Rashid Abubakar

Rashid Abubakar is the Founder of the Policy Centre for Afrocentric Development, where he examines the structural forces shaping Africa’s development, including global economic rules as well as governance systems and the pressures created by climate and other environmental challenges. His work is guided by a simple but often ignored question: why have decades of development work in Africa not delivered sustained impact?

Rashid’s current focus is critiquing development narratives: how development is defined, who defines it, and why prevailing models continue to fall short. 

He has worked across the United Nations system, including with the United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC), United Nations-Habitat (UN-Habitat), and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). His roles have spanned policy research, legal analysis, and capacity development across the thematic areas of governance, human rights, climate change, and urbanization. Rashid holds both an Bachelor of Laws and a Master in International Law from the University of Nairobi.