Dr. Hany Besada
Senior Research Fellow | United Nations University - Institute for Natural Resources in Africa, UN
Dr. Hany Besada is Senior Research/Programme Advisor at the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC). He is also a Non-Resident Senior Research Fellow with the United Nations University-Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA); Senior Fellow, Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History, University of Toronto and Research Fellow, China Institute for South-South Cooperation in Agriculture (CISSCA), China Agriculture University. Until recently, he was Research Professor, Institute of African Studies, Carleton University and Senior Fellow, Columbia Centre on Sustainable Investment (CCSI), Columbia University. Previously, he served as Deputy Executive Director at the Diamond Development Initiative (DDI); Regional Advisor, African Minerals Development Centre (AMDC) at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA); Theme Leader: Governance of Natural Resources at the North-South Institute (NSI); Research Specialist on the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Panel Secretariat on the Post 2015 Development Agenda, UN University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa; Program Leader and Senior Researcher at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) in Waterloo, Canada; Principle Researcher: Business in Africa at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) in Johannesburg, South Africa; and Policy Advisor for the South African Ministry of Local and Provisional Government. Dr. Besada is the author of more than 80 peer-reviewed scholarly journal papers, dozens of policy papers, over 70 opinion pieces and editor/author of 15 books. He holds a PhD in Politics and International Studies from the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom.
Artisanal and Small Scale Diamond Mining
A country's abundant natural resources may serve as a curse or a blessing, with the outcome often dependent on prevailing governance structures and experience managing these assets. Despite natural resource advantages, many African countries have failed to transform their enormous economic potential and wealth into tangible benefits such as sustainable socio-economic development, human security, or peace. Governance, Conflict, and Natural Resources in Africa reevaluates the role that foreign state-owned and private-sector actors play in resource-rich states - whether stable, post-conflict, or fragile - in sub-Saharan Africa. Through research and a analysis of in-depth interviews with local stakeholders in Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Ethiopia, the publication assesses how foreign state-owned and private-sector corporations have contributed to economic growth at both the national and local levels in different resource-rich countries. This book reveals the unique challenges and opportunities created by these investors, demonstrating that new policies in business practices and operations have the potential to generate sustainable development and positive economic transformation.
Governance, Conflict, and Natural Resources in Africa puts forward a conceptual framework for understanding the role of private economic actors in extractive industries in Africa and sheds new light on foreign private-sector contributions to capacity building and economic development.
