Bio: Emmanuel Kumi has been a Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Policy Studies (CSPS) of the University of Ghana since February 2021.  He is an international development specialist with over a decade’s academic and professional experience in the fields of politics of development and political economy analysis, philanthropy and volunteerism, civil society advocacy and activism and NGO politics and management.

Dr Kumi has extensive research and teaching experience in mixed-methods research (quantitative and qualitative research design, techniques, data collection, analysis and inference) and has undertaken a number of research projects and consultancy services for academic institutions, philanthropic foundations and NGOs in Africa, Europe and North Africa.

Research: Dr Kumi’s research is broadly in the areas of international development with particular interests in the political economy of development, NGO politics and management, civil society advocacy, sustainability and African philanthropy.  He is particularly interested in the interactions between these themes.  

Much of his recent work has been concerned with capacity strengthening of civil society organisations, shrinking civic space, localisation of development aid, philanthropy and social mobilisation.  His research is interdisciplinary in its approach and draws upon political economy, social policy, community development and economics.

Selected Publications:  

Journal Articles

Kumi, E., & Hayman R. (2025, accepted). Can domestic resource mobilisation by CSOs open up civic space in the Global South. Development in Practice, 1-10. https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cdip20

Asante, K.T, Kumi, E., & Kodom, M. (2024). Post-Covid economic crisis, citizen-state relations, and the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-levy) controversy in Ghana. World Development Perspectives, 35(100621), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wdp.2024.100621

Kamruzzaman, P., & Kumi, E. (2023). Why national development experts are not included in development policymaking and practice: The case of Ghana. Development Policy Review, 41(2), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12656

Kumi, E., & Saharan, T. (2022). Hybridisation of institutional logics and civil society organisations’ advocacy in Kenya. Public Administration and Development, 42(4), 245-255. https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.1989

Kumi, E., & Elbers, W. (2022). How internationally funded NGOs promote gender equality in horticulture value chains in Kenya. Third World Quarterly, 43(9), 2112-2128. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2022.2081543

Kumi, E. (2022). Pandemic democracy: The nexus of COVID-19, shrinking civic space for civil society organisations and the 2020 elections in Ghana. Democratization, 29(5), 939-957. https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2021.2020251

Kumi, E. (2022). Domestic resource mobilisation strategies of national non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Ghana. Public Administration and Development, 42(2),109– 127. https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.1973

Kumi, E., & Copestake, J. (2022). Friend or patron? Social relations across the national NGO-donor divide in Ghana. European Journal of Development Research, 34(1), 343–366 https://doi.org/10.1057/s41287-021-00375-3

Yeboah. T., Antoh, E.F., & Kumi, E. (2022). Strategic responses of Microfinance Institutions to Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) crisis in Ghana. Development in Practice, 32 (1),112-127. https://doi.org/10.1080/09614524.2021.1991890

Kumi, E., Kamruzzaman, P. (2021). Understanding the motivations and roles of National Development Experts in Ghana: ‘We do all the donkey work and they take the glory’. Third World Quarterly, 42(6),1157-1175. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2021.1877127

Kumi, E., Kamruzzaman, P. (2021). Understanding the motivations and roles of National Development Experts in Ghana: ‘We do all the donkey work and they take the glory’. Third World Quarterly, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2021.1877127

Saharan, T., Matelski, M., Kumi, E. (2021). Negotiating organisational access as a multifaceted process: Comparative research experiences with three advocacy NGOs in Kenya. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 20, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069211012593

Osei, L., Yeboah, T., Kumi, E., & Fredua Antoh, E. (2021). Government’s ban on artisanal and small-scale mining, youth livelihoods and imagined futures in Ghana. Resources Policy, 71, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2021.102008

Kumi, E., & Copestake, J. (2021). Friend or patron? Social relations across the national NGO-donor divide in Ghana. European Journal of Development Research, 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41287-021-00375-3

Kumi, E. (2020). From donor darling to beyond aid? Public perceptions of ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 58(1), 67-90. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X19000570

Kumi, E., Yeboah T., Kumi, Y. A. (2020). Private sector participation in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Ghana: Experiences from the Mining and Telecommunications Sectors. The Extractive Industries and Society, 7(1), 181-190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2019.12.008

Senyo, D. & Kumi, E. (2020). Does religious faith matter in development practice? Perspectives from the Savelugu- Nanton District in Northern Ghana. Forum for Development Studies, 47(2), 351-38. https://doi.org/10.1080/08039410.2019.1685591

Kumi, E. (2019). Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals: An analysis of the potential role of philanthropy in Ghana. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 54(7), 1084–1104. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021909619862591

Kumi, E. (2019). Aid reduction and NGDOs’ quest for financial sustainability in Ghana: Can philanthropic institutions serve as alternative funding routes? VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 30(6), 1332-1347. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11266-017-9931-4

Book chapters

Kumi, E. (2023). When COVID-19 meets philanthropy: The role of African Philanthropy in addressing the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 in Ghana. In Moyo, B., Qobo, M., & Ngwenya, N. (Ed). African philanthropy: Philanthropic responses to the COVID-19 and Development Goals in Africa. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited. Pp 55-72.

