Yacine Djibo founded Speak Up Africa in 2011 with one goal in mind: to discover and implement effective, sustainable solutions to the most challenging problems facing the African people. Focusing on strategic communications, policy and advocacy, Speak Up Africa is dedicated to empowering African leaders and citizens to take on issues such as malaria, neglected tropical diseases and sanitation in order to save and improve lives.

Previously, Yacine worked as the Senegal country director for Malaria No More, where she developed and managed several high-profile national programs to promote malaria prevention and treatment. She built and maintained relationships with national and local government officials; designed and oversaw the distribution of lifesaving commodities countrywide; and cultivated partnerships with private-sector companies, media outlets, musicians and celebrities to develop marketing programs that raise awareness about malaria.

Prior to devoting her career to the health and well-being of children and families in Africa, Yacine honed her skills in the areas of business administration, finance and real estate at several private-sector companies, including Intercontinental Life Insurance Company, where she served as managing director; SAGEF Construction and Real Estate Development Company, where she was director of sales; and Fidelity Investments, where she served as a business analyst.

Yacine earned her bachelor’s degree in international relations and her MBA from Boston University.

Fara Ndiaye has been an integral member of the Speak Up Africa team since its founding in 2011. There she has been able to pursue her passion for public health and sustainable development advocacy, social and behavioral change communication, community outreach, and partnership building and engagement.

Beginning as the Director of Programs, Fara focused on external relations and coordinating partner activities. She then moved to the position of strategy and development director, in which she managed initiatives to advance the organization’s advocacy, programmatic and partnership goals; developed strategies to engage the private sector; and created advocacy and communications tools. Currently, as Deputy Executive Director, Fara has taken on the oversight of all program activities, ensuring proper planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation; appropriate liaison and negotiation with government partners; and the meeting of national and international standards and practices.

Before joining Speak Up Africa, Fara spearheaded the communications, partnership and advocacy initiatives in Senegal for Malaria No More. Prior to that, she worked on the research of migration issues for a variety of small non-governmental and major global organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, including the International Organization for Migration and the International Center for Migration and Health.

Maïmouna Diop Ly is a medical doctor specialized in public health with more than 24 years in the health and nutrition sector in line with the global Universal Health coverage and inclusion agenda. The last 24 years she has been leading projects and programs at national and international levels on health including neglected tropical diseases, nutrition, HIV/AIDS, and child survival. She has supported formulation of health and human capital policies and strategies as well as cross sectoral nterventions (Social protection, Gender, WASH, agriculture, etc ).

She has worked as civil servant with the ministry of health of Senegal at the National Food and Nutrition Service and as Head of the health Department for the Senegalese Red Cross. She  has worked the last 16 years with the African Development Bank as a Senior, Principal Health Specialist and Chief Health and Social Protection Officer.  She holds a medical degree, a master degree in public health (D.E.A), a master degree in management (D.E.S.S), a post-graduate degree in tropical medicine & parasitology and also in nutrition ((University Cheikh Anta Diop-  Dakar, University Paris VI, Institut Supérieur de management – Dakar (ISM) et University of Rennes 1).

Nadia Rozendaal has more than 20 years of experience in successfully leading and managing international advocacy and fundraising campaigns and has long-term experience in global health, research, development, policy analysis, program management, evaluation and resource mobilization. She currently serves as a Senior Advisor to Speak Up Africa, focusing on The Expanded Special Project for the Elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases (ESPEN) project. Before joining Speak Up Africa Nadia led the European efforts of Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation resulting to increased financial support for TB vaccine research and development. Nadia also serves as an independent consultant to a variety of global health and biotech organizations focusing on fundraising, business development, and communications and has a broad, influential network in the government, private, and philanthropic sectors.

Nadia became a consultant after serving as a Director for Policy Advocacy Europe for the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI). From 1994 to 2006 Nadia occupied different positions in Brussels, including Head of cabinet and political adviser in the European Parliament, where she drafted European legislation and policy frameworks in various parliamentary committees on economic affairs, competitiveness, trade, employment, and foreign relations. She was also a Member of the External Speakers Team of the European Commission, a Governmental Affairs expert to various industry and non-profit organizations, and a trainer for European journalism and public affairs schools.

