Ahmeda Mansaray Director, C4C Net Werks, Inc
Ahmeda C4C Warrior brings to the C4C Net Werk Team her Community Health expertise. She is a pilot who is trained to be able to go on rescue missions. Ahmeda is a proficient Public Health practitioner. In her warrior mode she serves others by seamlessly bringing peace where others see chaos.
Founder and Executive Director of VOICES Ghana, a youth empowerment and participation in development organization. Ahmeda is also the founder of Voices of the Voiceless international health Development Organization Canada, a Canadian registered charitable organization designed to facilitate the knowledge exchange on Global Health issues between Ghana and Canada with the goal of improving public health in developing countries. A self-described bricoleur-researcher, she is an experienced qualitative researcher as well as the primary consultant in Ghana for facilitating the participation of children to incorporate their voices into development agendas.
She is passionate about the empowerment process in young people and has spent the last decade of her young career exploring, researching, facilitating and participating in this process both in Ghana and in Canada. A paladin for community driven health initiatives, she also trains young people in skills needed to design, implement and evaluate their own health and wellness projects. Her Research Interests include Childhood Sexual Abuse as a public health issue, Child Rights and Protection Issues, Indigenous Health Practices, the use of restorative and transformational processes as a tool for solving global health challenges.
Selected Research and Activities highlighting her bricoleur-styled career include:
- Lead researcher in a 4-year study on child sexual abuse in Ghana that included the voice of abuse survivors, abuse perpetrators, and key community informants with relevant knowledge and experience. This research also included an in-depth academic literature review on child sexual abuse, analyzing trends from a historical perspective whilst highlighting the critical public health dimension of the global epidemic. Excerpt of this review published online at http://individual.utoronto.ca/ahmeda_mansaray/CSAinGhana.html
- Key partner in designing, facilitating and administrating UNICEF Ghana’s multi-sectorial response to child abuse and exploitation, the Ghana National Child Abuse Network.
- 2012 Guest Facilitator at Coady Institute (St. Francis Xavier University) Skills For Social Change course.
- Guest Lecturer at Humber University, Toronto, Canada in restorative justice
- Lead facilitator & presenter for 2008 workshop on “Community Participation, Empowerment, Ownership and Change” at Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research Continuing Education Day.
- Poster Presentation on Girl-Child Sexual Abuse at the 2006 AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada.
- Co-writer, co-producer, co-director & lead actor in “The Last Time”, an award-winning short film on the intersection of Girls and HIV/AIDS, as part of the 2006 MTV 48Fest Staying Alive Project.
In addition, Ahmeda is co-founder and research analyst for the African- based global think tank Songai Institute and on the board for the advocacy organization, C4C Kaleidoscope. She is currently advisor, volunteer research and co- moderator in the creation of the 2013 United Nations Youth World Report.
Hobbies:
Running
Reading (Non fiction)
Educational Background:
She has a BSc from McGill University and a Masters in Public Health from Lakehead University, a post-graduate certificate from the Coady Institute in the People Assessing Their Health Process and in facilitating the creation of Community Driven Health impact Assessment Tool.