of Anti-Corruption Institutions on Corruption in East Africa (Rupert Simons)

In addition, this issue of the journal also includes a shorter piece entitled "Achieving Millennium Development Goals through Public-Private Partnerships" which was submitted by Charlie Feezel and Virginia Sopyla from the World Cocoa Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting cocoa farmers and their families worldwide.

Our book and movie reviews bring as much debate and internal discourse as our articles, interviews and Op-Ed articles. The review of acclaimed novel Half of a Yellow Sun by famed writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is historical fiction chronicling a chapter in Nigerian history many have tried to forget. Set in the 1960’s during the Biafran War, Ngozi Adichie is able to use the inadequacies of her characters to personalize a war that many believe continues today. Similar subjective reviews were done for Paul Collier’s Bottom Billion, Michael Jennings’ Surrogates of the State, and John Le Carre’s Mission Song.

We are extremely proud of this year’s journal edition and we look forward to next year’s publication. Under the leadership of Ms. Dambudzo Muzenda (Master in Public Policy, Class of 2009) as Chief Editor, we are confident the legacy of the APJ will continue to permeate the discussion of African policy here in the U.S. and throughout the world. We hope you will continue to support the Africa Policy Journal and its mission to promote a rigorous, informed and influential policy dialogue that is relevant to the development of Africa.

Best regards,