Staff
Dr. Kika has several years of experience in human rights, international development, as well as organisational management at regional and international levels.
He previously served as Executive Director of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum based in Harare. He has experience working with several human rights and law-based institutions in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, and taught law at the University of Zimbabwe. He is a Harvard Law School Kaufman Public Service Fellow, a Ford Global Fellow, a Mandela Rhodes Scholar, and a recipient of multiple other recognitions for excellence in leadership.
Prior to joining IHRDA, Dr. Kika served as Head of Office (Headquarters) and Director of External Relations for the Institute for Integrated Transitions based in Barcelona, Spain.
Michael has published widely on human rights and governance in Africa, including three co-edited books published by Pretoria University Law Press, Springer and Palgrave Macmillan. He equally serves on the Editorial Committee of the African Human Rights Yearbook and edits AfricLaw.com.
Prior to joining IHRDA, Michael was the Manager of the Litigation and Implementation Unit at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria.
Prior to joining IHRDA, Amie worked with the Gambia Civil Aviation Authority from 1996 and rose through the ranks to the position of Director of Internal Audit.
She is a dedicated and result-oriented person with a wealth of experience in the Accounting/Auditing profession.
Chipo is a human rights lawyer and scholar, with a demonstrable commitment towards promoting and protecting human rights across the African region. She is admitted to practise as an attorney in Zimbabwe and Botswana.
Prior to joining IHRDA, Chipo worked as an attorney in Botswana where she litigated several cases before the High Court and Labour Court. She has also worked as a legal researcher for various human rights organisations in Africa.
Chipo's core expertise is in the area of women and children’s rights, litigation, legal research and advocacy. She has also published several articles on human rights and legal issues.
Abdulmalik is a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and a member of the Nigerian Bar Association. Before joining IHRDA, Abdulmalik served as a Lecturer at Prince Abubakar Audu University, Kogi State, Nigeria. He concurrently engaged in private law practice with M.S. Inuwa & Associates where he specialised in criminal and human rights litigation.
Abdulmalik had previously worked as a Legal Fellow at IHRDA in 2022, an intern at the Network of Public Interest Lawyers (NETPIL), Makerere University, Uganda, an Associate at the Nigerian law firms of Atalanta Partners (Abuja), and T.S Olaosebikan & Co. (Niger) and a Pupil State Counsel at the Ministry of Justice, Jigawa State, Nigeria.
Abdulmalik has keen interest in human rights litigation, legal research and advocacy.
Dr. Hagabimana in an attorney with experience working on children’s rights, freedom of expression, litigation, legal research and advocacy.
He has held positions at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and has served as visiting Senior Lecturer at various universities where his research and teaching have concentrated on Public International Law and Human Rights Law. He has also served on the boards of several institutions, contributing to their strategic growth.
Prior to joining IHRDA, Dr. Hagabimana was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Burundi.
Prior to joining IHRDA, Alieu worked as finance manager at InSIST Net (INET).
He began his professional career with PKF International, Accountants and Business Advisors as trainee accountant (Auditee) and rose through ranks to senior auditor. He equally worked with the Gambia Printing and Publishing Corporation (GPPC) as an audit manager.
Prior to joining IHRDA, Omar served as an intern at the National Water and Electric Company (NAWEC). He also served as the Head of the Software/Hardware and Networking Team at Quantum Net Technical Service Center, where he provided IT support to different companies within the private and public sectors.
Prior to joining IHRDA, Modou worked at Emkay Stores. At IHRDA, he handles the day-to-day financial transactions and acts as a liaison with our service providers. He also assists the staff with filing and coordinates the security of IHRDA premises.
Prior to this position, Penda served for about 2 years as Finance and Admin Fellow at IHRDA.
For a first time visitor or new staff, Cheikh’s bright smile and endearing helpfulness will welcome you at Yundum Airport. Together with Fatou and Tamba, Cheikh forms an important part of our institutional memory.Cheikh speaks French, English and some Spanish.
Prior to joining IHRDA, Sukuta worked with Radville Farms for 11 years. At IHRDA, Sukuta is responsible for the landscaping of the Office premises by creating a more peaceful and fresh surrounding that brings out the unique beauty of nature, and the core essence it plays in human development. Sukuta knows his plant varieties by name, sight, texture and optimal seasons and serves as compound overseer.
Awa is a human rights lawyer, experienced in a broad range of human rights issues, with keen interest in women’s rights and gender justice. She is enrolled as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of The Gambia.
Prior to joining IHRDA as a Fellow under Clooney Foundation for Justice’s Waging Justice for Women Fellowship program, she served as a Program Management Consultant deployed by Democracy International to support The Gambia’s transitional justice process. She has also served at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
She has expertise in feminist lawyering, program management, transitional justice as well as legal research and writing in the areas of international and regional human rights protection mechanisms.
