Gambian heads Pan-African NGO on Girls’ Education

Confirmed reports reaching this paper have it that Oley Dibba-Wadda, a Gambian national and International Development Specialist, has been appointed as the Executive Director for the Pan-African Non-Governmental Organisation, known as the Forum for African Women Educationalist (FAWE).

FAWE, whose Africa Regional headquarters is based in Nairobi, Kenya, promotes women and girls’ education in 35 countries in Africa, including The Gambia.

Mrs Dibba-Wadda has until recently been working with Oxfam Great Britain in the United Kingdom as Global Gender Adviser and is also the current chair of the Board of Directors for Concern Universal, a UK-based International Non-Governmental Organisation with offices in The Gambia.

Mrs Dibba-Wadda is currently a Doctoral candidate at the University of East Anglia (her Alma Mater) in the United Kingdom, where she has been studying for her PhD.

Prior to commencing her PhD assignment, she also managed a multi-country gender equality programme for the Commonwealth Education Fund in the United Kingdom supporting 16 low-income Commonwealth countries in Africa (including The Gambia) and Asia.

Mrs Dibba-Wadda also worked with Concern Universal West Africa Regional Office based in The Gambia; the European Development Fund 5th Funded Support to Decentralised Rural Development Programme in The Gambia and the Kairaba Beach Hotel before joining the Commonwealth Education Fund in 2006. 

Married to sports personality Bye Malleh Wadda and mother of four, she is the eldest daughter of retired insurance expert Omar Dibba and wife Lucretia Dibba, of Fajara.

Mrs Dibba-Wadda has since taken office in Nairobi. She succeeds Dr Codou Jow, a Senegalese national, as Executive Director. Oley or aunty O, as most people call her, is 43 years old. She has received congratulatory messages from FAWEGAM, the local chapter of FAWE.