Political analyst and economist, a former West Africa project director of the International Crisis Group, Dr Gilles Yabi is the founder of WATHI.
Excerpts from an interview of Gilles Yabi by Till Bruckner, published by On Think Tanks (onthinktanks.org)
About the gaps in the regional policy research landscapes…
“ There’s been an underinvestment in tertiary education for decades across the continent, but especially in French speaking countries… Since the mid-1980s, internationally supported economic and public finance reforms and the financial crisis have severely cut education budgets and remaining funds have been reallocated away from higher education. The problem goes beyond resources, though. There is a lack of strategic direction. National elites can send their own children abroad to get a good university education there, so they have neglected the sector. Changing the status quo would involve making some difficult choices… “
About globalization, qualified human resources and weakening of African states…
“ We cannot underestimate the effect of globalization on human resources. Highly educated people have more opportunities globally now. Even within their own countries, they can work internationally…. Incidentally, international organizations are an important factor in the weakening of the states in this region. We need stronger states, but that is impossible to achieve if the best-trained and least corrupt people are not interested in working for the state. “
About WATHI as a response to the need for systemic change in the region…
“The states and the societies in the region have to change. The systems have to change: political, economic, and educational systems, as well as systems of values. I’m setting up a think tank with a large group of friends and contacts because we need to put some issues on the table, those which we believe are crucial for the future of West Africa in particular… “
About the participative dimension of WATHI
“ WATHI is not a typical think tank built on in-house experts in specific fields. The goal is to create a participative think tank, one whose objective is not to produce big sophisticated reports but rather to act as a filter for available knowledge that is useful and share it as widely as possible to stimulate debate and reforms… “
” What WATHI will do is invite people from across West Africa to post contributions on the website, sharing facts, observations and suggestions for action. We want WATHI to be a vehicle for knowledge sharing and collective thinking and action with no hierarchy between the contributors; and without losing sight of the concrete and peculiar challenges of the countries and peoples of the region. “
About ways to make change happen without being obsessed by short-term objectives
“ The ambition of WATHI is to be a permanent platform for ideas and action for years and decades… WATHI has no ambition of changing things in a few months or a year. We know a bit about the systems of bad incentives which prevent the countries and the peoples of West Africa and beyond from making quicker progress in improving collective wellbeing. We also know that efforts over a long time are the only way to transform human societies, especially when it is for the good and not to destroy them. “
“ We want to get more and more people aware of the crucial issues for their future and for their children so that they will bring in their own ideas for change and put pressure on decision makers. In parallel, we want to draw the decision makers themselves into the debates… WATHI is a state of mind before being an organization. Inclusiveness and open participation are key components of that state of mind. “
About individual participation and commitment as core elements of WATHI’s funding model
“ We cannot pretend to work on issues we say are crucial to the region and count primarily on resources from outside the region. Consistency in all dimensions of the initiative seems crucial to me, and that extends to the fundraising strategy. We want to strike a balance between traditional donor support and crowd funding with a particular emphasis on individual contributions from people who are attached to the region… We’ll continue to look for institutional donors but as the citizen and participative think tank we want to be, we are also ready to pay the price for our desire of independence. “