Pranish Desai
Pranish Desai is a doctoral student in political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His core areas of focus are in comparative politics and political methodology, with a specific interest in the politics of Southern Africa. Between 2021 and 2024, Pranish held several key positions within the Governance Insights and Analytics programme at GGA. In these roles, he was centrally responsible for the elevation and enhancement of the Governance Performance Index as GGA's flagship governance assessment tool. Before departing GGA, Pranish also played a key role in the development of our strategic framework for the 2024-2028 period.

GGA’s Pranish Desai interactions with Zambian media

On a recent trip to Zambia, GGA's Pranish Desai gave two media interviews about the work GGA does. One was as part of a documentary feature produced by the Zambian National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) televised on Africa Day, 25 May 2022. The other was a...

Policymaking without data – a rudderless ship

Policymaking without data – a rudderless ship

In recent years, it has become commonplace to draw analogies between data and natural resources. One often encounters the phrase “data is the new oil”, while the competition over the acquisition and harvesting of data has been likened to the gold rush. Amidst these...

Why South Africa Census 2022 matters

Why South Africa Census 2022 matters

The fourth national census in South Africa’s democratic history commenced on 2 February 2022. For the first time, and partly as a response to the complications arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2022 census contains a large-scale online component, with South...

GGA’s Pranish Desai on youth voter participation

In the aftermath of South Africa’s Local Government Elections on 1 November 2021, youth voter participation was one of the most discussed issues. Listen to Good Governance Africa’s data analyst Pranish Desai’s interview with CapeTalk Radio, where he speaks about some...

Pranish Desai
Pranish Desai is a doctoral student in political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His core areas of focus are in comparative politics and political methodology, with a specific interest in the politics of Southern Africa. Between 2021 and 2024, Pranish held several key positions within the Governance Insights and Analytics programme at GGA. In these roles, he was centrally responsible for the elevation and enhancement of the Governance Performance Index as GGA's flagship governance assessment tool. Before departing GGA, Pranish also played a key role in the development of our strategic framework for the 2024-2028 period.
Policymaking without data – a rudderless ship

Policymaking without data – a rudderless ship

In recent years, it has become commonplace to draw analogies between data and natural resources. One often encounters the phrase “data is the new oil”, while the competition over the acquisition and harvesting of data has been likened to the gold rush. Amidst these...