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In accordance with the updated University guidance the COVID-19 outbreak, this event is cancelled. For updates on Harvard's response to the virus visit https://www.harvard.edu/coronavirus.
As we move past the year of return and into 2020, the Harvard Center for African Studies, in collaboration with the Ghana Association of Greater Boston, invite Ambassador Barfuor Adjei-Barwuah to reflect on the theme of Ghana Beyond the Year of Return.
President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana declared 2019 a Year of Return to encourage the African diaspora to visit and invest in Ghana. Coinciding with the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in the British colonies of what is now the United States, the Year of Return provided an opportunity to reflect on 400 years of African resilience. Ghana has the densest concentration in Africa of European fortifications built during the era of Atlantic trade, and these have become sites of historic memory for Africans in the Diaspora. The year of return framed Ghana as a key travel destination and promoted Ghana as a site for residence and investment for those in the African Diaspora with the aim of reconnecting people of African descent and Africa.
What lessons can we learn from the history that inspired the Year of Return? Did the year of return meet expectations for the Ghanaian government and Africans in the diaspora who visited Ghana? What has Ghana done or is Ghana doing to ensure a conducive legal and financial environment for the African diaspora interested in working or investing in Ghana? In the last couple of decades, Ghanaian governments have had “homecomings” for Ghanaians living abroad and encouraged them to invest their professional skills or money in Ghana. Does the government see this endeavor and beyond the year of return as connected? How can the government create synergies between Africans in the diaspora or Ghanaians abroad interested in investing in Ghana and local Ghanaian business, so that they do not see themselves as competitors?
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His Excellency, Dr. Barfuor Adjei-Barwuah, Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States, with concurrent accreditation to Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic assumed office in July 2017. As Ambassador to the United States, one of his achievements includes securing a $60 million scholarship facility from Andrews University accessible to all Ghanaian students and professionals interested in pursuing post-secondary degrees from that university. Dr. Adjei-Barwuah’s diplomatic experience began with an Ambassadorial assignment to Japan with concurrent accreditation to Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea. There, Dr. Adjei-Barwuah successfully turned an $83 loan into a grant used to construct the Kasoa-Nyamoransa road. He also increased the quantum of Japanese non-project grants to Ghana.
Dr. Adjei-Barwuah earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Ghana, a Master of Science Degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a Ph.D. from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. He also holds a certificate in counseling from the Centre for Advancement in Counseling in London, England.
ORGANIZERS: Harvard Center for African Studies and the Ghana Association of Greater Boston.
RSVP HERE: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ghana-beyond-the-year-of-return-tickets-986...