Pranish Desai
Pranish Desai is a doctoral student in political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His core areas of focus are in comparative politics and political methodology, with a specific interest in the politics of Southern Africa. Between 2021 and 2024, Pranish held several key positions within the Governance Insights and Analytics programme at GGA. In these roles, he was centrally responsible for the elevation and enhancement of the Governance Performance Index as GGA's flagship governance assessment tool. Before departing GGA, Pranish also played a key role in the development of our strategic framework for the 2024-2028 period.
The crucial role of local governance structures

The crucial role of local governance structures

Across Africa, local government is the main governance authority responsible for connecting with local communities. Names given to these structures differ from country to country. Among the more common are “assemblies”, “councils” and “municipalities”. However, these...

GGA’s Pranish Desai appears on The Citizen’s podcast

GGA’s Pranish Desai appears on The Citizen’s podcast

On 15 February 2023, GGA’s Pranish Desai appeared on the podcast The Citizen’s Talk with Tau to discuss several topics relevant to South Africa today. Among the matters Pranish and the host, Stephen Tau, covered were corruption, local government, service delivery,...

SONA 2023: Time to Act

SONA 2023: Time to Act

This week's State of the Nation Address (SONA) presents President Cyril Ramaphosa with an opportunity to set out a decisive agenda for this parliament's final full calendar year. The next SONA will occur on the eve of our 2024 general elections, constraining its...

Pranish Desai
Pranish Desai is a doctoral student in political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His core areas of focus are in comparative politics and political methodology, with a specific interest in the politics of Southern Africa. Between 2021 and 2024, Pranish held several key positions within the Governance Insights and Analytics programme at GGA. In these roles, he was centrally responsible for the elevation and enhancement of the Governance Performance Index as GGA's flagship governance assessment tool. Before departing GGA, Pranish also played a key role in the development of our strategic framework for the 2024-2028 period.
The crucial role of local governance structures

The crucial role of local governance structures

Across Africa, local government is the main governance authority responsible for connecting with local communities. Names given to these structures differ from country to country. Among the more common are “assemblies”, “councils” and “municipalities”. However, these...