ChiChi Aniagolu-Okoye

A Sociologist with over 20 years of experience in Development, ChiChi is presently the Regional Director, West Africa of the Ford Foundation. The Ford Foundation is a Private Philanthropic Institution that supports visionary leaders and organizations working on the frontlines of social change worldwide.

Before her role at the Ford Foundation, she has held several senior development positions, including Country Director positions at WaterAid, Technoserve, Girl Effect and Oxfam in Nigeria. She was also the Director of the Canadian International Development Agency Programme Support Unit, Deputy Programme Director for the EU funded “Support to Reforming Institutions Programme” (SRIP) and Ashoka Innovators for the Public’s Representative for West Africa.

Before returning to Nigeria, ChiChi was a Lecturer at the University of Limerick in Ireland, teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students in Women’s Studies and Sociology of Development. While at the university, she pioneered the “encouraging women in science and technology initiative” of the University of Limerick, which exposed young women in secondary schools in Ireland to the accomplishments of women scientists and technologists. She also started the Women Studies lecture series and journal, “In from the Shadows.” Before Limerick, she was a Lecturer at the University College Cork and a Researcher at the Centre for Europeans Social Research, Cork.

She has numerous consulting experiences with such agencies as the European Union, UNFPA, IPAS, and UNESCO. She has produced several educational materials on Gender and HIV/AIDS, which are presently used as an instructional aid for HIV/AIDS practitioners in Nigeria.

ChiChi also sits on the board of many citizen sector organizations in Africa and holds a PhD from the University College Cork in Ireland.