K. Y. Amoako

K. Y. Amoako (born September 13, 1944) is a Ghanaian international civil servant with a five-decade career in African development. He is a thought leader on policies and initiatives of governance and growth on the continent, and he has worked alongside development specialists to address African and global development issues.

Amoako is the Founding President of the African Centre for Economic Transformation (established 2008) and an author. Amoako founded ACET following his career at the World Bank beginning in 1974 until he became the Bank's Director for Education and Social Policy from 1992 to 1995. In 1995, he served as the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) at the rank of Under Secretary General of the UN. After his 10 years with the ECA, Amoako spent 2006 as a Distinguished African Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Personal life Amoako is married to Philomena Amoako and has three daughters named Ama, Nana, and Mame. He also has four grandchildren: Jonah, Kofi, Mena, and Kare.

Education and career

Education Amoako completed his secondary education at the Ghana Secondary Technical School. He then obtained his B.A. (Hons) from the University of Ghana and his M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from the University of California at Berkeley.

United Nations Career

In 1995, then UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali appointed Amoako as the Executive Secretary He gave Amoako a mandate to transform the institution into an influential voice for Africa and an effective player in global development. Within two years of his appointment, Amoako implemented sweeping reforms to remake the institution. Boutros-Ghali later commended the ECA for being “at the vanguard of reform in the United Nations.”

The Wilson Center/The Woodrow Wilson International Center In 2006, K.Y. Amoako was awarded with the "Distinguished African Scholar Award

Contributions to African and Global Development Over the past twenty years, Amoako has served on many high-level commissions and task forces with other development experts and leaders. These task forces and commissions have tackled Africa's current and future challenges as well as global development issues. They include: Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa

Amoako, K.Y. Know The Beginning Well: An Inside Journey Through Five Decades of African Development. Africa World Press, 2020.

Other He delivered the lecture "Politics, Economics and the Future of Ghana" on the occasion of the 10th Anniversary Memorial Lecture of the late Oyeeman Wereko Ampem 11 organized and held by the University of Ghana with support from the John A. Kufuor Foundation and the Atta Mills Foundation. He was the Guest Speaker at the Ghana Secondary Technical School Centenary Anniversary in October 2009.