During her time in Brussels Nadia was additionally an election observer of the European Commission and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in conflict areas in several African and Asian countries. Nadia has studied at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium), the University Complutense (Madrid) and the Leopold-Franzens University Innsbruck (Austria) and holds master degrees in Modern Roman Languages (cum laude), International Politics and Law, and International Business Administration (cum laude). Nadia is a native German speaker and fluent in English, French, Spanish, Italian, and Dutch.

Astou Fall Gassama is a medical doctor specialized in public health with more than 15 years in Community health, Tuberculosis, Malaria, HIV, COVID-19, Health Strengthening and Gender.
The last 15 years, she has been leading projects and programs at national levels. She has supported the Senegal MoH in defining and elaborating the strategy and interventions in Malaria, HIV and Tuberculosis and Strengthening health system at community level.
She has worked as in many NGOs with multiple donors and partners in Senegal and France (IMAJE Santé, Médecins du Monde France, USAID, Gates Foundation, Global Fund, Expertise France, Civil Society, Communities, etc…)
She holds a medical degree, a master’s degree in public health, a post-graduate degree in tropical medicine and Health system in low- and middle-income countries at University Marseille Aix en Province, France.

Carina Ndiaye joined Speak Up Africa in January 2021 as the Director of Strategic Operations to maximize efficiency, communication and fluid coordination between Programs, Operations and Communications.

She is an organizational development and project management expert with fifteen years of proven track record in donor regulation, contracts, compliance and risk management, and procedure development/implementation for development programs worldwide.

As a jurist she has crafted excellent written and oral communication and advocacy skills, used in English, Spanish and French as a leader of cross-departmental and multilevel teams to accomplish objectives and meet critical deadlines. As such, Carina has dedicated the last fifteen years of her life to her passion for understanding community challenges while implementing sustainable solutions and building/scaling, quality, collaborative relationships.

Before joining Speak Up Africa, Carina spent ten years managing and improving program management issues and systems at Family Health International, including a recent four-year assignment as the head of an education project operations department in Equatorial Guinea and as a Strategic and Legal Advisor to SMEs in Dakar, Senegal.

Carina earned her bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Women Studies from Mount Holyoke University and her Juris Doctor from Howard University in the United States.

Codou joined Speak Up Africa in February 2022 as HR Manager to coordinate the day-to-day Human Resources Management (talent acquisition, performance management, career management, staff retention, update and application of HR policies and procedures…).

Before joining Speak Up Africa, she was HR Manager at Action Against Hunger where she participated in the implementation of the organization and human resources’ strategic plans. For the past 5 years, her actions were focused on creating an enabling environment for gender equality with gender sensitive HR policies and procedures. In this capacity, she was a Gender Champion and participated in the international strategic thinking in Canada for the development of a gender policy.

As a Human Resources Specialist, she holds an Advanced degree in Management and a Master’s degree in Humans Resources Management.

As Speak Up Africa’s Strategic Communications Manager, Maelle is leading communication and outreach initiatives and planning under the mentorship of the Deputy Executive Director. She also leads the development and creative expression of the organization’s social marketing assets across video, design, copy, and photography.

She joined the Speak Up Africa team in January 2014, to reinforce and develop the communication branch, after an experience in the UNESCO’s Regional Office in Dakar, as a communication and knowledge management intern. As a program officer at Speak Up Africa, Maelle worked on the design and development of communication programs and campaigns, implemented on the field, while striving to create sustainable partnerships with key national and international stakeholders.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in both History and English and a Master’s degree in History and Comparative Civilizations. In 2013, she obtained a MBA in International Institutions and NGOs Management.

Yaye Sophietou Diop joined Speak Up Africa team in February 2016 after working for 2 years on communication for behavioral change around issues related to maternal, neonatal and child health.

