Rissi Assani

Rissi Assani is from the Republic of Benin but currently based in Ghana. She is a development practitioner, a project management specialist and a translator. As a development worker she aims to fully utilize her skills and experiences gained over 18 years to contribute to driving transformative changes for human rights and social justice. She currently works at Oxfam as Funding and Programme Development Advisor. Prior to that she worked at the Polyglot Limited as a Translator and Project Manager. She also worked at the African Women’s Development Fund as a Programme Officer for Francophone Africa where she manages the francophone grantees portfolio. She also carried out consultancies assignments for the Africa Transitional Justice Legacy Fund, the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana and the Sheroes Foundation. With an academic background in languages, translation, leadership, administration and project management she has acquired extensive experiences working with nonprofit making organisations in grant making, resource mobilisation, programme development, movement and capacity building as well as organising in French speaking countries in Africa. With over 20 years’ experience as a professional translator/interpreter and a passionate of women’s rights, empowerment and leadership issues, she has used that skill to facilitate the participation and engagement of francophone African women in many strategic spaces on the continent and to provide technical support for the establishment of a Francophone Women’s Fund in Africa which facilitated access to funding for francophone CSOs. She has also served as a French translator & interpreter in many conferences by African Women’s Leadership Network (AWLN), African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), African Feminist Forum, International Planned Parenthood Federation, Oxfam, Africa Transitional Justice Legacy Fund, ECOWAS, AU, UNICEF, UNESCO, EU, UNDP and many more. She is passionate about women’s rights and leadership issues. She is also a passionate supporter of education for women and girls on specific rights including rights to have the power to control their own lives, both within and outside the home, ability to influence the direction of social change to create social justice. She has spent a substantial part of her life promoting women’s rights and social justice especially in Benin where she provides voluntary services for local community based organisations to enable them grow into organisations that are sustainable, thus contributing their quota to the feminist movement in Africa. Some of her key achievements include the development of five-year funding and resourcing strategy for Oxfam in Ghana when the country transitioned into an influencing office. She is proud to have translated into French the African Feminist Charter, which was one of the major outputs of the first forum held in 2006. Rissi is multitasking and works with considerable energy and initiatives. She undertook pace setting missions in conflict and fragile countries like Côte d’Ivoire (2004) the Democratic Republic of Congo (2008), the Central African Republic (2011), and Senegal (2016) specifically in Casamance during the conflict. She has also managed several grants supporting issues around women in conflict prevention and management. She also served from 2015 to 2018 as a member of the Grant support Team for the Amplify Change, a multi-donor Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights advocacy fund supporting civil society worldwide. She holds an Executive Masters of Business Administration from the University of Ghana Business School, a Bachelor of Arts in Modern Languages and Translation (French –English –German) from the School of Translators (University of Ghana). She also holds postgraduate qualifications in Public Administration, a Diploma in Public Administration and a Certificate in Management and Administration from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA). She participated in many training programmes on resource mobilization, capacity building, gender and development, Safeguarding and protection, women’s rights, leadership and empowerment. She is an alumna of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), the University of Ghana Business School, and the African Women’s Leadership Institute (AWLI). She is also a member of the Association of Women in Development (AWID) and of the Ghana Association of Translators and Interpreters (GATI) where she is an active member of the vetting committee. Rissi is also Rotarian, a Paul Harris Fellow and a benefactor. She is also a CADRE of technical advisors for the Rotary Foundation. She is a board member of the Sheroes Foundation. In March 2015 she received a star award by Global Women Community Foundation for her contribution towards women’s empowerment in francophone Africa.