West Africa

Edwin Obiero
West Africa’s Regional Director

Based in Dakar, he is responsible for growing and leading Practical Action’s intervention in decentralised energy, agriculture and climate information services. Edwin’s work experience spans multiple sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean geographies, including post-conflict fragile states and humanitarian economies.

He brings a wealth of experience in climate finance consulting and development finance in the Renewable Energy and Climate Change Adaptation space. He has worked in a leading climate advisory firm in Nairobi, UNFCCC and most recently as Regional Manager at the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund. Edwin’s work experience spans many large-scale development partners and multiple geographies in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, including post-conflict fragile states and humanitarian economies. He is fluent in English (native) and French (fluent).

Rose Mossane Diouf
Regional Head of Finance

Responsible for the regional office’s overall financial management, budgeting, and administration. Rose brings to the team more than ten years of experience working in more than 20 countries in the continent and European countries. She brings a wealth of experience in financial controls and contract management, working with leading financial systems. She also provides support to People and Culture. Rose has a Master’s in Corporate Finance from INSEEC Business School (France) and a Bachelor’s in Accounting from the University of Maine – Le Mans (France). She is fluent in French (native) and English (fluent).

Alioune Ndiaye, PhD
Climate and Resilience Thematic Lead for West Africa

Alioune joined us in 2021 as Climate Resilience Project Manager for the flood community resilience project in Thiès, Senegal, as part of the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance. Since 2023, he has been our region’s Climate and Resilience Thematic Lead.

He has ten years of experience in agricultural projects in West Africa, particularly in pastoralism. He has worked on research and development projects in Sahelian countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal) funded by donors such as the World Bank, IFAD and FAO.

He holds a PhD in Development Economics at Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Développement International (CERDI), focusing on the impacts of climate change on pastoral and agropastoral systems in Sahelian countries. Alioune also holds two Master’s degrees in Sustainable Development, Environmental and Energy Economics from AgroParisTech and in Agricultural Economics from the University Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) in Dakar. He’s fluent in English and French.

Kadija Simboro
Thematic Lead Energy West Africa

Kadija has a strategic role in supporting the delivery of Practical Action’s energy strategy for the West Africa regional office. She is an energy expert with over eight years of experience in the renewable energy sector in West Africa. She leads PA energy work in the region, including consulting assignments, managing energy access projects, and providing technical input to Practical Action’s projects in the region.

Prior to that, she worked with the AECF as a portfolio officer for the Renewable Energy and Adaptation to Climate Change Technologies (REACT) program. She co-founded Farafina Eco-Engineering SARL, a water and energy access social enterprise. Kadija Simboro is also co-founder of Farafina Agri-Funding, an aggregator facilitating farmers’ access to finance and innovative technologies through a crowdfunding and agri-marketing platform.

Fatima Datt
Communication Lead

Fatima has 14 years of experience in marketing and communications, from planning to execution.

She has a broad experience in USAID projects. She has worked as a Communication Specialist for the West Africa Investment and Trade Hub and as a Brand Manager for Chemonics International. In addition, she is a creative developer of online and social media content.

She possesses excellent skills in using website development tools, identifying and writing success stories, and developing content for newsletters as well as other communication tools. Fatima holds a master’s degree in corporate communications and a bachelor’s in marketing and communication.