Established in 2000, the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) was the third Foundation in Africa founded by the investor and philanthropist George Soros, who in 1993, created the Open Society Institute (OSI) as a private operating and grant-making Foundation. It was formed after the Open Society Foundation for South Africa founded in Cape Town in 1993, and the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa set up at Johannesburg in 1998. Subsequently, the Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa (OSIEA) was launched in 2005.

Since inauguration in late 2000, OSIWA has supported and advocated for the promotion of open society values in West Africa. OSIWA’s goal is to promote open societies in West Africa, societies where democracy, good governance, the rule of law, basic freedoms, and widespread civic participation prevail. OSIWA has supported programme work to achieve this mission in 18 countries, comprising the fifteen members of the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS), and three additional countries (Cameroon, Chad and Mauritania).

OSIWA’s work initially focused on providing grant support and implementing internally generated initiatives through partners and then began to shift to include pro-active advocacy for policy reform. OSIWA’s niche has been building capacity and creating space for participation by West African civil society and government institutions through support to catalytic and innovative initiatives as well as advocating for the core ideals of open society.

In the past, OSIWA’s programs have operated around four thematic pillars, which are Governance; Law, Justice and Human Rights; Health and Development; and Information Technology, Communication & Media. The foundation has also developed special initiatives to address emerging issues outside of these core areas, and to support other cross cutting issues that may need a global strategic response. The core of OSIWA’s interventions has been built around promoting, strengthening and working towards ensuring credibility in the governance process by promoting transparency and accountability. The Foundation, therefore, pursues efforts to identify avenues for building the capacity of both public institutions and civil society to ensure good governance. OSIWA’s intervention strategies are at three levels: sub-regional based initiatives built around the ECOWAS to cover the countries under its mandate, working mainly at the policy level; using multi-country interventions that cover initiatives across a number of countries, with emphasis on the need to share experiences and address issues of various levels of similarities; initiatives that are supported within a single country or local council, and generally meant to serve as pilot cases for duplication in other countries and local communities, within and outside the area. The sub-regional and multi-country foci have given OSIWA the leverage to widen its program reach to all the countries in the sub-region.

OSIWA has now transitioned to an ‘Outcome’ approach. This was as a result of a long process of reorganization, involving its partners and abroad range of stakeholders, to reposition the foundation, improve programming and its impact. At present, its interventions include the following: strengthened democratic institutions, processes and structures; reduced levels of impunity; enhanced citizenship and public participation in decision-making; enhanced protection of groups exposed to discrimination; and improved equity and transparency in the management of resources. Its geographic focus is now in nine countries in West Africa, namely, Benin - Côte d'Ivoire - Ghana - Guinea - Liberia - Niger - Nigeria - Senegal - Sierra Leone.

Past Board members (in alphabetical order)

Abdul Tejan Cole (Sierra Leone)

Abdul Tejan-Cole is the former Commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission in Sierra Leone. He was the Deputy Director of the International Center for Transitional Justice’s Cape Town Office. He practised as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of Sierra Leone and taught law at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. Previously Mr Tejan-Cole worked as the acting coordinator of Sierra Leone’s Campaign for Good Governance. He was a Human Rights Teaching Fellow at Columbia University and ex-Secretary-General of the Sierra Leone Bar Association. He is a Yale World Fellow.

Aïcha Bah Diallo (Guinea):

Mrs. Aïcha Bah Diallo is one of UNESCO’s former senior education leaders. She served from 1996 to 2005 successively as Director for Basic Education, Deputy Assistant Director General for Education, and acting Assistant Director General for education. Mrs. Bah Diallo was appointed in 1989 as Guinea’s Minister of Education, a post she held for seven years. She implemented a highly successful education reform program, redeploying nearly one third of the country’s teachers from urban to rural areas, from administration to teaching, and from secondary to primary schools. Girls’ school enrolment during her tenure surged from 113,000 to 233,000. Mrs. Bah Diallo pioneered UNESCO’s efforts to reduce the barriers to education for girls in the world, especially in Africa and the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). She played a guiding role in the founding of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) in 1992 and the Association for Strengthening Higher education for Women in Africa (ASHEWA) in 2005. Mrs. Bah Diallo holds a B.Sc degree in Chemistry from Penn State University, (USA), and a Postgraduate Diploma in Biochemistry from the University of Gamal Abdel Nasser, Guinea. She started her career as a chemistry teacher and has written extensively on education in Africa. Mrs. Bah Diallo is a holder of the Commandeur des Palmes Académiques Françaises and the Officier de l’Ordre National de Côte d’Ivoire. She is a member of The Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s Prize Committee, chaired by M. Kofi Annan.

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.

