PDA STAFF

EDEM AGBEManaging Director

EDEM AGBE (Managing Director)

Edem Agbe is the Managing Director of Participatory Development Associates (PDA). Edem is an experienced development practitioner with professional experience in the fields of community development, research, monitoring and evaluation, project management policy analysis, financial inclusion and organisation development. Prior to his appointment as the Managing Director, Edem worked as the Ghana country coordinator for the Youth Forward initiative Learning Partnership led by Overseas Development Institute (ODI), Participatory Development Associates (PDA) and Development Research and Training (DRT), Uganda. The Youth Forward initiative is in partnership with MasterCard Foundation and is being implemented by 28 organisations in Ghana and Uganda to create sustainable employment and economic opportunities for youth in Construction and Agriculture sectors.

Edem has also worked as an advisor and team member in the management, research, monitoring and evaluation of a number large multi-faceted projects in Ghana, including those funded by the MasterCard Foundation, DFID, USAID, African Union, UNESCO and the Rural Support and Programme Network (RPSN). Edem holds a master’s degree in Development Studies from the Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research (ISSER, University of Ghana Legon and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Economics from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi Ghana. He is also an Associate Chartered Economist (ACE).

HELEN NTIDeputy Managing Director

HELEN NTI (Deputy Managing Director)

Helen is the Deputy Managing Director of PDA and was one of PDA’s first employees, joining the organisation in 2001. She joined the Board in September 2012. Helen has worked for PDA for 15 years, serving as Administrative and Finance Manager before assuming her current role in August 2016. Since joining PDA in 2001, she has played an integral role in the finance, human resource and administrative functions of the organisation. Helen is currently based in PDA’s Kumasi office and is in charge of managing the administrative and financial issues of the company’s Accra and Kumasi offices. She also has an oversight responsibility over the management of PDA enterprises. Helen holds an MA in Human Resource Management and a B. Ed Arts from the University of Cape Coast (UCC).

CLEMENT SEFA-NYARKOResearch Manager

CLEMENT SEFA-NYARKO (Research Manager)

Before joining the PDA team as Research Manager in August 2015, Clement has been involved in a number of security-related research activities. As consultant for the African Leadership Centre he provided research and advisory services in an IDRC-funded assessment of Kenya's post-election violence and potential prospects for sustainable peace. He presented papers in a number of international conferences, the latest of which was the European Conference for African Studies (ECAS), in Paris in July 2015.

He also presented a paper on the creation of collective memory in post-conflict societies at the international Summer School at the George Eckert Institute of international Textbook Research in Germany. Clement worked as a visiting scholar at the Centre of Criminology, University of Cape Town, where he was involved in archival search to appraise security sector reforms in post-apartheid South Africa.

He has won a number of fellowships and scholarships. Prior to his engagement in conflict and security discourses, he assisted in other research activities, including anthropological and gender-based research at the Institute of Cross-Cultural Studies (TICSS) in Tamale. He completed a second Master of Arts at the Regional Institute for Population Studies (RIPS), University of Ghana whilst his first Master of Arts was in Conflict, Security and Development, obtained at King's College London, University of London. He is located in the Accra office.

ETHEL SEIWAA BOATENGGhana Coordinator, Youth Forward Learning Partnership

ETHEL SEIWAA BOATENG (Ghana Coordinator, Youth Forward Learning Partnership)

Ethel is a development practitioner with lots of experience in socioeconomic research, community engagement, project implementation, monitoring and evaluation and learning. Her technical expertise is in designing and implementing social research, baseline and evaluation studies, beneficiary assessment, policy planning, multi-stakeholder and community engagement and monitoring and evaluation.

Currently, she is the Ghana Coordinator for Youth Forward Learning Partnership. The Youth Forward programme is being implemented in Ghana and Uganda with support from MasterCard Foundation to improve the capacity of youths to get jobs, grow their businesses and access finance. PDA, Development Research Training (DRT) and Overseas Development Institute (ODI) are the Learning Partners of the programme.

She is passionate about mitigating poverty and inequality, and promoting sustained social development. She has been involved in consultancy services for organisations such as Global Communities, Newmont Ghana Gold Limited, Ghana Water Company Limited, Challenging Heights International, Institute of Development Studies, Kuapa Kokoo and TWIN amongst others.

Ethel holds MPhil Planning and BSc. Development Planning degrees from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana.

