The African Development Bank Group has appointed Josiah Maximilian Bankole Jarrett as Director of Strategy and Delivery in the Office of the President, effective 16 July 2023.
Jarrett, a British national, has over 33 years of experience in African economic and political affairs, multilateral government relations, and strategic communications.
Since 2001, he has worked in international organizations in various executive office roles and on special initiatives, focusing on institutional partnerships, strategy formulation, policy analysis, and program delivery. This includes managing the Paris-based International Energy Agency's engagements across Africa to support clean-energy transitions from 2020 to 2022.
From 2018 to 2020, Jarrett was the Coordinator of the Third Murdoch Commission of Murdoch University in Western Australia and co-lead author of the Commission's 2021 report (Towards Inclusive Transitions on the Continent of Africa). The Commission provided a platform to collectively explore how Africans and Australians could foster inclusive growth transitions in both continents and globally.
Throughout 2017, he served as the final Director-in-charge of the Geneva-based Africa Progress Panel Secretariat. In this role, he worked closely with former United Nations chief Kofi Annan and his co-chair, former German President Horst Koehler, on the African Development Bank Group special panel on accelerating the implementation of the Bank's Ten-Year Strategy.
From 2014 to 2016, Jarrett served as the Deputy Director of the Africa Progress Panel on secondment from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). He was a Special Adviser (2018-2020) to former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and development economist Peter Eigen, co-chairs of the Africa Progress Group, which intended to take forward the work of the Africa Progress Panel after its closure.
Between 2001 and 2014, Jarrett worked with the UNECA, first as a Speechwriter and Communications Team Leader in the Cabinet Office of the Executive Secretary, and later as an Executive Office Senior Program Manager and Coordinator of strategic regional initiatives. This role involved nurturing a close working relationship and effective partnership with senior management of the African Development Bank Group and the African Union Commission.
Jarrett is a Senior Board Adviser (Africa) to AWR Lloyd, an Indo- Pacific Advisory firm, and an honorary fellow of Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia.
Born in Monrovia, Liberia, he began his career in 1990 as an international broadcaster with the British Broadcasting Corporation World Service, editing, producing and presenting popular radio programs for over a decade, including Network Africa and Focus on Africa.
Jarrett holds a Master of Arts from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University, London, United Kingdom (1996) and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom (1990).
Commenting on his appointment, Jarrett said: "I am humbled, motivated and grateful to President Adesina and the leadership of the African Development Bank for offering me this opportunity to continue to serve Africa in this role. The challenge of accelerating the delivery of significantly more infrastructure finance and a massive scale-up of human capital investment in African states is now more critical than ever. I, therefore, look forward to using my experience and creativity to help the Bank in advancing this mission to the best of my abilities."
African Development Bank president, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina said: "I am pleased to appoint Mr. Josiah Maximilian Bankole Jarrett as the new Director of Strategy and Delivery in the Office of the President. Mr. Jarrett, a seasoned and respected professional, will provide technical and operational support to the President to ensure strategic focus and the effective delivery of the Bank's work program as well as reinforcing compliance and accountability."
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