Ashoka in Western Africa

Pape Samb comes to Ashoka with 20 years of leadership experience and an established record in strategic planning, program development and management, content management, fundraising, proposal writing, training and facilitation. At 13, he started a women’s empowerment and youth economic development organization. At 17, he was president of CAP-Jeunesse, a Senegalese network of youth organizations; and was hired by the Senegalese government to train youth in entrepreneurship, business and grassroots organization management.

Okey is a global Leadership Group Member of Ashoka and currently leads the Youth Years strategy in Africa. In the last year, he has been establishing and co-leading strategic partnerships with government, faculties of education, publishers, education unions and the media, towards a movement that creates an enabling environment for young people to feel, act, and thrive as changemakers. Okey has been a pioneer in justice reform, security reform, and social transformation at the national and regional levels in West Africa for 15 years. Previously, he led the ECOWAS Commission reform program in improving transparency, accountability, effectiveness, and people participation in security decision making. He has supported regional policy formulation, parliamentary capacity building, knowledge sharing, and forging multilateral and multisector partnerships. He is the Founder of EduTrust Foundation and Ofala Publishers Ltd. A lawyer and Master’s degree holder in Conflict, Security and Development from King’s College London, Okey loves to write, to teach, and to capture beautiful moments of joy and wonder through poetry and travel photography.

Angelou’s love for the environment stretches far back to when she was a little girl who had the chance to escape the dense urban streets of Jersey City, New Jersey, to summer in her family’s home in upstate New York. After a brief stint of practicing law, it was through her work as a Legal Specialist for the New Jersey State Agriculture and Development Committee that Angelou embarked upon a career as an environmentalist.
 
 Angelou further honed her skills as a Project Manager for the Trust for Public Land (TPL) in both its New Jersey and Georgia offices. In her position, Angelou acquired land for preservation and worked on the New York/New Jersey Highlands Program, Parks for People-Newark, the New York/New Jersey Harbor Program in New Jersey, the Atlanta Beltline and the 20 County Regional Greenspace Initiative in Georgia.
 
While at TPL, Angelou realized the disconnect between the land that was being preserved and the education of people about that preservation—particularly as it related to our next generation. This was the impetus for the Greening Youth Foundation. As a woman and minority-founded and led non-profit, Angelou is at the helm of a movement to provide environmental and wellness education and career pathways to a new generation, both in the United States and in countries throughout Africa. Angelou was elected as an Ashoka Fellow in 2016 for her work at the Greening Youth Foundation, where she remains the CEO today. The Greening Youth Foundation is cultivating a generation of youth of color to be stewards of our land and natural resources, ultimately shifting the demographics of the environment conservation movement.
 
Angelou is a graduate of Spelman College, Georgia. She received her Juris Doctorate in Law from the University of Florida, College of Law. Angelou is a member of the National Center for Civil and Human Right’s Women in Solidarity Society, and Georgia Audubon boards; Advisory Board Member for Outdoor Afro, The Million Mile Greenway, Inc., Keeping It Wild, Inc., and Rachel’s Network; and most recently the author of “Engage, Connect, Protect: Empowering Diverse Youth as Environmental Leaders. Angelou is a lover of cultural dance, hiking and birds and good avocado toast! As recent empty-nesters, Angelou and her husband of 25 years, split their time between Atlanta, GA and Lagos, Nigeria.

Ifeyinwa joined Ashoka as the Venture and Fellowship manager of Anglophone West Africa. Born in Nigeria where women are denied equal opportunities to men she decided to commit her life to creating an environment where women and men have equal opportunities to live quality lives. She started off as an adolescent reproductive health and gender development trainer, positioning young women with information and skills to help them question gender roles and become visible and empowered members of their communities. In 2010 Ifeyinwa became one of the Young Champions of maternal health selected to a fellowship where she learnt how to use a volunteer method to provide practical support to pregnant women during pregnancy until the baby is one year old. Afterwards she went back to Nigeria and started the Birthing Project Nigeria, providing women with access to quality medical care before, during and after deliveries. She holds a Bachelors’ degree in Sociology.

Sarah Mujulizi joined Ashoka in 2019 as the Knowledge and Communications Associate at the Africa Hub in Lagos, Nigeria. She brings on board years of experience providing strategies, community engagement, content management and project management skills. In her previous roles, she delivered strategic media and communication solutions to a niche market of development actors in government, not-for-profit organizations, and international bodies like the United Nations and the African Union. Sarah is currently serving as the Fellowship and Partnership Associate for Ashoka in Africa and the Program Manager for the Accelerating Climate Change Solutions in Africa project. Sarah is working to amplify Ashoka's 'Everyone a Changemaker' vision in Africa.

Paula Ugwu is passionate about food security, poverty alleviation, youth and female empowerment, and has contributed to academic researches that inform knowledge on the role of African women in agriculture and the pricing system of agricultural produce on the Italian Commodity Exchange market.

Moreover, she possesses a Master of Science degree in Agricultural and Food Economics and has over five years of work experience in diverse areas including, but not limited to Program Management, Project Management, Partnerships, Human Resources and Retail Management.

Currently, she leads the Transforming Children and Youth Years program in Anglophone West Africa and supports Partnerships in Africa. In this capacity, she is identifying and supporting young changemakers in the region to increase visibility and social impact of their work while positioning them for success through collaborative partnerships.