ALEXANDER AFRAM (Programme Coordinator)Programme Coordinator

ALEXANDER AFRAM (Programme Coordinator)

Alex has 5 years local and international experience in research and consultancy in development related assignments focusing on poverty reduction, decentralisation, education, health and climate change. He combines both quantitative and qualitative methodologies and is familiar with the use of statistical/analytical tools such as SPSS, STATA, and NVivo.

Since joining PDA in November 2016, Alex has successfully worked on many research and evaluation projects, including Root Capital’s Impact Evaluation of Agribusiness Enterprises in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, Challenging Height's Child Forced Early Marriage in fishing communities in Ghana, University of Bath's Qualitative Impact Protocol (QUIP) in the Upper West region of Ghana, British Council's Connecting Classrooms 3 evaluation in Ghana and Free The Slaves’ Growing Up Free baseline evaluation in fishing communities in Ghana.

Before joining PDA, Alex also worked in a consortium for Action Aid in the UK and contributed to developing an assessment methodology for climate change-induced loss and damage in South East Asia-Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal, and Vietnam. Alex holds MSc. in Development Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), UK and BA in Geography and Rural Development from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana. He is a Standard Bank, Derek Cooper Scholar and Leadership Fellow and a One Young World Global Ambassador.

BRIGHT OSEI BADUAssistant Program Coordinator

BRIGHT OSEI BADU (Assistant Program Coordinator)

Bright Osei Badu joined PDA Agro-Industry and Social Enterprise (PASE) as a farmer liaison officer in June 2017 but his hard work promoted him to the position as the PASE coordinator where he is in charge of the day to day activities of PASE.

Before joining PDA, Bright worked with both Crops Research and Soil Research Institute. He also has a vast experience in banana production when he worked with Musahamat farms in Aveyime as a Supervisor. Bright holds a Bsc Agriculture Science from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

RAYMOND HODORSenior Project Officer

RAYMOND HODOR (Senior Project Officer)

Raymond is a versatile researcher who has keen interest in research work. With a solid quantitative and ICT background, Raymond is proficient in the design and use of various statistical tools such as ODK, Stata, E-Views and SPSS. He has successfully demonstrated this ability in a number of local and international studies engaged in before and after joining PDA as a Senior Project Officer with the Research Unit.

Raymond has played lead and supporting roles on a number of high-profile study and evaluation projects. Some of these include the Institute of Development Studies’ Nutrition Impact Evaluation, University of Bath's Qualitative Impact Protocol (QUIP) and British Council's Connecting Classrooms 3 baseline and endline evaluation. His capability cuts across various sectors; he is conversant with the mixed-methods approach and has expertise in data collection, cleaning and analysis, report writing, and facilitation. Raymond holds a bachelor degree and a Master of Philosophy degree in Economics from University of Ghana, Legon.

VICTORIA AMPIAHSenior Project Officer

VICTORIA AMPIAH (Senior Project Officer)

Victoria is a project officer at Participatory Development Associates (PDA) Ltd with three years’ experience in both qualitative and quantitative research in areas such as human behaviour, health and education.

She worked as a research assistant on Assessing the Effectiveness of Educating Caregivers to Recognize Early Clinical Signs of Pneumonia in Children less than 2 years in Ghana: Proof of Concept Study sponsored by University of Copenhagen, Building Stronger University Initiative (BSUI) and also as an associate of PDA on several projects for two years before joining as a permanent staff in May, 2017.

Additionally Victoria served both as a graduate and teaching assistant at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in (2015-2016) and (2013-2014) academic years. Since joining PDA, she has worked on high profile study evaluation projects including Free the Slaves’ Growing Up Free (GUF) project and British Councils’ Connecting Classroom 3 baseline and endline evaluation projects in all the regions in Ghana. Victoria holds Mphil Sociology from KNUST and BA Sociology and Social Work also from KNUST.

JONATHAN ANTWI HAGANProject Officer

JONATHAN ANTWI HAGAN (Senior Project Officer)

Jonathan is a Senior Project Officer with the Research Unit at PDA. His research interests span poverty, rural development, sustainable human wellbeing and agrarian change. Jonathan has over two years’ experience in community development and advocacy and has been involved in a number of poverty and wellbeing research in Ghana. This includes World Vision International and Rural Research and Advocacy Group’s Community Voice Articulation project. He has also worked at the Geography Department of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology as a Teaching and Research Assistant, assisting a course on Rural Development Issues in Ghana.

