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.

Ababacar joined Speak Up Africa in October 2022 as Finance Manager and coordinates with the CFO the Financial Management of the association.

Before joining the Speak Up Africa team, Ababacar spent more than 13 years of experience in NGOs and programs across several sectors such as sustainable development, education and health, social development, protection of environment and even the microfinance sector. This makes him an expert familiar with the high requirements of the financial management of NGOs.

Ababacar is passionate about martial arts and as a Finance Manager, he holds a Master’s degree in corporate finance and market finance.

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).

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.

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.

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 Senior Communications Manager, Maelle is leading strategic communication and outreach initiatives. She also leads the development and creative expression of the organization while championing and guiding new initiatives that create stronger partnerships and impact.

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.

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.

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.

September 2020, Franz joined Speak Up Africa as an advocacy officer on the  »Zero Malaria Business Leadership Initiative ». Then a year later, in 2021, he became National Coordinator in Benin, with the main mission of engaging government representatives, political decision-makers at national and sub-national level, civil society players, the private sector and the media on issues relating to malaria, neglected tropical diseases and health research and development, not forgetting gender equality.

Franz holds a Master’s degree in International Project Management from the Université Senghor Alexandrie – Cotonou campus, and has over ten years’ practical experience in the design, steering and evaluation of development projects and grant management.

He has worked in non-governmental organizations, companies and even international organizations such as UNDP Benin, RITIS GROUP, WANEP Benin, and has developed an enriching experience in community mobilization, promotion of children’s and women’s rights, monitoring and analysis of public policies, advocacy, mobilization of resources and investments, coordination of partnerships, political commitment, not forgetting monitoring of governance and elections. He has a good knowledge of the procedures of several donors.

Franz received the Best Civic Engagement Award at the Benin Yali Alumni Association (BYAA) Awards in 2020 for his outstanding leadership as a Certified Civic Leadership Alumni of the Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) program, and for implementing high-impact community projects with direct funding from the U.S. State Government

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.

After serving as Project Officer and strategic communication focal point within her team at the WHO AFRO regional office, Kadidiatou Madina Bah joined Speak Up Africa in May 2023 as Communication Officer.
In this capacity, under the direction of the Communication Manager, she plays a key role in ensuring the visibility of projects through innovative and strategic communication campaigns aimed at raising public awareness.
With a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Université de Montréal and a certificate in Marketing Management from HEC Montréal, she brings to her position expertise in marketing project management, strategic communications, media relations and events.

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).

Edgard KOUASSI joined Speak Up Africa in July 2022 as an accounting and administrative assistant. Passionate about management sciences and sustainable development. 

These years of experience take place in two stages. A first extra-professional in which he puts these two years of volunteering in several NGOs. 

As for the purely professional aspect. He has to his credit five years as an accountant, inventory manager and auditor of Ivorian and Senegalese companies in the sectors of industry, microfinance, environment, e-commerce, purchasing centers and accounting firms. 

He is a graduate of the African Center higher Management Studies (CESAG) in Dakar and contributed to an article on currency hedging. 

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.

Seynabou Diokhané Mbow began her career in the media in Senegal where she worked as a journalist for ten years, as a reporter and presenter for a health magazine. She then worked as a producer for RTS through RADIO Sénégal before joining CESTI (Centre d’Études des Sciences et Techniques de l’information de l’Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar) through professional competition to obtain a degree in journalism and communication. In 2012, she won the first prize in the competition for the best reporting on girls’ education organised by the national girls’ education support project PAEF.

Seynabou also completed a certification in mass communication at the African Journalists Union Institute in Cairo in 2010. Since 2015, she has been in charge of communication for an SBCC project at the NGO ARED, Senior Communication and Community Mobilisation Officer for the USAID/NOS ENFANTS LISENT project with the NGO FEMMES PLUS in Fatick, Community Mobilisation Specialist for Plan International for the Reading For All project, and, most recently in charge of advocacy for the consultation, coordination and advocacy actions of the civil society for health group in Senegal.

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.

Orlane Yvanélia ABENG ONDO joined Speak Up Africa in June 2022 as a Strategic Communications Officer for the Malaria program.

Under the supervision of the Program Communication Manager, she ensures the visibility of the program through innovative communication campaigns and powerful social actions.

Her mission is to mobilise private sector companies in the fight against malaria in Africa.

Orlane previously worked in the areas of insurance, finance and asset management at several private-sector companies, including Allianz, Amundi and Generali Investments.

She holds a Master’s degree in Marketing & Communication of Creative and Cultural Industries from the school Sup de Pub of Paris.

Her expertise includes corporate communication, digital communication, media relations, and event management.