Holder of a master’s degree in strategic communication, Sophietou is in charge of planning and coordinating Speak Up Africa’s programs. She ensures cohesion within the programs’ team, and assures linkages among all issue areas. Her work focuses mainly on formative research, strategy development, training and coaching in the implementation of communication and advocacy activities.

Passionate about research, she has worked on topics related to health, agriculture, equity, gender and sanitation.

James Wallen joined the Speak Up Africa team in July 2019.As a Program Officer, he is piloting the roll out of the now pan-African anti-malaria campaign « Zero Malaria Starts with Me » in Ghana and Sierra Leone. Between 2015 and 2019, James worked with Global Citizen Year, an international education program. He has a broad set of professional experiences including research, advocacy, M&E, program coordination and youth development. He holds a Masters degree in Medical Anthropology from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and an MA in Social Anthropology from the University of Edinburgh.

Committed since 2006 to the fight against violence against children, unwanted pregnancies and STIs, Awa has been active alongside several organizations such as the Youth Action Movement  of the Burkinabe Association for Family Welfare , the Youth Club for the Fight against HIV / AIDS in schools and the Association of Women Lawyers of Burkina Faso (AFJ/ BF).

Previously coordinator of the Community of Action for the Promotion of Sexual and Reproductive Health in Burkina Faso (CAPSSR-BF), her actions were more focused on advocacy for the effectiveness of the sexual rights of women and girls and especially for the fight against Gender-Based Violence. She cites the outcome of the plea for the improvement of conditions and the streamlining of procedures for women’s and girls’ access to the safe abortion service in the Burkinabe penal code.

Holder of a master’s degree in private law and a master’s degree in project management, Awa works at Speak Up Africa as an advocacy officer and facilitates the implementation of the Voix Essentiel project in Burkina Faso with the aim of facilitating the involvement of women’s organizations in public health decision-making bodies.

Aïda Kabo joined Speak Up Africa in August 2018 and is leading the implementation of the Sanitation program. Prior to that, she served as a Program Associate on the organization’s Sanitation and Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) programs. She is an experienced development professional with a focus on human development and public health related issues. Her academic background includes a MSc in International Development and Humanitarian Action Management (University of Laval) and a BA in Political Science and Government (Concordia University). She is very passionate about content creation, gender issues, story-telling and possesses a certification in international business from HEC Montreal.

Prior to joining the Speak Up Africa team, Papa Momar Sokhna worked for two years as an economist at the Directorate General of Planning and Economic Policies, at the Ministry of Economy, Cooperation and Planning. At Speak Up Africa, he serves as an Associate Research and Policy Analyst and his work is focused on action research and supporting the organization’s various programs.

He holds an engineering degree from the Community Development and Training Department of the National School of Applied Economics and has experience in planning and monitoring public policies through his participation at the Technical Committee of the Territorial Conference of the Dakar and Kedougou Regions and the Regional Monitoring Committee for the Sustainable Development Goals Indicators. Papa Momar Sokhna also worked in the Malnutrition Committee on nutrition-sensitive and cross-cutting territorial planning and with USAID GOLD on the integrated good governance barometer.

OKEY L. Franz, joined Speak Up Africa in September 2020 as an Advocacy Officer for the ‘’Zero Malaria Business Leadership Initiative ». His mission is to mobilize companies for a better private sector contribution to the control and elimination of malaria in Benin. Franz is a member of the African Network of Project Management Professionals and certified « Civic Leadership » of the YALI program and holds a master’s degree in project management with a basic background in accounting and management.

He has years of practical experience in non-governmental organizations, companies and even international organizations with an enriching experience in leadership, citizen participation, citizen control of public action, awareness, advocacy, effective project management, mobilization of resources, coordination of partnerships and humanitarian missions. Franz has worked on issues related to governance, peace, elections, education, health, equity and gender.

Roukiattou Ouédraogo is a communicator with more than 15 years of experience in the development world. She joined Speak Up Africa in December 2020 as an advocacy officer for the “Zero Malaria Business Leadership Initiative”.