Among her notable achievements, she founded She Awards Gambia, The Gambia’s first and biggest women’s awards platform that is celebrating women and inspiring girls. Awa is a 2021-2024 She’s the First Girl-Centered Incubator Fellow, and a 2024 Mandela Washington Fellow.
JD (Osgoode Hall Law School, at York University)
After previously doing a student placement with the Global Legal Action Network, Jeff is interested to learn more about the African, and international human rights systems and explore the ways in which these systems can help promote the rights of people who may be faced with discrimination and injustice.
Ronan is entering his third year of the BCL/JD program at McGill University's Faculty of law, where he has developed a strong interest in human rights and social justice. As part of his legal education, Ronan is participating in McGill’s International Human Rights Internship Program (IHRIP) and is eager to deepen his understanding of international human rights law in the African context through his work with the IHRDA.
Former Staff
Prior to joining IHRDA, Lydia was working as the Legal Manager at AdvocAid, Sierra Leone.
Lydia is human rights lawyer with successful experience in legal advocacy, access to justice, rule of law and human rights issues. She brings a wealth of experience from cross cutting themes including experience working on women and children’s rights, gender mainstreaming, legal research, legislative drafting, policy reform and analysis, curriculum design, development and conducting trainings, refugee and asylum seeker protection in Uganda, the African Region, Asia and Europe in the NGO, academic and private sector.
Brice worked for 9 years as Head of Communications and Programs at Centre for Assistance to Justice and Animation for Development (CAJAD, Cameroon), before joining IHRDA. He has a wealth of experience in communication, project grants and program management within the context of human rights and development.
Emilia has served on the Board of the Law School of Tanzania as an appointee of the Tanzanian Minister of Constitutional and Legal Affairs and on the Anti Human Trafficking Committee as an appointee of the Tanzanian Minister of Home Affairs. She is the Immediate Past Director of Toastmasters International in East Africa; a former Co-Chair of the African Committee of the American Bar Association; a former member of the Africa Council of the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative; and a former Board Chairperson of Greenpeace Africa.
She is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation; an Archbishop Desmond Tutu Fellow of the African Leadership Institute; a member of the Now Generation Network of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. She is a member of the African Experts Group on International Criminal Justice and serves as a member of the Advisory Council for the Ibrahim Index on African Governance (IIAG) and on the East Africa Advisory Council of Futurelect.
Prior to joining IHRDA, Emilia founded and led an Africa-wide legal and development consulting practice based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Oludayo has had stints working with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights (INTERIGHTS). He has also worked in private law practice in Nigeria at the Law offices of Adesanya and Akisanya, and R. A. Ogunwole SAN and Co. Just before joining IHRDA, he was with the Rivers State Ministry of Justice in Nigeria.
He is currently Senior Research and Legal Affairs Officer at the ECOWAS Court.
Eric is a member of the Burundi Bar Association. Prior to joining IHRDA he served as a Legal Assistant at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and was a teacher of law, and a collaborator with Avocats Sans Frontières. At IHRDA, Eric has worked on many cases, some of which are pace-setter in the African human rights jurisprudence. Eric litigated the first case in which the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights made pronouncement on the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol) - that is, the Mali Personal Status and Family Code case, wherein the Court found the code to be inconsistent with the Maputo Protocol and other relevant treaties ratified by Mali. Eric brings with him broad experience in litigation, legal research and legal drafting.
HE is currently Senior Legal Officer at the ACHPR.
Prior to joining IHRDA, Edmund served as a Lecturer of jurisprudence, ECOWAS, criminal, and human rights law. He also served as Project Coordinator for the Ghana Police Accountability Project of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, a researcher at the Constitutional Court of South Africa and a Technical Advisor on Children at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection in Ghana.
Edmund had previously worked at IHRDA from 2007 to 2011 as a Legal Officer, and took the lead on the Nubian children’s case which was the first case to be decided on the merits by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. Edmund has also published several articles on human rights and legal issues.
He is currently Executive Director of Ghana National Legal Aid Commission, following a presidential appointment.
Ajie started her career at Augustus Prom Audit Firm as External Audit Intern all through her summer breaks at the University of The Gambia. She has gained knowledge in auditing public institutions, ministries as well as projects coordinated and implemented by Government agencies such as African Centre of Excellence (ACE) project, Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) project, Results for Education Achievement (READ) project, Institutional Support For Economic and Financial Governance (ISEFG II) project, which are financed by World Bank and African Development Fund, respectively.
Ajie was a fellow of the University of The Gambia Program and the TAF Africa Leadership Program, and has also served as Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Mentorship Coordinator at Educating For Africa’s Future, a charitable organization based in The Gambia.
