Women Fellow
Ya Sally Njie (The Gambia)
Ya Sally Njie is a peace and development practitioner who has spent the past 5 years working with international and regional development organizations including National Democratic Institute, West African Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP-The Gambia) and International Republican Institute (IRI) on governance, election observation, rule of law, gender justice, legislative and political party strengthening, transitional justice, citizen participation and inclusion. Through her work with the National Democratic Institute, Ya Sally coordinated the first-ever systemic long-term Elections Observation Program in The Gambia and oversaw the systemic observation of key electoral processes to enhance electoral integrity and transparency in The Gambia’s electoral system from August 2020 to August 2022. She also worked with the Women’s Democracy Network to coordinate a program to ensure the inclusion of diverse Gambian women’s positions during the 2018 Constitutional Review Process and has worked on multiple projects in The Gambia including promoting multi-party engagement, political tolerance and pluralism, increasing the capacity of the National Assembly Members to effectively engage in democratic lawmaking, and enhancing fiscal transparency.
Ya Sally holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Law from the University of The Gambia. She is currently a Fellow at the African Leadership Centre’s (ALC) Peace, Security and Development Fellowship Programme for African Women. Her research interests revolve around themes relating to Elections, Political Parties, Decolonialism, Intersectional African Feminism, Peace and Security, Governance and Justice. She especially aims to produce scholarly work to bridge the gap between decolonial research and peace and security practices in Africa.