Jonathan holds an MSc. International Development from the University of Bath, United Kingdom and a BA Geography and Rural Development from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana.

GLORIA ADU OFORISenior Project Officer

GLORIA ADU OFORI (Senior Project Officer)

Gloria is a Senior Project Officer at Participatory Development Associates with over 4years experience both in quantitative and qualitative approaches in gender studies, population studies and social policy. She has been a Graduate Assistant (2015) as well as Teaching Assistant (2013) at the Department of Sociology and Social Work, KNUST. She also has good administrative skills and has worked as an Administrator and a Customer Relations Manager in a hospital and nursing institute respectively in the Western Region of Ghana.

Gloria has been an Associate of PDA from September 2015 working on project like the Ghana Adolescent and Reproductive Health study for Palladium in 2015 as well as on Assessment of a Mobile Application for helping health providers deliver better services to adolescents in the Brong Ahafo Region, 2016 and became a permanent staff at PDA in September 2018.

She is very skilful and experienced in the collection and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data and holds BA (Hons) in Sociology and Social Work and MPhil in Sociology all from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.

MOHAMMED ZAYAN IMOROSenior Project Officer

MOHAMMED ZAYAN IMORO (Senior Project Officer)

Mohammed Zayan Imoro is a Senior Project Officer with PDA’s Advocacy and Communications Unit where he leads the child protection project and coordinates the activities of the unit. Since joining PDA in July 2018, he has been involved in a number of projects including the GAIN Nutrition Barrier Analysis conducted in cocoa growing communities, and the ongoing PDA/CMaC Public Sector Watch Initiative aimed at improving the service delivery and accountability of key state agencies.

Prior to joining PDA, Zayan engaged in research on governance reform, institutional change and anticorruption strategies in developing countries. He obtained his MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge where he focused on institutional change in sub-Saharan Africa and led a number of panel discussions including the Anti-corruption panel discussions at the 2018 Africa Together Conference at the Cambridge Union.

He is also keen on bottom-up development approaches that prioritize collective action and indigenous sustainability initiatives. His undergraduate degree in Sociology was obtained from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

SAMUEL AKOTOSenior Project Officer

SAMUEL AKOTO (Senior Project Officer)

Akoto is a FINATRADE Scholar who holds a BSc Agricultural Science (First Class) and a Masters of Education (Higher Education Pedagogy), both from KNUST. His interest in education took full shape when he was a Teaching Assistant at KNUST. He has taught English language and Mathematics at both the basic and senior high school levels, on part-time and permanent basis. He is a literacy coach whose protégés have gone on to win recognitions at both regional and national levels. The most recent being a top 50 placement in the 2017 Citi FM Literacy Challenge.

He has attended a number of workshops on functional literacy. Over the past year, he has been involved in the Phonics-by-Phone (PhonicsGhana) programme - a programme that has improved the literacy proficiency amongst some 6000 learners in the Central and Western regions of Ghana.

ELIZABETH AFRIYIE DUAHSenior Project Officer

ELIZABETH AFRIYIE DUAH (Senior Project Officer)

She is interested in research especially with issues related to infant and child nutrition. She has worked with Grameen foundation as a nutrition content reviewer where she reviewed the factsheets for the M-nutrition project (GAIN) for Ghana and Nigeria in 2015.She is interested in research especially with issues related to infant and child nutrition. She has worked with Grameen foundation as a nutrition content reviewer where she reviewed the factsheets for the M-nutrition project (GAIN) for Ghana and Nigeria in 2015.
She also worked with IITA on a research on the consumption patterns of white cassava and the knowledge and perception of yellow flesh cassava and also a laboratory assessment of some yellow flesh cassava genotypes bred in Ghana for her MPhil and also worked on the Ghana micronutrient survey in 2017 as a team leader and also worked on a pilot collaborative study (university of Ghana and university of SUNY, Oneota (USA) on the implementation of the nutrition care process (NCP) model.Has a BSc in nutrition and food science and an Mphil in nutrition For her hobbies, she loves to read, bake and teach children creative arts.

GADDIEL MENSAH YAMOAHProject Officer, Advocacy and Communications

GADDIEL MENSAH YAMOAH (Project Officer, Advocacy and Communications)

Gaddiel Mensah Yamoah, Project Officer with the Advocacy and Communications Unit is a Communication Designer who for the past years developed his potential not only in creating visual concepts by hand alone but also with computer related software to convey ideas that will inspire and also captivate clients. His produce includes developing layouts, Audio and Video advertisement, brochures magazines, corporate reports and other related designs.

