About Aïcha Bah
Ms. Aïcha Bah Diallo, former Minister of Education (Guinea) and former Assistant Director-General for Education (UNESCO), is a well-known figure in the field of girls’ and women’s education. She has been a member of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) since its creation, of the Association pour le renforcement de l’enseignement supérieur pour les femmes en Afrique (ASHEWA), and of the Réseau des Femmes pour l’Égalité Femmes-Hommes. She is a member of the High-Level Steering Group of Education Outcomes Fund (EOF).
She is President of Aide et Action International’s Réseau pour l’éducation pour tous en Afrique. She is a member of the Committee for the Mo Ibrahim Foundation Prize for Good Governance and Leadership in Africa and also of the Committee for the UNESCO Prize for Women’s and Girls’ Education.
As Minister from 1989 to 1996, Ms. Bah Diallo was a pioneer in the fight against obstacles to girls’ education. The number of students enrolled in the school rose from 113,000 to 233,000. She is recognized as the leader of educational reform in Guinea, and in Africa she is highly respected. It succeeded in preparing, negotiating and implementing the “education structural adjustment program” with the coordination of all donors. She prepared and negotiated the second program. She also prepared the technical and vocational education policy, organized donors and obtained their financial support before leaving the Department to join UNESCO.
From 1996 to 2005, Ms. Bah Diallo worked at UNESCO, as Director of Basic Education, Deputy Assistant Director-General for Education and Assistant Director-General for Education, and Advisor to the Director-General of UNESCO (2005 to 2009). In Guinea, both private and public schools bear his name. She has received numerous national and international distinctions and awards. Ms. Bah Diallo has taken part in major international meetings on education: Jomtien (Thailand, 1990), Dakar (Senegal, 2000) and Incheon (Korea, 2015).
Ms Bah Diallo speaks three African and three foreign languages.
