Rakesh R. Rajani is the Head of Twaweza (“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.
Mr. Rajani advised and serves on several boards, including: Revenue Watch International; Aidspan, a watchdog of the Global Fund; International Budget Partnership; Institute for Democracy in Southern Africa; Foundation for Civil Society in Tanzania; and Hewlett/Gates Foundation’s 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.
Mr. Rajani did his university education the US at Brandeis University and Harvard University, graduating summa cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. His interests include the connections between information, imagination and public action; political economy of policy-making; and budget transparency and public engagement.
