Mandipa Ndlovu

Mandipa Ndlovu is a governance researcher and development policy analyst whose research and consulting experience spans multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral fora. She trained as an academic who was previously at the University of Cape Town in the Political Studies Department and carries on as an adjunct lecturer on African peace and security at the Netherlands Defence Academy in The Hague.

Mandipa is continuously contributing to global conversations on governance and the future of development. Notably, she serves on the Ibrahim Index of African Governance Advisory Council contributing to issues concerning the African youth demographic and contributed to the World Health Organisation’s “Imagining the Future of Pandemics and Epidemics” report. She is also a Mo Ibrahim Scholar alumna through the Governance for Development for Africa Initiative.

Mandipa is a doctoral researcher at Leiden University and a visiting researcher at the University of Edinburgh where her research is focused on the political economy of urban governance and its developmental futures in Africa. She holds a MSc in Violence, Conflict, and Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) as well as a MPhil in Justice and Transformation from the University of Cape Town (UCT). Her broader research interests and publication record cover civil-military relations, sustainable economic development – particularly for Africa’s youth demographic, trauma and memory, post-conflict justice, urban transitions, and social protections within militarized states.