Blog
Published on 2022
We are pleased to welcome four new members to the growing ISDAO team: Aamowi, Fiona, Malaika, and Sheilla. They are joining us in the following three departments following our recruitment process launched in July 2025:
- Communications and Knowledge Management
- Finance and Administration
- Programs
They each bring valuable experience, diverse perspectives, and a strong commitment to strengthening sexual rights and diversity movements in West Africa.
As we continue to strengthen our contribution to the movement, these new team members reinforce our collective capacity and support our work across the region.
Aamowi – Communications Assistant
Click on the arrow to read Aamowi's full biography.
Aamowi is a feminist Ghanaian community-builder, artist, and communications specialist with 10 years’ experience across digital design, marketing, partnerships, and creative production.
Prior to joining ISDAO, she worked as a Communications Manager for the independent media publication, FairPlanet, where she devised strategic campaigns to share important stories centering equal rights, social justice, and environmental activism to the general public. During her time there, she also helped develop their tone of voice and a cohesive visual identity. She has a Bachelor of Science (Hons.) in Creative Computing from Goldsmiths College, University of London.
Aamowi continues to explore the intersections of creativity and culture in her activism and has directed and produced multiple arts, heritage, and cultural projects aimed at the upliftment and empowerment of Black womxn, the African diaspora, and the queer community. These include the exhibitions “FREEFORM: A Celebration of Black Womxnhood” in collaboration with arebyte Gallery London, and “Children of the Diaspora” with Pacheanne Anderson Gallery for 1-54 African Art Fair, as well as the documentary “When Womxn Gather: Lagos” supported by the Obodo Nigeria International Artist Residency.
Fiona – Grants Management Officer
Click on the arrow to read Fiona's full biography.
Fiona is a feminist and movement-oriented civil society practitioner committed to resourcing rights-based movements and strengthening civic space across Africa.
She joined ISDAO in January 2026. Prior to joining ISDAO, Fiona served in senior programmatic and leadership roles at Oxfam Uganda, the Democratic Governance Facility (DGF), Femme Forte Uganda, and the Uganda Youth Network (UYONET). Across these roles, she led multi-partner grant portfolios including Voice program in Uganda, accompanied feminist, youth-led, LGBTQI, and human rights organizations, and supported adaptive programming in politically complex and shrinking civic environments. She has authored participatory toolkits, manuals, and policy briefs on civic education, menstrual health justice and advocacy, youth democratic participation, peacebuilding, and gender-responsive monitoring and evaluation, working with institutions including Sensitise Uganda, Irise Institute East Africa (IIEA), AWDF, and UYONET. Fiona holds a bachelor’s degree in business computing from Makerere University Business School, complemented by professional training in project and financial management, proposal development, policy dialogue for SDG implementation, and international election observation.
Fiona’s feminist and LGBTQI movement engagement is grounded in a deep commitment to participatory and trust-based grantmaking that shifts power, centers lived experience, and positions communities most impacted by injustice, particularly women, girls, and LGBTQI persons, as decision-makers in resourcing and change processes.
Outside of her role at ISDAO, Fiona values reflective writing, meaningful conversations, rest, traveling, and being grounded in community care as essential practices for sustaining movements and personal wellbeing.
Malaika – Knowledge Management Officer
Click on the arrow to read Malaika's full biography.
Malaika is a Ghanaian-Cameroonian-German feminist organiser, facilitator, and creative knowledge producer with over six years’ experience working within the fields of research, African feminist philanthropy, and creative storytelling.
She is also a daughter, a sister, and a friend. She joined ISDAO in January 2026, before that she worked in the Knowledge & Voice department at the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), supporting the organisation’s mission to amplify African feminist knowledge in all its diverse formats. Malaika has also worked specifically with young feminist organisations and LBQ groups to support innovative funding models and to document the unique needs of these organisations in order to influence the larger funding landscape. She received a BA in History, with a focus on Empires and Colonialism, from Yale University in 2019 and has completed several short training courses since, including a Human Rights Course on Sexual Minority Rights in Africa at the University of Pretoria.
As an organiser and facilitator, Malaika has collaborated with the Young Feminist Collective, Drama Queens, and The Flame On Initiative in Accra to co-create safe spaces for feminist learning and community building.
Malaika is also a photographer, singer-songwriter, and avid chess player. Her New Year’s resolution in any given year is to read twenty-four novels, mostly by African women/ enby authors, but she has yet to succeed at that!
Sheilla – Finance Officer – Management Accounting
Click on the arrow to read Sheilla's full biography.
An expert in financial and administrative management, Sheilla is a development professional with nearly 13 years of experience working with international organizations, donor-funded projects, and government programs.
Before joining ISDAO, she held the position of Administrative and Financial Manager within the Economic Governance for Service Delivery Program (PGEDS), a program led by the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Benin. Throughout her career, she has managed the finances of large-scale multisectoral projects funded by the World Bank, Global Affairs Canada, and the Global Fund, among others, with proven expertise in management control, capacity building, and support for partner organizations. Sheilla holds a Master's degree in Auditing and Management Control from the Institut Supérieur de Management Adonaï in Cotonou.
Her commitment to gender equality and social justice has been particularly evident in her work with Oxfam-Benin on the Women's Voices and Leadership project, where she supported and strengthened the financial capacities of 38 feminist and women's rights organizations. She is also a founding member of a local NGO that helps disadvantaged and vulnerable children.
Outside of her work at ISDAO, Sheilla is passionate about cooking, soccer, and tennis.
