Karelle Samuda, Ph.D.

karelle.samuda@gmail.com

George Mason University

Country: Jamaica

About Me:

Karelle Samuda's major research areas are the political economy of distributive politics in the Caribbean and Africa, and the relationship between African countries and international financial institutions. Miss Samuda holds a PhD  in public policy at George Mason University (Virginia) - her dissertation examined the political economy of sub-national public spending in Kenya and Jamaica. She received her Bachelor of Arts at Washington & Lee University (Virginia), and a Master of Public Policy at the McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University (Washington, DC). In 2014, she was selected as an Africa Junior Fellow at the World Bank where she co-authored a regional study on the link between natural resource wealth and investing in human development in sub-Saharan Africa, From Mines and Wells to Well-Built Minds." Other recent publications include a  book chapter  in African Foreign Policies in International Institutions (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2018), where she examines the evolution of the relationship between sub-Saharan African countries and the Bank. Miss Samuda currently volunteers with Pearls of Potential, a Caribbean Diaspora youth-led organization focused on adolescent pregnancy in the Caribbean and the Diaspora.  She has volunteered extensively with the Washington, DC-based Institute of Caribbean Studies, and is one of the founding members of the organization’s Next Generation Initiative. She also served as a member of the Caribbean Youth Summits founding committee which held its inaugural summit in Philadelphia in 2014. The summit, ‘Reclaiming Our Caribbean Identity,’ focused on how Caribbean Diaspora youth can contribute to the Caribbean’s social and economic development.  Miss Samuda also worked or interned at the Center for Global Development , the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Organization of American States.  Ms. Samuda is an avid reader and aspiring amateur chef.

Research Interests

Public Policy

Political Economy

Latin American And Caribbean Politics

African Politics

Comparative Political Institutions

Development

Countries of Interest

Jamaica

Kenya