Greetings! My name is Keith Nalumango. I was born and raised in Mongu, Zambia, and have been a resident of Metro Atlanta, Georgia since 2000. As a board member of the Institute, I will play the vital roles of fundraising, policy formulation, provide oversight to ensure policy implementation through realistic planning, and ensure that the board itself performs its functions within ethical and realistic standards and goals to achieve the institution’s mission.

My experience in nonprofit board governance, coupled with my education in nonprofit management and leadership, whose caption was on board governance, has given me a deep appreciation of the role of the nonprofit sector in the provision of essential services to the needy in human societies. I believe that my personal experience with poverty growing up in an African village, my experience as a political prisoner who did not have access to justice and due process, my exposure to nonprofit work in Africa and in Atlanta, Georgia, and my passion for positive social justice will support me in my role as a board member of the Institute for Polarities of Democracy.

It wasn’t until I was introduced to the Polarities of Democracy theory by its founder, Dr. William J. Benet, read together with Dr. Barry Johnson’s Polarity Management model, that I realized my life has always faced dilemmas characterized by pairs of interdependent poles that can only be managed by examining the opposites of each one. I believe the Polarities of Democracy theory can be used as a tool for democratizing societies by curtailing negative developments and making the best out of the positive aspects of life to create a more habitable world for all the people of the world.

Because I believe that the Polarities of Democracy theory is a practical tool that can bring about positive social change to all human societies, I am similarly convinced that the Institute for Polarities of Democracy’s mission of promoting progressive social change by facilitating grant funding to scholars can best be realized through the theory. I am an advocate for positive social change that embraces all areas of human life. I am passionate about equitable distribution of essential services, such as daily human needs, including quality health care and education. I believe that every human being should enjoy basic freedoms and should be heard by those in positions of authority. My passion for promoting the common good influenced the choice of my current study of the U.S. asylum-seeking process since 9/11.

My vision is that the Institute will facilitate research in areas that will promote progressive social change. Being a new theory, the Polarities of Democracy model has not produced many graduates. I look forward to working with both graduates and students of the model who will be awarded scholarships under the Institute’s program in pursuit of the organization’s goals. I believe the Institute for Polarities of Democracy will attain world recognition as a reliable source of scholarly work aimed at enhancing democracy at a global level.