CAMDEN — The 29th Annual Camden Conference, “The New Africa”, will be held at the Camden Opera House, Feb. 19 – 21. It will also be streamed live to the Strand Theatre in Rockland, the University of Maine Hutchinson Center in Belfast, and, new this year, University of Southern Maine Lee Auditorium in Portland.

Africa is home to the world’s poorest nations, but also has a dozen economies that maintained seven percent growth rates over the last decade. Africa is the last major frontier for resource development while simultaneously struggling with some of the world’s oldest, most corrupt and filthiest oil and mining ventures. While Africa suffers from ethnic and religious violence and poverty, it is blessed with rich and creative cultures and vibrant civil societies. These are only a few of the contradictions and conundrums that will frame the 2016 Camden Conference on the theme of Africa, a massive and often mysterious continent.

To enlighten these topics, the Conference program committee has assembled a roster of speakers, all of whom know Africa first-hand. The moderator will be Calestous Juma, professor of the practice of international development and director of the Science, Technology, and Globalization Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

He directs the Agricultural Innovation in Africa Project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, serves as faculty chairman of innovation for economic development executive program, as well as an extensive list of other activities. Juma participated in the 2014 Conference.

The keynote Friday evening will be presented by Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, West Africa correspondent for National Public Radio, and who is based in Dakar, Senegal.  A native of Ghana, she spent her early years in Ghana, Italy, Britain and Kenya. She will provide an overview of Africa today and set the stage for the Saturday and Sunday presentations at the conference.

The mission of the Camden Conference is to foster informed discourse on world issues. Visit the conference website at camdenconference.org for more information on all the speakers. Online registration opens Nov. 30. Conference members are offered early registration starting Nov. 16. Call the Conference Office, 236-1034, for early registration or to become a member.