Initiators and Editors
Brenda Gael McSweeney began her career with the United Nations decades ago, living in a traditional courtyard in Burkina Faso (then Upper Volta). She is a Resident Scholar at
the Women's Studies Research Center (WSRC) and Adjunct Professor of the
Practice at the Heller
School for Social Policy
and Management at Brandeis
University, as well as Visiting Faculty at Boston University’s
Women’s Studies Program (WSP). Brenda serves on the United Nations Development Programme’s Advisory Board for the Regional Programme for Africa, and was also Faculty of
UNDP’s Virtual Development Academy.
After working in Burkina, Brenda continued with the UN in a range of executive
positions in the Caribbean, in Europe as the head of the global UN
Volunteers organization, and finally as the UN Resident
Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in India. Brenda holds her
Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, as well as two honorary doctorates. She was the recipient of a
Fulbright and several other prestigious awards including from the Governments
of Burkina, Jamaica, and the Federal Republic of Germany. Her
research focuses on female education and empowerment in Burkina,
and gender perspectives on livelihoods in West Bengal, India. Photo courtesy of the Tapsoba Family.
Scholastique "Scho" Kompaoré from Burkina Faso is currently President of the Marche Mondiale des Femmes (World March of Women - Burkina branch), and is also on the Board of Directors of CUSO/VSO - Canada (Canadian University Service Overseas/Voluntary Service Overseas). She was a pioneer in the gender equality movement in Burkina, and National Coordinator of the 'UNESCO/UNDP/Government Pilot Project for Equal Access of Women and Girls to Education'. She also ran from Zimbabwe the Africa South of the Sahara UNDP/UN Volunteers Programme for Exchange of Community Field Workers for a decade. Scholastique is called upon as an independent consultant on programs of education and rural development, and has published on issues ranging from female education to women-led enterprises.
Burkina Partners
Aimé Damiba is an education specialist. Aimé was the Director of Educational Planning in the 1970s, during the period of wide-reaching educational reform. This work included an accent on female education, as well as literacy in Burkina's main languages. Aimé then served with the UNESCO Regional Team based in Dakar, and is still today called upon for consultancies in such arenas as capacity building.
Peter (Pierre) Kazoni is the BBC's Correspondent in Burkina, as well as Professor of High Schools and Colleges in the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. He has been with this
Ministry since 1977, and has almost the same number of years of experience with
the Ministry of Information. He went to Europe
for journalism training with the BBC several times, with the joint accord of both Ministries. He started making and
presenting programs with the Radio and Television of Burkina in 1978, while
teaching at the same time. Peter is perfectly bilingual, and is well-known across the country and beyond for his radio show, Follow Me. He has been involved with the work of equal access of women and girls to education since the 1970s, and has produced a number of broadcasts for the BBC on women breaking traditional barriers.
Aminata Kiello is a social scientist who began her career in Burkina Faso in the 1970s with the United Nations Development Programme, Ouagadougou. Ami then pursued her studies in Africa and in France; her doctoral thesis focused on Alex Haley's Roots. She migrated to neighboring Niger where she worked for many years at the African Fund for Solidarity. She contributes her energy to such causes as the Lions Club, and just recently was invited to share her expertise in Brasilia, Brazil.
Benoît Ouédraogo is a rural development specialist of West Africa. He has long worked with the Government of Burkina on rural education initiatives. He is currently an independent consultant and is often called upon by organizations such as Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the Inter-State Standing Committee to Combat to Drought in the Sahel (CILSS), and the OECD's Sahel and West Africa Club, Paris.
Mahamadi "Madhy" Ouédraogo is a specialist in multimedia communication and web development and management. He is the Head of the communications team of the UN Development Programme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. His professional "licence" is in communication activities and techniques, and he also has specialized degrees in web design, content management, and development information. Bilingual, he is a member of a number of professional networks, and has special interest in governance, sustainable international development, and the management of indicators linked to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
Boston Team
Boston Team
Raffi Freedman-Gurspan is a Course and Research Assistant at Boston University's Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program. Additionally, Raffi is the LGBT Liaison for the City of Somerville, Massachusetts and is also the Legislative and Policy Staffer for the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition. She is a graduate of St. Olaf College Northfield, Minnesota, and holds a B.A. in Political Science and Norwegian with a Concentration in Nordic Studies. Her primary interests include public policy making, minority and indigenous peoples' rights, and gender equality matters. She hopes to continue her education in a Master's in Public Policy program.
Photo credit: Raffi Freedman-Gurspan.
Kassia Karr is a current MA student in the University Professor's Program at Boston University, with an independent concentration focused on development and South Asian studies. She has worked as a teaching and research assistant for Dr. McSweeney since 2007, assisting with her "Gender and International Development" courses at both Boston and Brandeis Universities.
Photo credit: Alex Garens.
