Rakesh R. Rajani

Biographical Information

"Rakesh R. Rajani is the Head of Twaweza (meaning 'we can make it happen' in Swahili), a 10-year initiative to enhance access to information, citizen agency and public accountability in East Africa. Until the end of 2007, he served as the founding Executive Director of HakiElimu, an independent organization that promotes citizen engagement in education in Tanzania. Rakesh's interests include the connections between information, imagination and public action; political economy of policy making; and budget transparency and public engagement.

"Rakesh advises and serves on several boards, including Revenue Watch International, Aidspan, a watchdog of the Global Fund, the International Budget Partnership, the Institute for Democracy in Southern Africa, the Foundation for Civil Society in Tanzania, and the Hewlett/Gates Foundations initiative on Quality Education in Developing Countries. He has also been a fellow of Harvard University since 1998, most recently involved in its Joint Learning Initiative on Children and AIDS. He has written and/or edited over 300 papers, popular publications and op-eds in English and Swahili.

"Rakesh did his university education in the US at Brandeis and Harvard, graduating summa cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa."

• Policy Advisory Board, ONE Campaign