CURRENT BOARD MEMBERS

Elhadj Amadou Sy (Senegal)

Elhadj Amadou G. Sy (As) is the chair of the OSIWA Board of Directors and is the Director of the HIV/AIDS Group, Bureau for Development Policy of the United Nations Development Programme. As joined UNDP from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) where he held the positions of Director, Operational Partnerships and Country Support and Regional Director for Africa. Prior to working for the GFATM, he served as Director of UNAIDS New York Liaison Office, (coordinating the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS) and Team Leader for the UNAIDS Inter-country Team for Eastern and Southern Africa. His work in his native Senegal included Director of Health Programmes at ENDA Tiers Monde (Environment and Development Action in the Third World), co-founder of the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO) and Director of its African Chapter (AFRICASO). As has hold degrees in arts, human sciences and pedagogy from Dakar University and Ecole Normale Superieure. He was a fellow at the University of Graz (Austria), and also graduated from the Vienna Diplomatic Academy.

Halidou Ouedraogo (Burkina Faso)

Mr Halidou Ouedraogo is a world known Activist who belongs to several Human Rights organizations throughout the world. He is currently the President of the Inter-African Union for Human Rights and the President of the Burkina Faso Human Rights Movement. He is a teaching fellow at the René Cassin Institute for Human Rights in Strasbourg where he also serves in the Board of Directors. Mr Ouedraogo also teaches at the University of Ouagadougou. He has worked for the United Nations as a consultant on Human Rights and HIV/AIDS in several countries including Rwanda, Togo Burundi and Benin He is the author of several publication on Human Rights and has participated in several Human Rights conferences in Africa and Europe. He holds a degree in Law from the University of Poitiers, France

Ayo Obe (Nigeria)

Ayo Obe is a Legal Practitioner and a founding partner in Ogunsola Shonibare, Legal Practitioners, based in Nigeria. She is an active member of Nigeria civil society where she has done extensive work in the area of human rights, democracy and governance. She has represented Nigerian Human Rights Organizations at the Police Service Commission and has presented papers on Nigeria democracy and governance in several conferences worldwide. She has also published several papers in the field. She sits on the Board of several international organizations including the International Crisis Group. Mrs. Obe obtained her LLM degree from the University of Wales Institute of Science & Technology, Cardiff, Wales, UK.

Mary Laurene Browne (LIBERIA)

Mary Laurene Browne, OSF, is from Liberia. She is the President, Stella Maris Polytechnic, a Member and a former Vice Chairperson, Board of Trustees, University of Liberia. She is a graduate of several prestigious institutions, some of which are the Boston College, Massachusetts, USA, where she graduated with an M. Ed in Education; and the Schiller International University, Paris, France, with MA, French Language and Literature. She has vast experience in development and community work in West Africa; this is represented by the various Organizations she serves on such as the Education Council of the Catholic Archdiocese of Monrovia, the Foundation for International Dignity (FIND), Center for Democratic Empowerment (CEDE) and the Liberia Association of Writers (LAW) Member.

Elsa Wentling (TOGO)

Emelia Arthur (GHANA)

Cheikh Saad Bouh Kamara (MAURITANIA)

Aicha Bah Diallo (GUINEA)

Issa Ouedraogo (BURKINA FASO)

PAST BOARD MEMBERS

Esi Sutherland-Addy (Ghana)

Esi Sutherland-Addy is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana at Legon. She held the position of Deputy Minister of Higher Education from 1986 to 1993. Ms. Sutherland-Addy is a member of the UNICEF/UNESCO Joint Committee on Education, the National Development Planning Commission, the Executive Board of Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS), and the Federation of African Women Educationalists (FAWE).

Fatimata Mbaye (Mauritania)

Me Fatimata Mbaye is a human rights lawyer and President of the Mauritanian Human Rights Association (AMDH), which was awarded the ‘Anti-Slavery Award’ in 1998. Ms Mbaye’s work defending human rights has resulted in her arrest and imprisonment in Mauritania. In 1999, Ms. Mbaye became the first African to receive the third Nuremberg International Prize for Human Rights, awarded to individuals held to be “symbolic figures in the struggle for the recognition and respect for human rights in Africa”. She is the only woman member of the Mauritanian Bar.

Julieta Mendes (Guinea Bissau)

Julieta Mendes currently resides in the Gambia where she is the Regional Director of the SOS Kinderdorf International Regional Office for North and West Africa where she oversees the operation of all SOS Children's Villages in six countries. Dr. Mendes holds a Doctorate degree in leadership and administration, a Master's degree in educational policy, and a Bachelor's degree in sociology and economics.

Kouferidji Ramanou (Benin)

Mr Kouferidji Ramanou is currently the President and Director General of Africoncept Broadcast Telecom SA. He is also Director and owner of Radio Afrique Espoir, winner of the 2003 African Information Society (AISI) Media Awards under the radio category. Mr Ramanou is well known in the Media and ICT world in Africa and beyond. He has participated and presented papers in several conferences the world over and has done extensive work in the area of elections and election monitoring both as trainer and observer.

Abdul Tejan Cole (SIERRA LEONE)