Richard Dowden

Richard Dowden "is the Director of the Royal Africa Society. He is a writer and journalist on Africa and former Africa Editor of The Independent and The Economist and worked on The Times. His book Africa; Altered Stated, Ordinary Miracles is published September 2008."

"Holds a Bachelor of Arts (History) from London University (United Kingdom). He joined the board in March 2010.  He began his career in 1971 as a volunteer teacher in Uganda for one year thereafter taking up a position with a peace keeping organization in Northern Ireland.  He began his career in journalism as the Editor of the Catholic Herald in 1976 before joining The Times foreign desk in 1980 reporting from the Middle East and Africa and subsequently joined The Independent in 1986 as the African Editor,   He joined the Economist in 1995 as Africa Director until 2001, when he resigned to become a freelance journalist and writer.  He was appointed the director of the Royal African Society in 2002, which publishes “African Affairs”, a leading academic journal on Africa and also organises conferences and seminars on Africa.  Mr Dowden has produced several television documentaries on Africa which have been aired on BBC and Channel 4 in England and is the author of the book “Africa: Altered states, Ordinary Miracles” which was published in 2008. He serves on the Editorial Committee."


 * Director, Nation Media Group
 * Council Member, Overseas Development Institute
 * Trustee, Justice Africa
 * International Advisory Board, African Public Broadcasting Foundation
 * Advisory board, David Astor Journalism Awards Trust