Speakers

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  Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi

  General Secretary of United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa)

  Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi

  

  General Secretary of United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa)

  Mr Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi has been the Secretary General of United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa) since 2007. He was Chairman of the Cities Alliance Interim Management Board until April 2016. He is also Co-Chairman of the World Cities Scientific Development Alliance (WCSDA), and Deputy Secretary General of the China-Africa Forum of Local Authorities. Mr Elong Mbassi is the man behind the Africities Summits, the most important event of African cities, regions and local authorities, which he has overseen since the first edition in 1998. Mr. Elong Mbassi has nearly 40 years of experience in urban development and land use planning, urban services, local economic development, local community governance, housing and slum restructuring. From 1996 to 1999, he was the very first Secretary General of the World Association of Cities and Local Authorities Coordination (WACLAC), at the same time as he was Secretary General of the Municipal Development Partnership (MDP) from 1992 to 2006. Previously, from 1981 to 1991, Mr. Elong Mbassi was the director of the first urban project co-financed by the World Bank in Cameroon, which focused on the restructuring and development of an unhealthy housing area of 300,000 inhabitants in the city of Douala. Mr. Elong Mbassi began his professional career in Paris, France, where he was a researcher and then a project manager at the Cooperation and Development Agency from 1973 to 1980.

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  Kobie Brand

  CEO & Regional Director, ICLEI Africa

  Kobie Brand

  

  CEO & Regional Director, ICLEI Africa

  Ms. Brand has over 17 years of practical and managerial experience in Integrated Environmental Management – specifically policy, strategy and programme development and management – at local, national and international level. Ms. Brand is responsible for strategic direction, positioning, partnerships, programmes and scope of the ICLEA Africa Secretariat. She has Postgraduate degree of Stellenbosch University, as well as associated additional qualification in Political Philosophy and Law. Recipient of award, Environmental Communicator of the Year, South African Network for Coastal and Oceanic Research (2002)

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  Lee MAIYANI KINYANJUI

  Lee MAIYANI KINYANJUI

  

  Nakuru County Governor

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  Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o

  Governor of Kisumu County, Republic of Kenya

  Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o

  

  Governor of Kisumu County, Republic of Kenya

  Honourable Professor Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o is the Governor of Kisumu County, Republic of Kenya. Prior to his election as Governor, he was the Senator of Kisumu County from 2013 to 2017. Professor Nyong’o served as the Minister for Medical Services of the Republic of Kenya from 2008 to 2013. Before then, he was Minister for Planning and National Development from 2003 to 2005. As Planning Minister, Professor Nyong’o led the formulation of the Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation (ERS); the economic transformation blueprint credited for the positive turn in Kenya’s development under the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) government. An accomplished academic, he holds a M.A and PhD in Political Science from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours) in Political Science & Philosophy from Makerere University College, Kampala – Uganda. He has published a number of books, articles in refereed journals as well as edited volumes on diverse issues in international politics and development. He is a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS), where he was also Head of Programmes, before moving to the African Research and Resource Forum (ARRF) as founding Director. Professor Nyong’o is an avid writer and editor. He edited New Path: Journal of African Intellectual Thought (African Research and Resource Forum, Nairobi) and was a member of the International Editorial Committee, Estudios de Asia y Africa, El Colegio de Mexico, Mexico D.F and the International Advisory Board, Development and Change, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague. From October to December 2013, Professor Nyong'o was a Brundtland Senior Leadership Fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. In this role, he taught a course in the Department of Global Health and Population titled "Leadership Development in Global Health and Policy-Making in Kenya”. He has served in a number of international committees and Boards including the Africa Monitor; The Nelson Mandela Institute for Science Technology and the Advancement of Knowledge; and the UN Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA). For his accomplishments, Professor Nyong’o has won two distinguished awards, namely the 1995 German-African Award for contribution to scholarship and democratization and the 2005 Africa Brain Gain Award by the Kenyan American Professional Association and Career Nation for contribution to reversing Africa’s brain drain.

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  Pr. Geoffrey WAHUNGU

  Pr. Geoffrey WAHUNGU

  

  DG of National Environment Management Authority

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  Stefano SIGNORE

  Stefano SIGNORE

  

  Head of CC Unit INTPA Expertise France or AFD Eastern Africa