Eliya is the Executive Director of the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP) whose mission is to enable the use of evidence in the design and implementation of development policies and programmes in Africa.
Eliya has over 20 years experience in developing, managing, conducting research and capacity building programs, and engaging with policy makers in issues regarding international development, population change, urbanization, health systems and policy analysis.
He has been a Principal Investigator and participated in a number of international research programs; published over 50 peer-reviewed papers, pro-actively promoted evidence-based policies and served in many international panels on population change issues.
Eliya earned his PhD in Demography at the University of Pennsylvania, a Masters in Population and Development at the Australian National University, and a Bachelor of Social Science in Economics and Applied Statistics at the University of Malawi.