ElHadji Sy (Senegal)

Elhadj Amadou Sy (As) was the Chair of the OSIWA Board of Directors from 2007-2010. He joined UNICEF and is the actual Regional Director, ESARO. Previously, As worked with UNAIDS (1997 to 2001) and started the intercountry program in Eastern and Southern Africa, with the Global Fund (2003-2005) as Africa Director and with UNDP (2005-2007) as Director of the HIV/AIDS and Development Program. He re-joined the UNAIDS from 1997 to 2001 as Director of Partnerships and External Relations and his responsibilities included directing UNAIDS’ work with partners, communications and knowledge sharing. He was also overseeing the operation of the Programme Coordinating Board and UN Relations. As also worked in his native Senegal where his duties included coordinating the Health Programme at Enda Tiers Monde (1989-1997), co-founding the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO) and leading its African Chapter (AFRICASO). As holds degrees in arts, human sciences and pedagogy from Dakar University and Ecole Normale Superieure. He is a fellow at the University of Graz (Austria) and also graduated from the Vienna Diplomatic Academy.

Elsa Wentling (Togo)

Elsa L. Wentling, a management consultant with a global consulting firm focused on assisting its clients resolve their most challenging strategic problems in order to plan for and achieve long-term success. She has consulted to various international clients in the information technology, pharmaceutical and consumer products industries; recently leading the development of strategic options for enhancing the competitiveness and sustainability of the gold mining sector in South Africa. Her expertise ranges from developing growth/acquisition strategies at corporate, regional & business unit level to market segmentations and business valuations. Elsa also advised a pan-African telecommunications company on new business development and as an investment officer for a pan-African private equity firm. She holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and French Literature from Washington University. She is the Vice Chair of the OSIWA Board of Directors.

Emelia Arthur (Ghana)

A 2002 Yale World Fellow in Global Leadership Studies, Emelia Arthur has over the past 13 years been engaged in social development work at community, national and international levels in leadership, natural resource management (particularly forestry) and project/programme design and management. Currently she works as Director for a community-based rural organisation, Integrated Action for Development Initiatives, aimed at strengthening local initiatives for development. Arthur has been a consultant to various organisations, including: the World Bank (IDA)/Government of Ghana Small Towns Water Supply Project; the World Conservation Union (IUCN); International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED); Care International, Peace Corps; UK Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) and the ’s Department for International Development (DfID). She has been part of major political and social activism initiatives in around gender, political organisation, public accountability and natural resource governance. Currently she consults as the Team Leader for the British Council’s InterAction Leadership Programme, running in 19 African countries, the and rolling out globally to the Caspian corridor, Asian and Middle Eastern regions. The programme supports dynamic leaders who are innovating, searching for alternatives and challenging accepted ways of doing things. Arthur serves on the Boards of CARE International’s Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Advisory Group and of the Open Society Initiative in West Africa (OSIWA), among others.

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.

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 Rene 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 publications 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.

Issa Ouedraogo (Burkina Faso):

Issa Ouedraogo was born in Burkina Faso from a Burkinabe father and a Ghanaian Ivorian mother. Mr. Ouedraogo did his primary and secondary education in Ghana before going to Germany in the early 80s where he completed high school and went on to University. He worked for the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) as Network Manager, German Telecom Consultancy (DETECON) as IT consultant and Saudi Arabia Telecom as an IT Advisor. He has been based in Ghana for the past four years where he is working for Ghana National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) funded by the German Center for International Migration and Development (CIM), a section of the German Development Cooperation. He has also been serving as a master trainer of experts and users on DevInfo, a UN statistical tool for monitoring and reporting on the progress of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the National Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP). Mr.Ouedraogo believes strongly in the potential that the new information and communication technologies have to support the efforts being made to promote development in Africa. . He also believes that the time has come for Africans and other developing countries to use the revolution in information technology where money is no more the big challenge to their advantage. He dedicates plenty of effort towards translating such potential into concrete energy and resources for development.

Julietta Mendes (Guinea Bissau)

Julietta 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.

Mary Laurene Browne (LIBERIA)

Sister 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.

Pr. Cheikh Saad Bouh Kamara (Mauritania)

Cheikh Saad Bouh Kamara, from Mauritania, is a Professor of Sociology and holder of a Doctorate Degree in Sociology. Before joining the OSIWA Board in 2007, Mr. Kamara served as a Member (1993-2007) and then as President (2005-2007) of the Conseil d’Administration du Fonds des Nations Unies de Contributions volontaires de lutte contre les formes contemporaines de l’esclavage. He was the Vice-President of the Federation Internationale des Droits de l’Homme (FIDH) from 2001 to 2004. Mr. Kamara also was a founding member, in 1991, and former President of the Association Mauritanienne des Droits de l’Homme AMDH (1993-2003). He is an international consultant working especially on human rights issues. Cheikh received the Anti-Slavery International Award in 1998 and the Officer des Paplmes Academiques Francaises in 2005. He is a father of four children.

Kouferidji Ramanou

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 in the world over and has done extensive work in the area of elections and election monitoring both as trainer and observer.