Events

A looming shadow is falling over Africa. With the world’s attention focused on conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, Russia is quietly intensifying its race for resources and power. Recent coups across the Sahel have shifted the region’s power dynamics, with military governments distancing themselves from long-standing relationships with the West and strengthening ties with Russia.

Join the World Affairs Council of New Hampshire and Rain for the Sahel and Sahara to delve into what this means for security, human rights, and the global balance of power. This virtual conversation will feature Karen Hanrahan, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and global human rights advocate, and Kamissa Camara, Senior Advisor for Africa at the U.S. Institute of Peace and expert on African governance and security.

Don’t miss this critical conversation on foreign influence in Africa and the political, security, economic, and human rights challenges it presents. Explore why the Sahel remains important to the U.S. and how these shifting dynamics alter the broader geopolitical picture.

Watch online at https://wacnh.org/event-5884045

Speakers:

Kamissa Camara is a senior advisor for Africa at the U.S. Institute of Peace. She is a sub-Saharan Africa policy analyst and practitioner with 15 years of professional experience. She has served as Mali’s minister of foreign affairs, minister of digital economy and planning, and most recently, as chief of staff to the president of Mali. Previous to that, she served as senior foreign policy advisor to the president.

Prior to working with the Malian government, Camara held leadership positions in Washington, D.C. with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and PartnersGlobal. At NED, Camara co-founded and co-chaired the Sahel Strategy Forum. She also spearheaded a multi-million-dollar program supporting civil society initiatives in West and Central Africa, with a particular focus on the Sahel. From 2015 until 2018, she was the Sahel and sub-Saharan Africa instructor at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute where she trained U.S. diplomats before their postings in the region.

A well-published political commentator and television pundit, Camara has been featured, heard, and seen on CNN, Aljazeera, Voice of America, The Washington Post, France24, and RFI, among others. Camara holds a master’s in international economics and development from Université Grenoble Alpes and a bachelor’s in international relations from Université de Paris.

Karen Hanrahan is an executive leader and bridge builder who has spent her career singularly focused on social impact and transformational change at local and global levels. For more than 20 years, Karen has worked in the private and public sectors building high-impact initiatives that advance human rights, empower local communities, and improve the human condition around the world. A lawyer by training, she is known for visionary and strategic leadership, leading transformational change, and building high-performing teams and organizations that change lives and systems. The breadth and depth of Karen’s experience is noteworthy.

She has served as a senior appointee in the Obama administration, a community foundation CEO, a United Nations aid worker, a corporate executive, a finance lawyer, and a thought leader in global development, human rights, social justice and public-private innovation. She drives social change and innovation through partnerships with heads of state, global corporations, local communities, funders, religious leaders, and military forces. She has brought creativity and rigor to intractable challenges in economic development, human rights, conflict, and inequity.

Karen began her career on the frontlines of social impact in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. She worked closely with local change agents to overcome injustice and broken systems and advance positive agendas of change. In her roles with the United Nations, the U.S. Government, and non-profits such as Amnesty International and Search for Common Ground, Karen worked to organize Palestinian youth groups for non-violent action, to free sex slaves in Afghanistan, to prevent child and exploitative labor in South Asia, to end torture in Iraq, to free political prisoners in Ethiopia, and to reform abusive security forces around the world. She went on to become a policymaker and an expert in organizational transformation, change management, and social impact, rising through the ranks of public and private institutions to lead change, build high-performing teams, and establish new visions and strategies across global and domestic social challenges.

An alumna of Harvard Business School’s executive leadership program, the University of Washington School of Law, and The American University School of International Service, Karen holds a J.D. and a Master’s Degree in International Affairs with a concentration in Peace and Conflict Resolution. She has studied Arabic and French and lived in the Middle East and North Africa.

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