Ajie has interest in the Accounting/ Auditing field and plans to pursue a Master’s degree in Finance and Economics for development.
Prior to joining IHRDA, she worked as a Project Accountant at GIEPA and an Auditor at DT Associates.
She’s a seasoned Accountant with experience in both private and public sector accounting.
Prior to joining IHRDA, Gaye worked with the Gambia Judiciary as a Principal Magistrate and Acting Judicial Secretary, and served as a Lecturer of Criminal Procedure at the Gambia Law School. He was Adjunct Lecturer of Criminal Law at the University of The Gambia, Expert Member of the ECOSOC Working Group of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights; a member of the Constitutional Review Commission of The Gambia, and a member of a team of three lawyers charged with reviewing and redrafting the criminal justice laws of The Gambia. At IHRDA, Gaye has rose from the ranks of Legal Officer, Senior Legal Officer to Director of Programs, and has spent more than fifteen years at the organisation. He has a wealth of experience in human rights litigation, capacity building and advocacy at domestic and regional levels.
He is currently Registrar - Appeals, Arbitration and Enforcement at the ECOWAS Court.
Prior to joining IHRDA, Kheloud had worked with Nazra for Feminist Studies as a Program Coordinator, and as a Legal Researcher and archivist at the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP) at the American University, Cairo, Egypt. She has also worked as a legal trainer in the Wesal Project led by UN Women and Care International in Egypt. She is a member of Women Living under Muslim Laws Network and the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies Alumni Club. She has nine years’ experience working as a feminist legal researcher and translator, and has also contributed to the formulation of training manuals on gender and human rights education in the MENA region; and has written articles on women in politics, discrimination against women in the workplace, gender inequality in the Egyptian legal system and several gender issues published on several online media platforms.
Prior to joining IHRDA, Nicole served as a Human Rights Specialist at the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (Organization of American States) in Washington, DC; as a human Rights Officer at UN Peacekeeping Missions in Liberia and Haiti, as the International Technical Advisor on Transitional Justice with the Justice Law and Order Sector in Uganda (2011-2012) and as the Head of Mission at Avocats sans Frontières in Uganda (2013-2014).
She is co-founder of the Public Interest Law Clinic at Makerere University School of Law in Uganda and has also published widely on issues related to international human rights law, transitional justice and clinical legal education.
Previously, Bright taught courses in procedure and practical legal studies at the University of Malawi’s Chancellor College where he previously read law and obtained an LLB Honours between the years 2002 – 2007. He immediately commenced his career as a legal practitioner in 2008 and practiced law privately before various courts and fields of law in Malawi while also rendering pro bonolegal services. He also holds an LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa and is a proud member of the gallant alumni of the prestigious Centre for Human Rights of the University of Pretoria, Republic of South Africa. His approach is simply “break it down, be practical and get stuff done”.
Prior to joining IHRDA, Henry served as the Finance Manager at the Methodist Mission Agricultural Programme (MMAP); worked at Shyben A. Madi & Sons, Concern Universal (The Gambia); Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) in Accra. and taught at Foresight Training Institute and Jollof Tutors.
Fatou passed away on the 20th of October, 2014 in The Gambia.
Dr Aristide Nononsi is associate member of the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism (CHRLP) of McGill University, Montreal. Before joining IHRDA, Aristide was the Executive Director of the Centre for Developing Area Studies (CDAS) in the Faculty of Arts at McGill University, Montreal Canada and Senior Boulton Fellow in International Development and the Law from 2007 to 2011. He has taught and published on issues surrounding fragile States, international development law, the law of international organisations, human rights, children’s rights, and international labour law at McGill Faculty of Law.
Aristide has also served as Executive Secretary of the Staff Appeals Committee and Head of the Appeals Committee Unit (APCU) in the African Development Bank (AfDB) from 1999 to 2007. He has worked for the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on child labour and children’s rights, international labour standards, and maritime labour law in Switzerland, Côte d’Ivoire and Algeria from 1993 to 1999.
Meskerem has also taught law and served as a Director of the Law Department in academic institutions based in Ethiopia; the Public Service College of Oromia and St Mary’s University College, where she has written academic texts on ‘Gender and the Law’, ‘Criminal Law’, ‘The Law of Agency’ , ‘The Law of Persons’ and ‘The Law of Extra Contractual Liability’. Meskerem holds LLB degree from the Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia and LLM degree on Human Rights and Democratization in Africa from the University of Pretoria, South Africa.
Prior to joining IHRDA, Paile served as a Grant Programme Officer at Plan International UK, as Chief Legal Officer and Head of the Unit at Ministry of Justice, Human Rights and Rehabilitation in Lesotho; as Programme Coordinator at Minority Rights Group International in London for 7 years. Paile worked with IHRDA from to .
