Country Liaisons for Africa

Tumaini Chambua

Tumaini Chambua

Tanzania

Lives near Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. A graduate of the University of Dar-es-Salaam, Tumaini taught all his professional life in secondary schools and retired as headmaster of the Manka Secondary School. Parallel to his career in education he is an active church member and served the Tanzania World Vision movement on issues concerning HIV/AIDS prevention, refugee and development programs. He is Secretary General of the ELCT Lutheran diocese.

Margie van Zyl Chapman

Margie van Zyl Chapman

South Africa

Joined the Pass It On Network as the liaison from CommonAge. Margie is a social worker by profession with a truly global vision.  She’s passionate about networking, sharing stories, discovering tried and tested solutions that can be applied locally and developing intercontinental partnerships for the greater good. Her academic credentials were earned cum laudé and have led to 40 years’ experience in multicultural ageing in South Africa with specific emphasis on long-term care, leadership training, and partnership development. She’s been on the Board of CommonAge since its inception. She’s also a board member of GAN (the Global Ageing Network and founder of the South African Care Forum. Today she heads up Take the Lead, a consultancy focused on Living well, Ageing well.

Isaac Ddumba

Isaac Ddumba

Uganda

Isaac is the founder and executive director of the African Research Center 4 Ageing & Dementia, an NGO based in Uganda. He advocates for the inclusion of older persons’ polices at the national level. Isaac, who has postgraduate training in Social Gerontology and a Masters in Public Health, is a research fellow at Makerere College of Health Science, Kampala. His PhD research focuses on integration of long-term care for older persons within the Uganda health care system.

Njuakom Nchii Francis

Njuakom Nchii Francis

Cameroon

Francis is founder and chief executive officer of CDVTA – Community Development Volunteers for Technical Assistance, Cameroon’s leading organization in providing assistance and support to older people in northwestern highlands of Cameroon. He is coordinator of Nouvelle Planete projects in Cameroon, liaison for the Commonwealth Association for the Ageing – Commonage, board member of the IFA – International Federation of Aging and works with HelpAge.   He holds a degree in Social Work from the Pan African Institute for Development and certificates in social gerontology, leadership and advocacy from the United Nations International Institute on Ageing.

Erastus Maina Itume

Erastus Maina Itume

Kenya

An advocacy leader who has broad experience working with older persons associations and older citizens’ rights monitors. He is currently the advocacy liaison for HelpAge International Kenya, based in Nairobi. Previously, he had been program coordinator for civic education and human rights under the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission and coordinator for a sisal plantation workers labor and human rights advocacy program. He is an inveterate volunteer and facilitator of many community activities. He holds a diploma in Social Development Studies and a BA degree in social ministry from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. He and his wife, Nancy, are parents to Silvanus, Perpetual and Timothy.

David Oludare Mark

David Oludare Mark

Nigeria

David is an Agricultural Engineer and a Management Consultant. His interest in the care for elderly persons was roused after the demise of his mum, Major Olubunmi Idowu Okusanya, the founder of Family Ark Mission (Agency for the Aged) based in Lagos, Nigeria, who asked him to follow in her footsteps. It was a career changing decision that he took at that point and decided to lzarn aboutn the subject in depth. Mark therefore embarked on a doctoral research study at the University of Fort Hare in South Africa to compare government policy on care for the Aged in South Africa and in Nigeria. He completed his doctorate in 2016. He organizes the annual World Elders Day in Lagos, an event that attracts over 800 participants. He is working on hosting The National Ageing Conference in Africa by networking with other organizations.

Beatrice Mushimiyimana

Beatrice Mushimiyimana

Rwanda

Beatrice is the National Coordinator of NSINDAGIZA, an NGO promoting the rights of older people. NSINDAGIZA is a founding member of the GLAN – the Great Lakes Ageing Network, and partners with the Leave No One Behind Network, and with URUMURI RW’IZABUKURU (older persons coalition).

Vijay Naraidoo

Vijay Naraidoo

Mauritius

Vijay heads the Commission for the Rights of Older People of DIS-MOI, an NGO based in Mauritius that he founded in 2012. His mission is to develop a culture of human rights on the islands in the South West Indian Ocean Region. He works with HelpAge International (London and Nairobi offices) and GAROP (the Global Alliance for the Rights of Older Persons). He writes a weekly column on older persons rights for the local daily newspaper Le Defi.

Florence Mavis Odoom

Florence Mavis Odoom

Accra, Ghana

A nurse with a mission! She’s furthering her studies to become a physician’s assistant. She loves working with older patients and says her passion is to be able to bring a smile to their faces. She is the coordinator for the Family Ark Mission’s action in Ghana and as such initiates and facilitates a variety of community activities. She is keen to learn more about building on the strengths of the people she’s serving and seeks guidance on this from the Pass It On Network. She was able to attend the Seenagers Conference in Nigeria in October last year.

Armoogum Parsuramen, G.O.S.K.

Armoogum Parsuramen, G.O.S.K.

Mauritius

Founder President of the Global Rainbow Foundation (GRF), The University of Third Age (Trust) Mauritius (U3AM) and the Founder & President of Senior Citizen Solidarity (Mauritius) Foundation. He is also the Member of the Governing Board of Association Internationale des Universités du Troisième Age (l’AIUTA) and Chairman of International Tamil Diaspora Association (INTAD). He was elected as a Village Councillor in 1978 and became Chairman of the District Council North in 1979. He has served as Minister of Education, Arts and Culture and Minister of Education and Science from 1982 to 1995. He joined the World Bank in 1997, as Education Policy Adviser and Coordinator (UNSIA). In 1998 he was appointed Director of UNESCO’s Division for the Renovation of Secondary and Vocational Education; in 2000 he became Director of the same organization’s Regional Bureau for Education in Africa before returning to UNESCO Headquarters in Paris in 2004; serving therefore as Secretary of both the Executive Board and the General Conference. In 2009 he was appointed Director of UNESCO, New Delhi Office and Representative to Bhutan, India, Maldives, and Sri Lanka until June of 2011.

Lynda Smith

Lynda Smith

South Africa

Lynda Smith, Country Liaison for South Africa. Lynda Smith is a social entrepreneur, coach, facilitator, networker and writer focusing on the future of retirement for South Africans. She runs The Refirement Network,  which aims to engage at least 5% of the ageing population to take up Encore careers that will respond to social challenges. In her personal Refirement career, Ms. Smith is the CEO of a non-profit organization, Brainboosters. Ms. Smith has spent 35 years building networks and helping to bring social change through education. She also has worked with a global organization called TomorrowToday, helping companies locally and globally to understand and adapt to the disruptive technologies that are changing our world.

Hellen Ziribagwa

Hellen Ziribagwa

East Africa

Founder of the Pass It On Trust Uganda and our liaison in Kampala, Uganda. This dedicated young woman has been working in the social field for a number of years – her main thrust is to keep girls at school and away from early childbearing. Right now, Pass It On Trust Uganda is seeking funds to build an Entrepreneurship Center where both young women and grandmothers will learn skills to start small businesses so they are better able to support themselves and their families. Hellen is a Fellow of the Commonwealth and received the Queen’s Young Leader Award in 2017. She is a winner of the Ashoka-American Express Emerging Innovator award and a fellow of the Social Entrepreneur Transforming Africa program.