He is professionally trained as a multimedia person under the Communication Design department of the Faculty of Art, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, KNUST. He has a great sense of creating motion graphics, handling both photography and videography, professional editing and also creating interactive User Interface for websites.

ERNEST ADU OWUSUProject Officer

ERNEST ADU OWUSU (Project Officer)

Ernest is a project officer with the Research, Evaluation and Learning (REL) unit with experience in data collection, management and analysis. He is also experienced in survey design and management. Ernest is proficient in the use of statistical packages such as STATA, SPSS for data analysis and Open Data Kit (ODK) for survey design.

Ernest served as a Research Assistant on the Cities and Climate Change Project carried out by the Regional Institute for Population Studies (RIPS), University of Ghana, Legon in 2018 where he handled quantitative data analysis for the project’s district-level dissemination and data management for scientists on the project. In 2016, he was a Teaching Assistant at the Department of Economics University of Ghana, Legon. Ernest holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree and a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree in economics all from the University of Ghana, Legon.

LUCY OFORI-DAVISProject Officer

LUCY OFORI-DAVIS (Project Officer)

Lucy joined PDA as a project officer with the Research Evaluation and Learning unit in September 2019. Lucy holds an MPhil in Economics and a BA in Economics both from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

She served as a teaching and research assistant in the 2015/2016 academic year with the Department of Economics, KNUST. She is able to combine both quantitative and qualitative methodologies and is conversant with the use of STATA and SPSS, with expertise in data collection, cleaning and analysis.

SETH KWADWO OPPONGProject Officer, Advocacy and Communications

SETH KWADWO OPPONG (Project Officer, Advocacy and Communications)

Seth is a hardworking and goal oriented person who hopes to achieve perfection in whatever he does. He is with the Advocacy and Communications Unit in PDA with a Bachelors degree in Communication Design from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

He is an open minded person with a lot of great professional skills in handling multimedia tasks in terms of Video, photo, 3D and 2D animation, sound and a little background in web design. A great team player and makes the best out of all he does.

He is a positive minded person who believes with a little more encouragement and tolerance, even the most negative person can become a better person.

VICTORIA AMPAHSenior Finance Officer

VICTORIA AMPAH (Senior Finance Officer)

Victoria is an HND holder (accounting option) from Cape Coast Polytechnic and is currently pursuing a degree programme in Commerce at the University of Cape Coast (UCC). She is presently the Senior Finance Officer at PDA, after having joined the organisation in August 2008 as National Service personnel. She is mainly responsible for maintaining accurate financial data and reporting on PDA and all project activities. She also maintains accurate and up-to-date financial filing and book keeping of all accounting records. She is based in the Kumasi Office.

CHRIS EMPSON YEBOAHAssistant Finance Officer

CHRIS EMPSON YEBOAH (Assistant Finance Officer)

Chris joined PDA as a service person in August, 2016 after obtaining a Bachelor of Science and Communication (BSc) in Accounting at the University of Professional Studies (UPSA). He is currently a final level (three) professional student at the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG). He championed his group project work as a group leader for the award of the BSc. certificate. Chris also worked with ICAG as an intern at the Finance Department. He has also worked as a Logistic Personnel at Mayfair Estate Dev't Ltd. He has an extensive background and knowledge in Accounting.

Chris currently works under the Finance and Administration Unit of PDA as an Assistant Finance Officer. He is responsible for bank transactions, assisting in the preparation of financial statements, pre- auditing retirement, petty cash and expense claims. He is also responsible for daily posting of transactions into Sage accounting software, monthly Bank reconciliation, projecting expenses and other assigned duties. Chris is much focused, results-oriented, proactive and has a lot of ambitions for common goal achievement. He loves to take advantage of new opportunities as well as new challenges.

ANDREWS ANIAH ADUNMOLEGAField Officer

ANDREWS ANIAH ADUNMOLEGA (Field Officer)

Adunmolega Aniah Andrews is a field officer in Participatory Development Associates Ltd (PDA). Before joining PDA, he worked with CHE Ghana a non-governmental Christian organisation who are into community and church-based development issues from 2004 - 2011 and also had a contract with Optimal Change Partnership (OCP) a Partnership organisation with on the Village savings and loans (VSLA) project in 2015.