Kumi, E., Arhin, A. (2023). Surreptitious symbiosis in fighting shrinking civic space? Collaboration between social movements, activists and NGOs in West Africa. In van Wessel, M., Kontinen. T., & Bawole. J.N. (Ed). Starting from the South: Reimagining civil society collaborations in development. London: Routledge. Pp. 162-178.

Kumi, E., Yeboah, T., Kankam-Kusi, N., Fomunjong, J.C, Vandyck, C.K (2023). Shifting the Narrative: Localisation and Shift the Power in the African Context. In van Wessel, M., Kontinen. T., & Bawole. J.N. (Ed). Starting from the South: Reimagining civil society collaborations in development. London: Routledge. Pp. 190-204.

Yeboah, T., Kumi, E., & Ibrahim, M. (2022). Female Labor Force Participation, Infrastructure, and Sectoral Value Additions in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Wamboye, E.F., & Fayissa, B. (Ed.). The Palgrave handbook of Africa’s economic sectors. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 867–894.

Working Papers

Kumi, E. (2022). Findings from a scoping study on mapping African philanthropic foundations in Ghana, Nigeria, and Cameroon (Working Paper RR7). Centre on African Philanthropy and Social Investment. https://capsi.co.za/research-reports/findings-from-a-scoping-study-on-mapping-african-philanthropic-foundations-in-ghana-nigeria-and-cameroon/

Kumi, E., & Copestake, J. (2020). Friend or patron? Social relations across the national NGO-donor divide in Ghana (Bath Papers in International Development and Wellbeing No. 60). University of Bath. https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/publications/friend-or-patron-social-relations-across-the-national-ngo-donor-d

Technical Papers

Kumi, E. (2024). A literature review of African philanthropy and higher education in Africa. Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. https://doi.org/10.7912/ypcj-jg09

Banks, N., Bukenya, B., Elbers, W., Kamya, I., Kumi, E., Schulpen, L., Wessel, M. V., & Yeboah, T. (2024). Where do we go from here? Navigating power inequalities between development NGOs in the aid system. Radboud: Academics Researching Power Imbalances (APRI). https://www.partos.nl/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Where-do-we-go-from-here-2-2_new.pdf

Kumi, E., & Yeboah, T. (2024). Ghana Youth Barometer: Education and the future of the youth in Ghana. Accra: YOTA. https://yotaweb.org/download/1414/?tmstv=1725159755

Kumi, E., & Yeboah, T. (2023). Mapping of African youth and young feminist movements in climate justice and social change in Africa.

Kumi, E., & Yeboah, T. (2023). Mid-term review report of the Giving for Change programme. Accra: STAR Ghana Foundation.

Kumi, E., Bandyopadhyay, K., & Collada, P. (2021). Landscape analysis of CSO capacity strengthening efforts in the Global South. Oxford: INTRAC. https://www.intrac.org/app/uploads/2021/02/INTRAC-Landscape-Analysis-Report-2021-02-05.pdf

Kumi, E., & Yeboah, T. (2021). Localisation agenda, shift the power and African philanthropic models in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal. Accra: WACSI. https://wacsi.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Localisation-Report-ENG-2.pdf

Kumi, E. (2020). Ghana’s 2020 election in the context of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and shrinking civic space. Accra: WACSI. https://wacsi.org/ghanas-2020-election-in-the-context-of-coronavirus-disease-covid-19-and-shrinking-civic-space/

Kumi, E., Arhin, A. A., & Essel, V. (2020). Collaborating for effective social activism in West Africa: Experiences, enabling factors and challenges. Accra: WACSI. https://bit.ly/socialactivismwa

Memberships: 

• Member of the Development Studies Association (DSA-UK)
• Member of the Association for Research on Non-profit Organisations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA).
• Member of the International Society for Third Sector Research (ISTR).
• Member of the Association for Research on Civil Society in Africa (AROCSA).
• Member of the European Research Network on Philanthropy (ERNOP)