In: Megatrends Policy Brief 52, 7 pages

Since its inauguration in early 2022, the Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Leadership School regularly brings
together the ruling parties of six African countries of Southern Africa in a small town next to the
Tanzanian metropole of Dar es Salaam. Supported by the Chinese Communist Party’s International
Department (CCP-ID), the institution remains a “black box” – it’s inner workings, until now, hidden
from view. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Tanzania, this policy brief examines how the school is
administered, who shapes its curriculum, and what political purposes it serves. The analysis shows
that although the school is formally owned and administered by African parties the CCP-ID holds a
significant programmatic role in the institution, which functions as an exclusive forum for the region’s
ruling parties. It therefore represents an important vehicle through which Chinese party officials can
share the CCP’s strategic messages with a wide political audience, reaching the most influential
political elites of the entire region of Southern Africa.

Read the full article here.