She is passionate about networking and dialogue for constructive collaborations in favor of communities and therefore joined Speak Up Africa’s team with a goal of contributing to a greater mobilization and involvement of the private sector in the fight against malaria in Burkina Faso. She previously worked for several not-for-profit organizations before being a communication and advocacy officer at SPONG (Permanent Secretariat of NGOs) for 10 years, one of the largest civil society organization in Burkina Faso. This or

During her professional career, she has had the opportunity to lead and participate in advocacy activities and campaigns at national, regional and international level on various issues such as health, access to clean water, hygiene and sanitation, social protection and youth employment among others. She holds of a Master 1 in Communication from the University of Ouagadougou and is currently completing a professional degree in political science at Thomas Sankara University.

Bara started his journey in audiovisual communication in 2003. Over the years within companies or as a free-lancer, he has perfected his savoir-faire in web and multimedia DTP. His passion for image, innovation, better access to health and education, led him to work almost exclusively in these areas, where he further polished his skills in France, the Caribbean and Senegal.

For the past eight years, he served as Pedagogical director and trainer at Africatic Education Group in Senegal, as a Graphic designer and trainer at AP-HP (Paris Hospitals), and as a volunteer at New-Health. Bara is now based in Senegal, where he joined the Speak Up Africa team, determined to participate in improving public health on the continent.

Prior to joining Speak Up Africa in March 2015, Angelo was Creative Director at AK Project. With 10 years of experience in the production of communication support. Within the communication team of Speak Up Africa, Angelo oversees and creates the visuals to highlight the campaigns and actions carried out by the organization.

Passionate about photography and nature, he knows how to translate the values of the organization and relay them through his creativity.

From 2002 to 2008, Mame Cheikh worked as a press cartoonist in Senegal for “Le Matin”, “The Office” and “Sunulab”. In 2008, he moved to Belgium to obtain an infographics degree and a master’s degree in visual communication. He then worked for a year at Technicode communication before joining the communication’s team at Speak Up Africa.

Roxane Fian joined Speak Up Africa in January 2020 and works as a Program Associate. As a professional in communication, passionate about development issues, she has participated in the development of strategic communication materials, for several campaigns as a Production Associate before. Roxane holds a Bachelor’s degree in Information and Communication Sciences from the Higher Institute of Communications (ISCOM), a Faculty of the Catholic University of West Africa in Abidjan (UCAO). During her university years, Roxane specialized in sustainable development issues, notably on the theme of non-sewered sanitation.

Anta joined Speak Up Africa after 9 years of experience in customer relationship management and administration. Prior to joining the team, Anta focused on the organization of fundraising and networking events as well as the supervision of castings for commercial film productions.

At Speak Up Africa, Anta is responsible for organizing all of the administrative activities that facilitate the smooth running of the office. This includes the organizing of people, information and all other resources. She makes sure the office equipment is maintained, relevant records are up to date and that all administration processes work effectively. Anta creates and maintains a pleasant work environment while ensuring high levels of organizational effectiveness, communication and safety.

Anta Mbodj Sarr joined Speak Up Africa in June 2014 as an Administrative and Logistics Officer for the Football Combating Malaria (FCM) program. Since January 2017, Anta is in charge of all Speak Up Africa’s administrative and financial programs coordination.

Prior to Speak Up Africa, Anta has worked in various private sector companies in Senegal (SGBS – BCEAO – Elton), then joined « Vision 21 Sport Consulting » specialized in the fields of marketing, sponsorship and events where she acquired 10 years of experience as an Operations Manager.

Anta is passionate about basketball and a former basketball player herself at the Dakar University Club. During her basketball years, Anta was a FSBB marketing agent, she organized basketball tournaments & All Star Games, she also facilitated a basketball TV show broadcasted on a national TV channel (RTS), she filed reports of Senegalese basketball players living abroad and organized inclusive sports events for children.

