The awards will honour exceptional individuals who peacefully promote and protect universally recognized rights as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Christmas has come and is long gone yet it would seem that every special interest in international development continues to play a curious version of “let’s hang our baubles on an already overloaded Millennium Development Goal Christmas tree”.

On 3 May 2013, a small piece of history was made when the African Diaspora Awards organisation [ADA] had its launch and inaugural awards event at the Intercontinental Hotel in London.

Do I start at the beginning? Do I start by asking for some clarification that we all understand what Diaspora means?

My own journey as a member of the diaspora providing business support in Africa is best understood through sketching out and providing answers to the following areas: my background with African Foundation for Development (AFFORD) , what diaspora business support means, what role the diaspora have

An Austrian statesman, Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, once remarked: ‘When France sneezes, Europe catches the cold’, referring to the 1848 revolutions which started in France and spread to other European states.

In June 2013, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, delivered a lecture [1] in London hosted by the Royal African Society.

GENERAL COMMENTS

Ever since The Economist declared that Africa was 'rising' in 2011 there has been a great amount of attention given to this new conversation about the continent.

The AU celebrates its Golden Jubilee at a time of unprecedented opportunity. Africa is changing at lightning speed. With an annual growth rate of over 5% in the past decade, the continent has six of the world's ten fastest growing economies.