Announcing New Senior Fellow for Africa

Friends of Europe today announced the appointment of Paul Walton as Senior Fellow working on the new alliance with Africa and international partnerships.

Paul has been in the vanguard of inter-regional cooperation, most recently as director of strategy and partnerships for the first EU-Mediterranean Foundation for dialogue. He brings with him extensive international experience in leading award-winning organisations and multi-country programmes including fifteen years working and living in Africa and the Middle East.

“It is an exciting time to be joining Friends of Europe,” said Paul Walton. “There is increasing understanding that Africa-Europe relations need a reset, centred on common opportunities, people-to-people cooperation and youth-led social innovation, and Friends of Europe is well-positioned to support an inclusive, dynamic and forward-looking partnership”.

“We are thrilled to have Paul join us as a Senior Fellow,” said Friends of Europe Co-Founder and Secretary-General Geert Cami. “He has an outstanding track record of bringing together diverse stakeholders to build meaningful partnerships which deliver. Paul is a proven strategic thinker and skilled dialogue practitioner. I am convinced that his combined global experience, in the field and internationally, represents a major asset for the next chapter of Africa-EU relations”.

Paul has held various advisory roles with multi-lateral institutions and was nominated to the taskforce to create structures for dialogue among the EU, Civil Society and Authorities following the historic events of the Arab Spring. At the international level, he has been a leading advocate on Youth-led Peacebuilding as member of the steering group mandated by the UN Security Council to produce the first global study on “Youth, Peace and Security” and has been engaged in pioneering global governance practice with the World Bank.

The Senior Fellow announcement takes place as the European Commission (EC) releases today its Africa Strategy and following last week’s Africa Union-EC joint communication on the forging of a new kind of partnership based on a common commitment to peace, investment in youth, tackling climate change and accelerating work towards the Sustainable Development Goals 2030.