Zainab Bangura
UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict

Zainab Hawa Bangura was appointed UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict in 2012. Prior to this, she served in the Government of Sierra Leone as Minister of Health and Sanitation, and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Before entering Government, she managed the civilian component of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), and was actively involved in promoting human and women’s rights and democracy in Sierra Leone as Executive Director of the National Accountability Groups, Chair and Co-founder of the Movement for Progress Party of Sierra Leone, as well as Coordinator and Co-founder of the Campaign for Good Governance.

Haleh Bridi
Director of Africa External Communications and Partnerships, World Bank

Haleh Bridi is the Director for the Africa External Communications and Partnerships (AFREC) unit in the Africa Region (AFR). She has more than 25 years of development experience working for the World Bank Group, mostly at senior level including serving as country director for Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles (AFR), and director of Regional Programs and Partnerships in the Middle East and North Africa Region (MNA). Prior to joining the World Bank Group, she spent 10 years at the OPEC Fund where she supported the Fund's lending operations in francophone Africa.

Bineta Diop
AU Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security

Bineta Diop took up her position as the African Union Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security in 2014. She is the Founder and President of Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS), and has led numerous peacebuilding programs, as well as election observer missions. She played a central role in involving women in peace negotiations and served as President of the African Union ECOSOCC Gender Cluster. She is a member of the Global Agenda Council on Conflict Prevention of the World Economic Forum, and previously served in the 6th Advisory Group of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. Together with Mary Robinson, she co-chaired the high-level Civil Society Advisory Group on Resolution 1325. 

Makhtar Diop
Vice President for Africa, The World Bank

Makhtar Diop is the Vice President for the Africa Region of the World Bank. Before taking up this position he served as Country Director for Brazil, Director of Strategy and Operations, and Sector Director for Finance, Private Sector and Infrastructure in the Latin America and the Caribbean Region, and the World Bank’s Country Director for Kenya, Eritrea, and Somalia. Before joining the World Bank he worked at the International Monetary Fund, served as Minister of Economy and Finance in Senegal, and held various positions in banking and finance.

Linda Etim
Assistant Administrator for Africa, USAID

Linda Etim is USAID’s Assistant Administrator for Africa, overseeing US development assistance funding for Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to this appointment, she served as Deputy Assistant Administrator for Africa.  Before joining USAID, she served on the National Security Council as the Director for East African Affairs, coordinating U.S. policy civil-military affairs, governance, economic growth, and humanitarian crises. Previously, she served as a specialist in African security affairs for the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community.

Caren Grown
Senior Director, Gender, The World Bank

Caren Grown is the Senior Director for Gender at the World Bank. Prior to this appointment, she was Economist-In-Residence and co-director of the Program on Gender Analysis in Economics at American University (AU).  She has also served as Senior Gender Advisor and Acting Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment at USAID, Senior Scholar and Co-Director of the Gender Equality and Economy Program at The Levy Economics Institute at Bard College, Director of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Governance team at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), and Senior Program Officer at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.  

Mahawa Kaba Wheeler
Director of Gender, African Union Commission

Mahawa Kaba Wheeler took office as the Director for Women, Gender and Development Directorate at the African Union Commission in 2015. She has extensive professional experience in development programming and humanitarian relief assistance, with particular emphasis on gender, monitoring and evaluation, food security analysis, and mapping and value chain analysis.  Prior to joining the AUC she worked with leading international organizations, including the UN World Food Program and US government development partners including ACDI/VOCA and DAI in Sub-Saharan Africa and the U.S.  

Anne Richard
Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration

Anne C. Richard has served as Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration in the US State Department since 2012. Prior to her appointment, Ms. Richard was the vice president of government relations and advocacy for the International Rescue Committee (IRC), non-resident Fellow of the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins University/SAIS and a board member of the Henry L. Stimson Center. She also held positions as Director of the Secretary’s Office of Resources, Plans and Policy at the State Department, deputy chief financial officer of the Peace Corps, Senior Advisor in the Deputy Secretary’s Office of Policy and Resources at the State Department and as a Budget Examiner at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.  As an International Affairs Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations she was part of the team that created the International Crisis Group.

Steven Shalita
Manager of Communications for Africa External Communications and Partnerships, World Bank

Steven Shalita is the Manager for Communications in the Africa External Communications and Partnership (AFREC) unit, in the Africa Region. He has worked with the World Bank Group for close to 12 years, mostly in the Africa Region. His most recent assignment was with the Climate Investment Funds in Washington, DC. Prior to joining the Bank Steven worked with several development agencies including the German Technical Cooperation and USAID’s Commercial Market Strategies Project.

Melanne Verveer
Executive Director, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security

Ambassador Melanne Verveer is the executive director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security at Georgetown University, a founding partner of Seneca Point Global, a global women strategy firm, and a co-founder of Seneca Women.  She served as the first U.S. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues, and played a leadership role in the development of the U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security.  She was the Chair and Co-CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership, and during the Clinton administration served as Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the First Lady. She led the effort to establish the President’s Interagency Council on Women, and was instrumental in the adoption of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.

Euphrasie Kouassi Yao
Minister for Women, Family and Protection of Children, Cote d’Ivoire and

Euphrasie Kouassi Yao took up her appointment as Minister of Women, Family and Protection of Children in January 2016, before which she was the Coordinator of the Côte d'Ivoire women's skills program.  Prior to this she held several senior positions in the Ministry of Women, Family and Protection of Children, including technical advisor for cooperation in, director of coaching and socio economic activity, and director of equality and promotion of gender.  She also worked as an international consultant on gender and development and monitoring and evaluation with the UN, African Development Bank, and World Bank.