5 female executive directors assigned by African development bank

Of a total of 12 executive directors assigned for a three years term by the African Development Bank (AFDB), five are women.

The president of the bank, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, welcomed the new board members and then offered them an induction program to familiarize themselves with the work of the bank.

Previously, the board had 3 women as executive directors. Now the number increased to five with Malika Dhif as an executive director for Morocco, Togo, and Tunisia.

Chantal Modeste Nonault, who used to be the financial director of the World Bank regional office in Mali, will represent Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Chad.

Representing Denmark, Finland, India, Ireland, Norway, and Sweden is Mette Knudsen, a previous Deputy Special Representative for Political Affairs at the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

Oren Elaine Whyche will be representing The United States of America. She previously occupied the position of deputy Assistant Administrator in the Africa Bureau of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

And lastly, representing South Africa, Eswatini and Lesotho are Nomfundo Xenia Ngwenya, a South African national.

The Moroccan executive, Dhif, was previously the Deputy Director of the Treasury and External Finance in Morocco, in charge of relations with the Arab and Islamic world, America, Asia, and international institutions.

The assigned executive will have to conduct general operations of the bank, says its official page.

They will all be located in the Ivory Coast, at the Bank’s headquarters in Abidjan.

AFDB roots Africa’s sustainable economic development and social progress to contribute to poverty reduction.

With the new executive, it hopes to carry on with the same plans and principles to achieve significant sustainable development goals.