conference speakers
Hon. Lariba Zuweira Abudu
Kwame Sakyi, BA, MSPH, PhD - Director
Dr. Kwame Sakyi is a co-founder and the Director of the Center for Learning and Childhood Development-Ghana, where he oversees the Center's overall strategic direction and research portfolio. Dr. Sakyi holds a PhD and Master's of Science degree in international (global) health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. As an Assistant Professor of Public Health at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, USA, he teaches biostatistics and research methods to graduate students. Dr. Sakyi's expertise is in maternal, neonatal, and child well-being in low- and middle-income countries. He has worked on a wide range of projects that affect mothers and children, including infectious diseases (HIV and malaria), neonatal health, developmental disabilities, mental health, stigma, and community-based interventions. He is the recipient of several grants and awards, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Research Service Award (Grant, T32DA1391), NIH R25 Brown University Training Fellowship (R25MH83620), and the Young Alumni Career Award from Albion College, Albion, Michigan.
Dr. Kodjo Mensah-Abrampa
Dr Kodjo Esseim Mensah-Abrampa is currently the Director General of National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) and also serves on a number of Boards and Councils. He worked as the Senior Technical Adviser to the Ministry of Planning 2017 to 2019 and played a leading role in the technical team that developed the Coordinated Programme for the President of Ghana (2017-2024) and facilitated its dissemination. Dr. Mensah-Abrampa prior to taking up the home tasks was a Global Policy Adviser for the United Nations Development Programme at its headquarters in New York responsible for Local Development and Urbanization, initiating several development and investment programmes in post conflict local economies. He had before that spent five years working as the Deputy Head of Office for East and Southern Africa for United Nations Capital Development Fund, facilitating private sector funding of public infrastructure and local economic development in the Africa Region. At home in Ghana, he lectured in Development Planning & Management at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, a Monitoring and Evaluation Expert at the National Development Planning Commission and a Senior Governance Adviser for Netherlands Development Organisation in Accra
Anthony Castello
After serving as Director of the Department of Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health, WHO Geneva, Anthony Castello returned to University College London in June 2018 as Professor of Global Health and Sustainable Development. Previously he was Director of the Institute for Global Health at UCL. He is co-chair of the international Lancet Countdown for Climate Action and Health, and senior adviser to the Children in All Policies 2030 programme supported by WHO, UNICEF and the Lancet (www.cap-2030.org) His research has focused on cluster randomised trials of community mobilisation for maternal, newborn and metabolic health in Nepal, Bangladesh, India and Malawi. His book ‘The Social Edge. The Power of Sympathy Groups for our Health, Wealth and Sustainable Future’ describes this work and speculates on ways we might tackle 21st century problems in the western world. With Sir David King he was a co-founder of Independent SAGE which aims to bring a greater focus on public health, transparency and public engagement to the UK Covid response.
Gregory Lierfu Dery
Gregory Lierfu Dery, the Child Protection and Advocacy Manager for World Vision Ghana . I started my career in the NGO sector 20 years ago and having to work in four different local and international Non-governmental organizations between 2001 and now, performing various functions across Ghana. I previously worked for the Binaba Area Community Health Project (BACH) ,District Capacity Building Project (DISCAP) and ActionAid Ghana (AAG) .
I am a human rights advocate with passion for promoting the rights of children. I am married with three children, two girls and a boy ,with the oldest being 21 and the youngest 14 years of age .My hobbies include football ,socializing with friends and reading leadership stuff.
I obtained my ordinary level certificate from the saint Francis Xavier Minor Seminary in Wa, Advance Level certificate from Opoku Ware School (OWASS) in Kumasi. I hold a BA in Development Studies and an MA in NGO Management and Rural Development from the University for Development Studies. I am also a Project Management Professional (PMP) from the PMI (Project management Institute) USA.
Dr Diaz
Dr Diaz earned joint degrees in Medicine and Public Health (M.D./ M.P.H.) from Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Columbia School of Public Health. She completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Montefiore Hospital in New York. She completed the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) training at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during which she worked in the Puerto Rico Health Department and was responsible for infectious disease surveillance. She also completed a Preventive Medicine Residency at CDC focused in the area of HIV/AIDS surveillance.
She worked for CDC in 20 years working mostly working on HIV/AIDS domestically and globally including two years assigned to PAHO Brazil. She was also assigned to the Center for Urban Epidemiological Studies at the New York Academy of Medicine where she served as the Deputy Director of the Center. While at CDC she served as the Global AIDS Surveillance team leader, and the Branch Chief of the Epidemiology and Strategic Information Branch of the Global AIDS Program. She oversaw all activities in the areas of surveillance, monitoring and evaluation, informatics, and statistics and worked closely with the Strategic Information unit of the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief assuring that Congress and country offices have quality data to assess the progress and impact of their programs.
