By 
Patrick Achi, Prime Minister and Head of Government of Côte d’Ivoire from March 2021 to October 2023, is being welcomed as Senior Fellow of the Center for International Development (CID) at the highly prestigious Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, for the 2024 spring semester as part of the Center’s new Visiting Researcher Program.
“It’s a major privilege for me to receive a Fellowship at the CID”, Mr. Achi said. “The Harvard Kennedy School is renowned for its brilliant minds and unwavering commitment to international development, and I am excited to join a community that embodies the school’s ‘Ask what you can do’ ethos.
“While at Harvard, I will share my experience with the University’s exceptionally talented students, exploring together Africa’s immense potential as well as its deep challenges. It is no secret that the continent can further speed up its journey towards development. I will be eager to discuss with students Africa’s performance gap as well as my convictions regarding the key vectors for its future transformation. I am truly looking forward to the coming months, during which I will most certainly teach as much as learn.”
During his Fellowship at CID, Mr. Achi will focus his research on addressing the slow pace of economic transformation and human development in Africa and teach a CID seminar on accelerating sustainable development.
In addition to being former Prime Minister and Head of Government of Côte d’Ivoire, Patrick has also been Minister of State, Executive Secretary of the National Council for Economic Policy responsible for the oversight and execution of the 2030 Strategic Plan and the 2021-2025 government Côte d’Ivoire Solidaire programme, Secretary General of the Presidency, and Minister of Economic Infrastructure. Prior to his political career, he was a management consultant in the private sector for many years.
CID works across Harvard University and with a global network of researchers and practitioners to build, convene and deploy talent to address the world’s most pressing challenges. Through its faculty affiliates, programmes, fellows, students and staff, it invests in growing development thinkers and doers in three ways: building a global pool of talent to think critically about development through degree programmes, executive education and experiential learning; convening academic and practitioner networks to discuss development paradigms through conferences, speaker series, and events; and deploying breakthrough research to generate and apply evidence-based solutions to development problems through academic and practitioner collaborations.
Patrick Achi, ex Prime Minister of Côte d’Ivoire, goes to Harvard
