Yilma Tafere Tasew was born and grew up in Ethiopia. There, he was a teacher by profession. He left Ethiopia in 1991, to exile in Kenyan refugee camps. While he was in Kenya, Yilma was a refugee community leader. He was an advocate for the refugee community and worked as a social worker for the Lutheran World Federation at Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya.

While residing at the Kakuma Camp, he also established the first Refugee news bulletin, KANEBU/ Kakuma News Bulletin. Then in 1995, with the assistance of two Australian students who came to visit the camp, he helped to be published a book entitled Tilting Changes: An Anthology of Refugee Writing, which is a collection of poems and stories written by refugees, including Yilma. In 1997 Yilma was invited by the UNHCR (the UN refugee agency) to work for the social and community services section of their Kenyan operation base at Nairobi.

In July 1999, he came to New Zealand under the Refugee Quota Programme. Since his arrival to New Zealand Yilma has worked in a number of capacities in Wellington, including: Education Consultant at Karori Learning Centre; Cross-Cultural Worker for the Refugee and Migrant Service; and at the New Zealand Immigration Service. Yilma is also a Public Speaker on Refugee and Diaspora issues. He has presented papers for government, NGOs, universities, and at national conferences throughout New Zealand.

Yilma is also a co-founder of the highly successfull group, Writers International (NZ), a writers group in Wellington, New Zealand and co-founder and Editorial Coordinator of Africana He recently published two volumes of books: Diasporic Ghosts (2005), and Agonising Wounds (2006). In 2008 Yilma completed a BA in Political Science and International Relations at Victoria University of Wellington.

Chris LaMonica is an Assistant Professor of Comparative Politics. His research interests include the politics of development, international relations theory and practice, African politics, and African-American history. He earned a BA in Economics at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst, an MA in International Relations at Boston University (International Graduate Program/Paris), an MPP in International Development at Harvard University's Kennedy School, and a PhD in Comparative Politics at Boston University. He has taught courses on Comparative Politics, International Relations, African Politics, Sub-Saharan African History, African-American History and other subjects at Boston University, the University of Rhode Island, and Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. From January 2010 Chris will be teaching at the US Coast Guard Academy. Prior to entering academia Chris worked for ten years in international development with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) and USAID/Zambia.

Among his many research projects, Chris is currently working on a political history of sub-Saharan Africa, with particular attention to African political thought.

Thomas Banda, born in Zambia now resident in New Zealand where he is currently working as Africa Programme Manager with Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA). VSA has been New Zealand's leading volunteer placement agency since 1962, placing people with skills and experience in carefully selected assignments in the Pacific, Asia and Africa regions. Thomas who frequently travels to Africa is in charge of overseeing the operations in the East and Southern part of Africa. The main focus of the VSA programme in Africa is to help reduce poverty, improve living conditions and create long-term sustainable livelihoods by supporting the development process within the selected countries of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Zambia.

Prior to coming to New Zealand, Thomas worked in journalism and as a Senior Investigations officer for the Anti Corruption Commission in Zambia. Thomas has lived in New Zealand since 1990. Before joining VSA he worked as an Analyst with the Community Development Group of the Department of Internal Affairs and was involved in the preparation of the bid to establish the Office of Ethnic Affairs. He holds a diploma in Journalism from Africa Literature Centre, a Pan African Journalism School in Zambia, a BA in Public Policy and an MA in Development Studies from Victoria University and an MBA from Massey University. He is also a graduate of the International Leadership Programme run by the UN Leadership Academy in Amman’ Jordan.

Thomas is past President of the Africa Association of New Zealand and is an active and supportive member of the African community in Wellington. His interest are soccer, jogging and world music.

Dr Mourtada Deme is currently Director for a CEPPS program in Nigeria working on electoral reform after the controversial 2007 elections held in Nigeria. His research interests include institution building, good governance, the rule of law and elections in developing countries, with a particular focus on international election observation. Most recently, Dr Deme coordinated the National Democratic Institute's Long Term Observer Mission to Sierra Leone's 2007 national elections. He previously served on UN pre-electoral assessment missions and published a book entitled Law, Morality, and International Armed Intervention: The United Nations and ECOWAS in Liberia (Routledge, 2005), analyzing the effects of international democracy promotion efforts on domestic politics by using Liberia as a case study. He has also taught North-South Relations and African Politics at Boston University
and African History at University of Rhode Island.

Dr Deme received his Ph.D. in International Relations from Boston University and his Master's in international law from the University of Bordeaux, France.

Associate Professor Marion Maddox is Director of the Centre for Research on Social Inclusion at Macquarie University, in Sydney, Australia. She writes regularly on religion and politics. Her books include God Under Howard: The rise of the religious right in Australian politics (Sydney: Allen and Unwin 2005).