Dr Diaz served as the lead of the Knowledge Management and Implementation Research Unit in the Health Section in UNICEF, NY. She worked on supporting implementation research in various countries in the area of child health specifically in integrated community case management as well as use of routine health information data for child health program planning. In 2016 she joined World Health Organization and now serves as the Unit Chief of the Epidemiology and Monitoring and Evaluation team in the Maternal Newborn Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing Department. In this role she leads the work to globally collate data on MNCAH and Ageing, to conduct the data collection of policies, to harmonized global measurement efforts and provide capacity building in maternal, newborn, child, adolescent health and ageing monitoring and evaluation for member states.
She currently is chairing the Data and Learning Working Group of CAP 2030
Dr Aku Kwamie
Dr Aku Kwamie is a health systems researcher. Her work has focused on applying complexity theory to health systems governance, management and leadership. Currently, Dr Kwamie is a Technical Officer with the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, at the World Health Organisation, where she leads the Alliance’s portfolios on systems thinking and capacity strengthening for the conduct of health policy and systems research (HPSR).
Dr Kwamie is a commissioner on the WHO-UNICEF-Lancet Commission A future for the world’s children, a working group member for Children in all Policies 2030, and a former Board member of Health Systems Global.
Dr Maree Foley
Maree Foley (PhD) is a child and adolescent mental health specialist with training in organisational science and public health. She has worked in the areas of child and family psychotherapy, child and youth care and protection, multi-generational family reunification, team executive coaching, and management.
Her work aims to support the health, care, and wellbeing of children, especially young children within inter-generational and multi-generational relationships via research, policy, and practice. Maree works with CAP-2030 to plan for and implement meaningful, safe, and multi-level participation of children and youth in the work and growth of CAP-2030.
Ms. Yvonne Prempeh-Ferguson
Yvonne is an energetic, results-focused, development practitioner with extensive experience in the field of public health gained through more than twenty years of direct implementation and management of varied health sector portfolios. She possesses an M. Phil in Economics and Politics of Development from Cambridge University, (UK) and an M.A in Development Economics from Dalhousie University, Canada. For the last twenty-plus years, Yvonne has worked in Indonesia, Canada, USA, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania and Ghana on humanitarian aid and development programs, with additional program responsibilities in Rwanda and Ethiopia. In addition to her extensive public health experience, Yvonne has a proven track record leading multi-year, multi-sector project portfolios in Education, Child Protection, Youth Empowerment and Livelihoods, working in complex environments with multiple partners. Her twenty-plus years experience includes two years in Ghana as a Teaching assistant in the University of Ghana in the Department of Psychology; one year in Indonesia as a Junior Adviser with Canadian CIDA; six years in the USA as an HIV/AIDS program Director; four years in Kenya as an HIV/AIDS Portfolio manager with Catholic Relief services; three years in Nigeria as an HIV/AIDS Technical Adviser and Task Team Leader on the World Bank/DFID-funded Universal Basic Education Project seconded to the Federal Ministry of Education for all 36 state Ministries of Education; one Year with World Vision USA as an HIV/AIDS Technical Specialist and Grants Acquisition Manager; six months as Chief of Party and Regional Director for the USDOL-funded Education Initiative, Kenya Uganda Rwanda Ethiopia Together Project; one year as the Chief of Party for the USAID-funded HIV/AIDS Workplace Project, implemented in collaboration with Ugandan Ministries of Education, Local Government and Internal Affairs; three and half years as the Project Director for the USDOL-funded Child Labor Elimination project implemented in Tanzania a year and half with Save the Children’s Tanzania Program as the TB/HIV Specialist and Deputy Chief of Party for the Global Fund; and most recently as the m2m Consultant for the Ghana ECD Landscape analysis and now Technical specialist and Country Lead for m2m Ghana. In this role Yvonne provides oversight for all elements of m2ms programing in Ghana and supports 20 Mentor mothers operating in two program sites to implement an integrated RMNCH-ECD model using facility/community platforms that aim increase uptake of PMTCT services among HIV Positive and HIV negative pregnant and breastfeeding women. Yvonne is also an active member of the ECD Network in Ghana and is an avid Child Protection advocate
Afia Nyamekye
Afia Nyamekye has always had an interest in Child Rights issues, having served as the President of the Child Rights International Club in senior high school. She went on to obtain a degree in Sociology and Information Management from the University of Ghana. Afterwards, she served as the Research Assistant to the then Deputy Minister of Communication. In that role, she served as a bridge between community members and the MP’s office managing several projects that were geared towards resolving problems and raising the standard of living within the constituency. In the ministry, she sat on ministerial committees and was a tasked with organizing programs and activities in line with ministry’s agenda.
In 2019, she joined CRI as the Head of Communications. While there, she engages with the media on issues pertaining to children and relating to the organization and engage in stakeholder meetings aimed at championing child protection at the national level. She is also involved in field work in the form of trainings for Trainers, community members and children.
Lila-Karen Amponsah
Lila-Karen Amponsah is a Planning Analyst with the Development Policy and Planning Division of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC). She is a member of the Social Development Team and works on issues including social protection, population and development, migration and development, child development and protection, youth development, food and nutrition security, gender equality, disability-inclusive development and support for the aged.
Lila-Karen holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Development Planning from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi and a Master of Science Degree in International Public Policy from University College London.