kamissa camara: i worked with a lot of organizations. and really, and i've said it during my short presentation, is that you have these grassroots women leaders who have nobody to look up to. there is nobody in the government who will actually represent them and who will make sure that their voices are heard or that their interests are served in the government, at the national level, and at the regional level. and maybe because we're talking about the eu here, i wonder how we can talk about women's leadership in africa when the eu has never, ever sent a woman as an international mediator. in africa over the past -- i don't know, i would say over the will don't know, i would say over the past ten years, for example, in west africa, we've had conflicts in liberia, in mali, in sierra leone, and not even once was there a woman who was sent as a mediator. it was only this long-serving presidents. i'm sure there are qualified women out there. so when you said marrying policy and practices, i like it. it's really -- that's the issue. so it's ni

i know kamissa well. she works tirelessly. she travels extensively. she is in touch with these organizations on a very personal basis. she also is the founder and o'co-chair of a health strategy forum which brings together stakeholders around the issues in that area. prior to coming to nad, kamissa was with the international foundation for electoral systems. she trained people in electoral management in countries throughout africa. she holds a master's degree in international economics and development from the university of peer amon dez france. and has a b.a. from another university. my french is terrible. she has written extensively and published a great deal. ambassador next to her as we've heard is ambassador mathilde mukantabana, the ambassador from rwanda whose remarks we heard. she was prior to that professor of history at consume river college in my home state of california where she received an award for best teacher there. she has been a passionate community organizer for many, many years. she has formed many organizations to bring together

kamissa, you worked with a lot of organizations. >> i worked with a lot of organizations. and really, and i've said it during my short presentation, is that you have these grassroots women leaders who have nobody to look up to. there is nobody in the government who will actually represent them and who will make sure that their voices are heard or that their interests are served in the government, at the national level, and at the regional level. and maybe because we're talking about the au here i wonder how we can talk about women's leadership in african when the au has never, ever sent a woman as an international mediator. in africa over the past -- i don't know, i would say over the past ten years, for example, in west africa, we've had conflicts in liberia, in mali, in sierra leone, and not even once was there a woman who was sent as a mediator. it was only this long-serving presidents. i'm sure there are qualified women out there. so when you said marrying policy and practices, i like it. it's really -- that's the issue. so it's nice to be talking about women's partici

next to her is kamissa a senior program officer at the national endowment for democracy. the senior program officer for western central africa. she oversees a multimillion dollar portfolio of grants to civil society organizations. she works tirelessly, works extensively. she's in touch on a very personal basis. she also is a founder and co-chair of a strategy forum which brings together stake holders around the issues in that area. prior to, she was with the international foundation for electoral system. she trained people in electoral management in countries throughout africa. she holds a masters degree in international economics and development from the university. and has a b.a. from a university. she's been published a great deal. next to her, as we've heard is ambassador matilda from rwanda whose remarks we heard. she was, prior to that professor of history in my home state of california. where she received an award for best teacher there. she has been a passionate community organizer for many many years. she's formed many organizations to bring together the communit