Jamie Hitchen

Fellow

Jamie Hitchen is an independent researcher, analyst and qualitative evaluator with more than a decade of experience working on issues related to democracy, governance and politics. He holds a master’s in African politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies and is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham.

Jamie has researched and written extensively about the role and impact of social media on election processes in West Africa for national and international organisations including the Centre for Democracy and Development West Africa, National Democratic Institute and ODI. He is the co-author of WhatsApp and Everyday Life in West Africa which was published by Bloomsbury in 2022. He has also authored several academic journal publications, as well as a range of policy focused reports and briefs, and commentary pieces for national and international media.

Jamie has worked with the Ducor Institute to conduct evaluations assessing the impact of programming that supported the political participation of youth across Africa and security sector reform in Liberia, and provided technical guidance and support to research into the cost of politics and political economy of Liberia