In conjunction with its ongoing analysis of Africa, the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future hosted a panel discussion to review its April conference, Africa 2060: Good News from Africa. Panelist Charles Stith, former US ambassador to the United Republic of Tanzania and current director of the BU African Presidential Archives & Research Center, said that although challenges remain, "trends point toward a continent that is learning to deal with democracy." Timothy Longman, Director of the BU African Studies Center, suggested a bottom-up approach to understanding the continent’s dynamics. "We should learn to listen and see more attentively to what ordinary people in Africa are saying and doing," he said. Julius Gatune Kariuki, a visiting Pardee and African Center of Economic Transformation fellow, pointed out that although natural resources drive Africa's recent economic growth, the service sector has also proven to be vibrant. Hosted by the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, in collaboration with the African Studies Center, the African Presidential Archives & Research Center, and the Center for Global Health & Development, on December 6, 2010.