Scholars

Adedapo Sijuwade is a social worker with over seven years of experience in humanitarian services, project management & community development. Adedapo has a degree in Sociology and professional courses in humanitarian works. He is particularly attracted to the quest of creating and enabling a safe environment for vulnerable groups. He believes in timely and collective action in response to the plights of marginalized groups, orphans, and vulnerable children to overcome their unpleasant situations through quality intervention, community engagement, and advocacy. He shares the vision of protecting the dignity of human lives and hopes for a just society for all with an emphasis on enhancing the quality of human existence. Adedapo is a social reformer, who is proactive about addressing social issues. His understanding of social issues, such as gender inequality, poverty, child rights, climate change, resulted in numerous achievements among the communities where he worked. He has been involved in various initiatives in his quest to improve the quality of life among vulnerable children to increase school enrollment and retention among teenage girls to avoid teenage pregnancy.

Basimenye Nhlema is the Chief Operating Officer at Partners In Health, Malawi. In this capacity, she leads the operations department and heads seven sections including Supply Chain, Procurement, Distribution, Transport, IT, Infrastructure, Human Resources, and Administration. Prior to moving to Operations, Basimenye served as the Community Health Director for Partners In Health Malawi for four years. In that role, she managed the Community Health Worker (CHW) program, the Community Programs team, and the Program on Social and Economic Rights (POSER), interdisciplinary teams focusing on community health in a rural and impoverished population. The CHW program had 1200+ CHWs who focused on education and health screening at the household level; the Community Programs team runs an innovative integrated screening program for sexual and reproductive health and chronic conditions among adolescents, women of childbearing age, and the general population in remote areas; and the POSER team provided support to patients’ basic social and economic needs. Basimenye was also part of a team that worked on transitioning CHWs in two pilot sites of Neno district from a paper-based system to a digital platform called Medic Mobile. Basimenye holds a Bachelor of Arts-Humanities degree in Drama and Public Administration from the University of Malawi and a Master’s of Arts degree in Dramatic Arts from Witwatersrand University, South Africa.

Benny Katta is a Scholar of “Rural Economy and Digital Tools” with a study on Digital Agriculture, Rural Economy and Social Development. He has 17 years of professional experience in program management and project implementation on rural & social-economic development, corporate social responsibility projects, sustainable livelihood, women empowerment, digital agriculture, capacity building, and commercializing the FPOs. He is a good strategic planner, conflict manager, and social impact player. He has displayed skills in decision making, critical thinking, and demonstrated persuasive communications, team management, and leadership skills. He was recognized with the “Sitara Award” for setting up a benchmark for clean finance handling by Tata Group for DFID Project.

Ahmidu Barrie has over ten years of experience in non-profit administration, logistics, and management. Ahmidu earned his first degree in Peace and Conflict Studies at Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone in 2010 and later pursued his post-graduate degree in public administration at the Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM). His drive to help his country comes from seeing his parents work very hard to take care of their family, as well as his experience of being abducted and forced to be a child soldier during his country’s civil war. After working with Wellbody Alliance, a local NGO that helped care for amputees and others with war wounds, he knew his life’s work was to help the poorest of the poor. He established the Community Health Worker Program, which brought care to the doorsteps of people living with HIV and TB across Kono District. When Ebola came to Sierra Leone in 2014, Partners In Health began working with Wellbody, and they eventually merged. During this time, as lead Logistician, Ahmidu was tasked with creating Ebola care and treatment centers across two districts. Currently, as Chief Operating Officer for Partners In Health Sierra Leone, Ahmidu is helping shepherd the development of the Maternal Center of Excellence, which aims to improve health outcomes for women in a country with one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world. Ahmidu is eager to learn from the experiences of his colleagues and hopes that sharing his experience in health systems strengthening in low-resource settings will be of use to others. The skills and training that he hopes to acquire will enable him to improve his capacities as a leader and be an even stronger advocate of social justice, health equity, and education.

