The event, organised by African Peoples Advocacy in collaboration with the Association for African Owned Enterprises and the Centre of African Studies, proved extremely popular. The guests, who braved the disruptions and delays caused by the general strike, were so numerous that extra chairs had to be found to accommodate everybody. Mr Christian Udechukwu, Managing Director of BusinessinAfrica Events and Adviser to the African Peoples Advocacy (APA), welcomed the attendees.
Author:
Gordon Brown Congratulates APA
The achievements of our organisation, African Peoples Advocacy (APA), so far have exceeded all our expectations: we received an invitation from the UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, when he visited the Medway Towns in April 2010.
The APA Founder and Director, Ms Sylvie Aboa-Bradwell, was congratulated by Gordon Brown for her leadership. The British Prime Minister also congratulated APA for “promoting community cohesion in Medway” through the Afro-Beat Isolation project.
African Union and Battle for Africa’s Soul in 21st Century
The African Union and the Battle for Africa’s Soul in the 21st Century is a paper written by the Director of African Peoples Advocacy, Sylvie Aboa-Bradwell, to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the African Union.
The-AU-and-the-Battle-for-Africas-Soul, pdf
Read The African Union and the Battle for Africa’s Soul in the 21st Century by Sylvie Aboa-Bradwell.
So Who or What Is African?
You know these horrible stories you usually hear about people being mistakenly buried alive?
If you do not want that to happen to me, when my time comes, do not bother looking for a doctor to check whether I am really dead or not.
Just grab a few people and improvise a debate titled ‘The True Nature of African-ness’ or something along these lines. If, after some seconds, I do not leap up and start shouting and shaking my fist at some of the speakers, then you will know that I am truly finished, acabada, finie, bolè, kaput.
Evidence to House of Lords
By Sylvie Aboa-Bradwell
We are delighted to announced that the House of Lords EU Committed acknowledged receipt of our evidence on 27th April 2011. Our evidence contains recommendations for a new Western policy towards Africa.
The Demophile Deal for Africa, pdf
You can now read our April-May 2011 policy paper, The Demophile Deal for Africa, which advocates a new Western policy towards Africa on which the evidence is based. It was written by the APA director Sylvie Aboa-Bradwell. We hope you enjoy it.
Galvanising Younger Africans into Action
I believe a lot in being inspired and galvanised into action by somebody, as this happened to me. I was meant to be a boring, conventional academic, but I abandoned academia and became a campaigner/ educator for African communities after hearing the late Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem speak on a BBC Radio 4 programme –Any Questions?
I was electrified when I listened to him. I had the weird impression that he was expressing everything I had been craving to say about Africa, African communities and the relationships between Africa and African communities with the West and the world for years. But he was doing it with so much vivacity, confidence and directness that I realised that he was so powerful because he was free. He was working for a think tank –Justice Africa- that gave him the freedom to speak up his mind, instead of restricting him as most academic institutions do.
Sylvie Aboa-Bradwell Debating Democracy in Africa
Watch the video of the Director of African Peoples Advocacy, Ms Sylvie Aboa-Bradwell, debating democracy in Africa in April 2012.
Video of Sylvie Aboa-Bradwell Debating Shell in Nigeria
“Shell has fuelled armed conflict in Nigeria by paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to feuding militant groups…”
Sylvie Aboa-Bradwell
Sylvie Aboa-Bradwell
Sylvie Aboa-Bradwell is the Founder and Executive Director of the think tank African Peoples Advocacy (APA). APA is a platform for the engagement and education of African communities and key stakeholders. Sylvie has an MPhil in Post-Colonial Studies and an MA in English from the Complutense University of Madrid. Before founding APA in 2008, she served as UK Co-ordinator of the Centre for Democracy and Development, a non-governmental organisation that promotes sustainable development and democracy in Africa. Sylvie also worked for several organisations catering to African communities in Spain first and, subsequently, in the UK. She is a Board Member of the Association for African Owned Enterprises.
In addition, Sylvie writes fiction and non-fiction under the pseudonyms Susan Akono and Chantal Aboa. Her book, Cuentos africanos, was the first collection of stories by an African writer released by the Spanish publishers Laberinto in 2007. Her short story, ‘Letter to Clara’ was included in the anthology African Women Writing Resistance: Contemporary Voices published by the University of Wisconsin in 2010. Her latest creative writing projects include an historical African fiction series dubbed the “African Dr Who”, whose first book, Bala in the Mali Kingdom, was published in October 2012. She was short-listed as ‘Author of the Year’, ‘Career Woman of the Year’ and ‘Role Model of the Year’ for the 2013 Women for Africa Awards, and won the African Diaspora’s 2013 Community Hero Award. Through her work, writings, lectures, television and radio interventions, Sylvie has long been a strong advocate of development, education, human rights and good governance in Africa, the UK, and elsewhere in the world.
Women for Africa Awards 2012
In comparison with similar initiatives, the Women for Africa Awards really stood out! The organisers- Sam and Tola Onigbanjo- avoided the usual focus on entertainment, beauty etc and instead focused on the achievements of African women in a range of fields including business, education and the media.
Though there was a Nigerian focus, women were awarded from many different countries across Africa. There were too many winners for me to mention each one here but there are two women in particular who deserve a special mention.
