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Expert Bio
Michelle D. Gavin is the Ralph Bunche senior fellow for Africa policy studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). She has over twenty years of experience in international affairs in government and non-profit roles. She was formerly the managing director of The Africa Center, a multidisciplinary institution dedicated to increasing understanding of contemporary Africa. From 2011 to 2014 she was the U.S. ambassador to Botswana and served concurrently as the U.S. representative to the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
During Ambassador Gavin’s tenure, the United States and Botswana launched the most ambitious HIV prevention study in the world; Botswana hosted Southern Accord, the 1,400-strong joint SADC-U.S. military exercise; and the U.S. embassy helped to found Botswana’s first American Chamber of Commerce. Prior to that, she was a special assistant to President Obama and the senior director for Africa at the National Security Council, where she helped to originate the Young African Leaders Initiative and led major policy reviews of Sudan and Somalia.
Before joining the Obama administration, Gavin was an international affairs fellow and adjunct fellow for Africa at CFR. Earlier in her career she worked in the U.S. Senate, where she was the staff director for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s subcommittee on African affairs, director of international policy issues for Senator Russ Feingold, and legislative director for Senator Ken Salazar.
Gavin received an MPhil in international relations from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes scholar, and earned her BA from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where she was a Truman scholar. She serves on the board of directors of Points of Light and the Africa-America Institute.
Affiliations:
- Africa-America Institute Board, member
- Emerging Public Leaders Board, member
- Points of Light Board, Program and Impact Committee, chair
- WesExec Advisors, senior advisor
Current Projects
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PEPFAR’s twentieth anniversary should prompt reflection on some inconvenient truths for U.S.-Africa relations.
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Champions of democracy in Sudan should be wary of promises from junta leaders to give up political power.
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High stakes and encouraging progress in Zambia should prompt international support.
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All eyes are on Nigeria as it prepares for its general election in early 2023. Has the government convinced Nigerians that their votes, and lives, will be secure?
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The South African President tried to focus his country on the future, but the past–including his own–continues to intrude.
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While the Nairobi agreement offers hope for a resolution to Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict, uncertainties remain, and the damage done will reshape U.S.-Ethiopia relations.
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The resurgence of the M23 rebel group in Eastern Congo increases suffering for civilians and heightens international tensions.
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Citizen backlash to stories of labor exploitation may complicate Gulf states’ foreign policy agenda in East Africa.
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Despite military officials seizing power from the transitional government one year ago, Sudanese citizens continue to mobilize for a democratic future.
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While the Twitter war between Uganda and Kenya may be entertaining, the implications of a succession crisis in Uganda are serious.
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An absence of political will may prove a far harder problem than complicated logistics
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As African populations continue to reject the status-quo, opportunists find a foothold.
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Blaming external actors for the country’s woes accomplishes little for the Malian people.
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Debates about sanctions obscure the real crisis in Zimbabwe.
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Once celebrated as a regional power broker, Ethiopia today is a ripe target for opportunists
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Now affirmed by the Supreme Court, the Ruto administration will have campaign promises put to the test.
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With a divided electoral commission and legal challenges in the works, Kenya’s presidential election is neither the disaster some feared, nor the unambiguous success hoped for by champions of democracy.
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Kenya’s next president will have to win more than just votes to gain legitimacy.
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High level visits should signal commitment, not just competition.
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This update represents violence in Nigeria and related to Boko Haram in Cameroon, Chad, and Niger from July 16 to July 22, 2022.
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Eritrean interests may be better served than those of Ethiopia and Somalia.
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This update represents violence in Nigeria and related to Boko Haram in Cameroon, Chad, and Niger from July 9 to July 15, 2022.
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The future of the Democratic Republic of Congo is as consequential as the country is complicated.
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This update represents violence in Nigeria and related to Boko Haram in Cameroon, Chad, and Niger from July 2 to July 8, 2022.