“The following briefs comprises the Foresight Africa collection and are meant to create a dialogue on what matters in Africa for 2013. John Page argues that Africa’s youth unemployment challenges encompass more than just a lack of jobs since African youth often have little access to good quality jobs. Todd Moss and Stephanie Majerowicz assess Africa’s lack of accessible electricity and propose that the Obama administration make addressing the continent’s energy gap its lasting legacy for Africa. Yun Sun, Julius Agbor and Jessica Smith examine the recent senior leadership changes in the Chinese government and discuss the impacts of the new leadership on China-Africa foreign relations. From China’s side, strategies may not change dramatically. Richard Joseph contends that the recent conflict and insecurity in Africa is caused by “discordant development”—a juxtaposition of high growth and deepening poverty. Kevin Watkins emphasizes that despite recent gains, sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing a two-pronged learning crisis of quality and access. John Mukum Mbaku analyzes past and present efforts to increase Africa’s infrastructure capacity in light of ambitious newly proposed construction on the continent. More than Just Sending Money Home: Engaging the Diaspora as a Priority for Africa’s Development stress that Africa’s large diaspora is an underutilized source of investment, support and political pressure for the continent.”
