Caroline Kouassiaman
Executive Director, Initiative Sankofa d’Afrique de l’Ouest (ISDAO) – West Africa
Caroline is a queer, bilingual (English/French) African feminist of Ivorian and African-American heritage. She serves as the Executive Director of Initiative Sankofa d’Afrique de l’Ouest (ISDAO), a West African LGBTQI activist-led organisation working to build a more just and inclusive West Africa. Caroline’s work and activism have focused on bolstering and amplifying the work of women’s rights and LGBTQI-led activists, groups and organisations; supporting entrepreneurship skills development; managing research projects, and; expanding access to education. She has extensive experience in feminist and human rights centred grantmaking, including providing technical and strategic support in the development of ISDAO and as one of the founding advisors of the Queer African Youth Network (QAYN), the first queer women-led regional organisation in West Africa.
Caroline has lived in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Uganda. She holds a Master of Public Administration degree and a Master’s in International Relations from Syracuse University (USA). Caroline works for a world where LGBTQI persons – in their full and beautiful diversity – have the opportunity, autonomy and resources to live full, healthy and violence-free lives on their own terms.