Kenyan economist wins international prize for commitment to development

A Kenyan economist broke new ground on Tuesday evening when he was awarded an international prize in Bonn, Germany for his commitment to regional development cooperation.

Mr James Shikwati, the founder of the Inter Region Economic Network (IREN) think tank and Enactus Kenya shared the Walter-Scheel Prize 2015 Award with a well known German physicist and professor, Dr Eyke Weber.

Mr Shikwati is the first African to win the prize that is named after Walter Scheel who once served as Germany's Federal Minister for Economic Development (1961 to 1966), Foreign Minister (1969 to 1974), acting Chancellor of West Germany and finally President of the Federal Republic of Germany.

In his acceptance speech for the award at the Villa Hammerschmidt, Mr Shikwati said it recognised the role of indigenous African agencies in fighting poverty and spurring economic development and job creation across the continent.

“The increasing influence of multiple global actors, popularly referred to as emerging economies, is currently challenging the 500 year-old Western dominance in global affairs. This signals a need to review traditional models of development cooperation,” said Mr Shikwati.

“The award should give us the courage to end the framing of Africa as a powerless victim whose only salvation is offered by experts from other nations,” he said.

Mr Shikwati said he has always insisted that the challenges facing African countries cannot be cured with aid money in a “one-size-fits-all approach” but rather through initiatives that help people tap into their creativity to emerge out of poverty.

“Development cooperation should promote autonomous but interoperable in-country policy frameworks sensitive to peoples’ aspirations for the future; encourage establishment of regional knowledge centers and allow participation of people from Africa and other less endowed regions to explore and nurture their own dreams,” said Mr Shikwati. 

He said the best measure of the success of any development cooperation initiative is when Africans consume more of their locally produced products and add value to the same for export.

“Development cooperation should offer us tools to navigate and manage multiple players and actors in the global game,” he said.