Brittany is a business development and grant management professional who has spent her career fundraising and advocating for vulnerable children and their families. The bilateral and cross-sectoral partnerships she has facilitated among large foundations, the U.S. government, and NGOs have driven sustainable impact through solutions in early childhood development, youth skill building, economic opportunity, health and nutrition, and education. Brittany has supported the development and growth of the foundation and corporate relations at SOS Children’s Villages-USA where she builds partnerships with US foundations and corporations and connects them with the program teams in 136 countries where SOS implements robust development projects. Before this role, Brittany worked at ChildFund International where she managed a donor portfolio of distinguished institutional funders supporting initiatives in 13 countries across the Americas, Asia, and Africa. Starting her career on Capitol Hill, Brittany left the U.S. five years later to work abroad in Hunan, China. When she returned two years later, she took a position advocating for children in the state of California before transitioning to the international development sector. As a foster parent in Richmond, Virginia, Brittany is living the SOS mission every day supporting and advocating for youth in her community. She graduated from Virginia Tech with a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations focused on World Politics and Policy.

Daniel Maweu is a midwife and a reproductive healthcare educator with nine years of cumulative professional experience working in clinical midwifery, perioperative nursing care, and nursing education. Daniel currently works with Partners In Health-Liberia as a midwifery coordinator/educator. He has been vital in improving maternal and neonatal care at JJ Dossen Memorial Hospital and Pleebo Health Center through continuous mentorship of midwives in Southeastern Liberia. Daniel also works as a visiting obstetrics faculty at the School of Nursing, V.S William Tubman University, where he played a key role in setting up the midwifery department. Daniel has worked in various institutions as a nurse-midwife, perioperative nurse, and educator in both Kenya and Liberia. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Kenyatta University and a Master of Science in Nursing (Midwifery) from Mount Kenya University, Kenya. Daniels’ biggest passion is building resilient maternal health systems and he is a strong advocate of respectful, dignified maternity care for all women of reproductive age.

Godfrey Massay is a land rights lawyer and currently works as a land tenure specialist for Tanzania with Landesa, a global nonprofit organization that partners with governments and local organizations to secure legal land rights for the world’s poorest families. The scope of his work is diverse which includes identifying, supporting, and collaborating with a multi-sectoral group of key stakeholders at the local, sub-national and national level on: (a) the importance of women’s and men’s land rights in Tanzania, (b) the goals of the UN 2030 Agenda, and (c) the need to rigorously monitor progress towards the achievement of women’s and men’s land rights. He previously worked with Tanzania Natural Resource Forum and Hakiardhi, premier natural resource and land rights organizations based in Tanzania. He has written and published numerous journal articles and book chapters in both local and international journals. Most of his works have looked at the theoretical legal frameworks and the practice on the ground in different themes of land tenure as well as the social movements underpinning the agrarian change in Tanzania. His research interests are land tenure reforms, land-based investments, agrarian issues, and gender. Mr. Massay holds a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B Hons) from the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and is based in Arusha.

Janet Ajala is a dynamic leader who is passionate about championing Women’s Rights. She has over 13 years of experience in the non-profit sector. She currently works with the International Rescue Committee in Nigeria, where she currently serves as a Field Coordinator. She is responsible for the day to day running of the activities of her field location, where she ensures the necessary humanitarian assistance is provided to the thousands of vulnerable individuals displaced by the prolonged armed conflict in Northeast Nigeria, ensuring they have access to the much-needed medical care, education, and women protection and empowerment activities. In addition to her current role, she heads the IRC Nigeria Women at Work Group, a group established by the organization to provide a safe space for women in the organization. Under this group, she provides leadership on all fronts for the over 300 women in the Country program pushing for their interests with the Senior Management Team and ensuring there is more female inclusion and representation in the organization. Prior to joining the International Rescue Committee, Janet worked with the TY Danjuma Foundation as State Coordinator, where she coordinated the activities of the various community-based and faith-based organizations funded by the Foundation to implement Youth and Women Empowerment programs and Health. Janet obtained a BA in English from the University of Ibadan and an MA in Peace and Conflict Studies from the same university.