Frazer’s foray into politics began in 2001, when she was appointed by the George Bush Administration to serve as the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council. This was after her six years as a  lecturer and Assistant Professor at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, U.S. As Special Assistant, Frazer played critical roles in providing solutions to the diverse problems in Southern Africa. She developed strategies that guided U.S in combating poverty and hunger in Zimbabwe, managing conflicts in the war-torn Liberia, and fighting the increasing trend of HIV/AIDs in the region for 3 years.

These contributions earned her a spot in 2004 as Ambassador of U.S to South Africa, where she scaled the country’s operations in South Africa. She only served a year in this office, but her achievements were remarkable. Frazer struck a bilateral agreement with the government of South African for the African Contingency Operations Training Assistant program (ACOTA), an initiative that facilitated peace in the region. Her ability to steer Bush’s leadership positively, culminated in her selection as the United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in 2005. Passionately, Frazer delivered on the job, designing the roadmap to boost Africa’s security architecture. Her policies helped to manage the then existing crises in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Congo DR. Through her conflict-mediation skills, she was instrumental to resolving the post-electoral violence that engulfed Kenya in 2007.

A Distinguished Public Service Professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College and Department of Social and Decision Sciences, whose leadership in African peace and security, and renowned policies have fostered friendly relations among states, Jendayi Frazer is our woman of the week.

Sources

BlackPast. Jendayi E. Frazer. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/jendayi-e-frazer-1961/

Berggruen Institute. Jendayi Frazer, Biography. https://www.berggruen.org/people/jendayi-frazer/

The White House. President George W. Bush: Ask the White House. http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/government/frazer-bio.html/

All GOV: Everything Our Government Really Does. http://www.allgov.com/officials/frazer-jendayi?officialid=28461

Samoura’s diplomatic acumen was first brought to fore in 1995 when she joined the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) as the Country Director in Djibouti and Cameroon, and later transferred to the organization’s headquarters in Rome, Italy. In this role, she had stellar achievements, developing formidable mechanisms in the management of emergencies in crises infested areas such as Sierra-Leone, Liberia, Kosovo, Nicaragua and East Timor.

The remarkable impacts she made won her recognition from the former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, who based on the recommendation of John Holmes, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, appointed her as the Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for Eastern Chad in 2007. Based in Abéché, a Chadian town that borders the conflict-ridden Darfur, Samoura was proactive in her job providing guidance to about seven United Nations agencies and 40 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with an international outlook. Through her coordination, some of the 180,000 displaced Chadians were sheltered and had their hopes restored for new lives. This was the last position she served before her recent appointment to the management of FIFA.

In 2018, she was listed by BBC as one of the ‘100 most influential and inspirational women in the 21^st Century.  For her elegant contributions towards humanitarian assistance in Africa and the international level and her leadership attributes in the world of men, Fatma Samoura is our woman of the week.

Sources:

BBC (2018). BBC 100 Women 2018: Who is on the list? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-46225037/. Accessed on 9 September 2019.

Forbes (2018). https://www.forbes.com/pictures/5aabea644bbe6f0fa82880d6/no-1-fatma-samba-diouf-sa/#4d533d9d3c26 Accessed on 9 September 2019.

AIPS. Testing times ahead at FIFA as Samoura makes an official start. African Internationale de la Presse Sportive. http://www.aipsmedia.com/index.html?page=artdetail&oldart=18972 Accessed on 9 September 2019.