Elisabeth Dia joined the team in March 2022.

She acts as a liaison  between Speak Up Africa and the Ouagadougou Partnership Coordination Unit. She supports the programs in supply planning, manages and coordinates administrative tasks and make payments.

Elisabeth spent most of her career with Oxfam Great Britain. She has more than 14 years of experience in Supply chain and logistics in the development and humanitarian sectors in West and Central Africa. She has a strong record of good quality field support which increased organizational effectiveness  ; by recruiting and retaining logistics teams and building capacities of staff and partners. She played an active role in implementing Oxfam GB’s supply chain and logistics strategy in 9 countries.  She has provided technical support to country teams to improve the quality and timeliness of the projects.

She is very sensitive to the conditions of women and children and was the Gender Focal Point at Oxfam GB.

She has done several training courses including  Humanitarian Logistics at Fritz Institute UK and Executive MBA at ISM.

After ten years of experience in customer relationship management (for call processing and quality monitoring for the improvement of partner customer services) and with two years in Human Resources management, Marième joined Speak Up Africa team in November 2017 as assistant to further support the Administration and Logistics Department.

Previously, he was an assistant accountant in a public accountancy and tax firm of the place where he
was in charge of the accounting of a dozen companies working in various fields of activity (commercial
companies, service companies, industries and liberal professions).

He holds a master’s degree 2 in audit and management control at the UCAD. He also obtained a Bachelor’s degree in management sciences from the integrated university after obtaining the Bachelor’s degree in quantitative management techniques from the Lycée Maurice DELAFOSSE in Dakar.

He has also successfully completed training in the Participatory Research Accelerated Method
(M.A.R.P) of the African Institute of Local Development (I.A.D.L).

Aziz joined Speak Up Africa in May 2021 as an Accounting and Administrative Assistant.

Previously, Aziz worked for two years as Accounting Manager of a portfolio of Senegalese, Ivorian and French companies in the real estate, agricultural, commercial and fintech sectors.

He also worked in an accounting firm, where he was responsible for the management of a diversified portfolio of Senegalese and French SMEs and VSEs. He was thus able to consolidate his theoretical notions and increase his technical know-how.

Aziz holds a Master 2 in Accounting-Finance from C.U.W.A. of Dakar and contributed to the writing of a book on revision procedures in SYSCOHADA standards.

He has a total of nine (09) years of professional experience and has held the following positions He has held the following positions: Copywriter at Ogilvy Central Africa, Media & Advertising Coordinator at Millicom International Cellular (Millicom Chad), the leader in mobile telephony in Chad, and then Communication Manager at the Lake Chad Inclusive Social Recovery Project (RESILAC).

He joined Speak Up Africa in July 2021 as a Strategic Communication Consultant dedicated to the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI-CHAD) to provide technical support in planning communications and advocacy activities in favor of routine and covid-19 pandemic vaccination.

Holder of a University Diploma of Technology (DUT) option: Communication Advertising Action, a Professional License in Marketing and Communication Management at the Ecole Libre Africaine de Technologie et des Sciences Appliquées (Lomé-TOGO) and a course in Commercial Engineering at the Intercontinental University SUP MANAGEMENT (CHAD).

Kamal Deen Habib joined Speak Up Africa team in July 2021. As an Advocacy Officer, he works on the Zero Malaria Business Leadership Initiative in Ghana. Kamal had worked at YEFL-Ghana as Technical Advisor in charge of youth Advocacy from 2010 to 2017 where he joined Plan International and worked on the Girls Advocacy Alliance project from 2017 to 2020. At ACDI-VOCA, he also served as Enterprise Development Coordinator under the Ghana Poultry Project from 2020 to July 2021.

Holding a Master of Business Administration from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology – Ghana and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, Kamal pursued other career enhancement certificates like Public Policy Analysis from Strathmore University in Kenya, Results Based Monitoring & Evaluation from Uganda Management Institute in Kampala, Project management at Accra Business School, and Aid Effectiveness at Danida Fellowship Centre in Denmark.

