Nana Asantewa Afadzinu (PhD), is the Executive Director of the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI). She is a driven leader with over 26 years' experience in the civil society sector and a passionate advocate for sustainable and equitable development in the international development sector. Her passion for leading change and challenging the Status Quo on the continent, landed her a place on the Avance Media 2020 100 Most Influential African Women List.

With a background in law, she has worked on governance, human rights, and capacity development with organizations such as the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Ibis West Africa and the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).

Nana has served on multiple public service, corporate, and non-profit boards. She is a co- Deputy Chair of OXFAM GB, and a member of the Boards of Resource Alliance, and serves on the Management Committee of the University of Ghana School of Law. Nana is also a prominent member of RINGO, and serves as an advisory member of Rights CoLab.

She is a member of the Ghana Bar Association and holds an LLB from the University of Ghana, an LLM from New York University, and a PhD in African Philanthropy from the University of the Witwatersrand. She is also an alumna of Columbia University’s Human Rights Advocates Program.