Kamal has rich professional experience in economic empowerment, policy advocacy, project development, research, and monitoring & evaluation. He is also interested in gender equity, child protection, youth, Education, Health and Agriculture.

David joined Speak Up Africa in September 2021 as an Advocacy Officer to lead/support the roll out of the Zero Malaria Business Leadership Initiative in Uganda.

He has over eight years’ work experience in international development – attained at community, national and East Africa levels. Before joining Speak Up Africa, he was a Project Manager with the NCD Alliance East Africa where he managed regional advocacy and nascent multidisciplinary research efforts on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). Prior to this he worked with Farm Radio International, Caritas Prague and local government in Eastern Uganda in community development work. Through this work he delivered concrete results on NCD policy development at the regional East Africa Community, and livelihoods development and financial mobilization for grassroots communities in Uganda.

David has a Bachelors’ Degree in Development Studies from Makerere University (Uganda) and a Masters’ Degree in Communication for Innovation and Development from the University of Reading (UK). He is driven by a passion for social justice, and how this relates to access to health, education and improved livelihoods by the marginalized.

An economic planner by training, with a master’s degree in project monitoring and evaluation, and a master’s degree in governance and public management from Senghor University in Alexandria, I joined Speak Up Africa as a Program Associate after an internship at the African Union and a volunteer position at the United Nations as a specialist in impact evaluation, measurement and data collection.

With nearly 12 years of experience in the field of customer relationship management in a call center named Call Me Senegal, Marieme joined Speak Up Africa in January 2022 as an Office Assistant. She successively held the positions of Sales Advisor, Quality Auditor, Telemarketing Trainer and Quality Coordinator. Her role involved planning, organizing, implementing and controlling all activities related to qualitý on the different campaigns of the site (making and receiving calls, digital processing) and also setting up quality monitoring tools as well as analyzing and propozing action plans.

Débora Inès SINARE holds a Master’s degree in Business Law and joined Speak up Africa in March 2022 as a Program Associate based in Burkina Faso in Ouagadougou. Passionate about community and public health issues, she began her professional career in the development world.

She began her professional career as a volunteer, in charge of monitoring and evaluation within the DAIZ association for family welfare working in the field of the fight against unwanted pregnancies in schools and family planning. She then joined the Union of Religious and Customary Leaders of Burkina for the Promotion of Health and Development (URCB/SD) in 2019 as an intern, assistant to the project manager, and then project manager.

In this capacity, she worked on awareness and advocacy projects on themes such as the fight against cervical cancer, HIV/AIDS, malaria, the fight against child marriage, the empowerment of women and girls among others. In order to consolidate her skills, she is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Project Management at the Pan-African Center for Management Research for Development (CERPAMAD) in Ouagadougou.

Firdaoss Oluwa-Toyin Youssoufou holds a Master’s degree in Public Health with a specialization in Multipurpose and another Master’s degree in Nutrition and Population Health from the Regional Institute of Public Health (IRSP) in Ouidah with basic training in Food Technology Engineering and Nutrition Science from the Ecole Polytechnique d’Abomey-Calavi (EPAC) of the University of Abomey-Calavi in Benin. Since her academic career, she has been passionate about managing projects/programs for the improvement of the well-being of populations and vulnerable groups in particular.

Thus, she was a Volunteer of Professional Expertise in Public Health at the level of the Health Zone Office of Abomey-Calavi/Sô-Ava where she became familiar with the management of health services at the peripheral level of the health pyramid of Benin before joining AFRIC’MUTUALITE, an NGO working in the field of community health, social protection and development of populations. At the level of this NGO, she was most recently in charge of the AFRIC’MUTUALITE program before joining Speak Up Africa in 2022. She has experience in developing social safety net projects in food and nutrition security, community food, health and nutrition, early childhood development, malaria prevention, reproductive health, community tuberculosis and keeping girls in school.

She is also committed to changing dietary behaviors that are harmful to the health of populations, alongside her nutritionist colleagues.