Board of Directors
Name: Dorcas Coker-Appiah
Madam Coker-Appiah, is the Executive Director of the Gender Centre as well as one of its founders. She is a lawyer and a Women’s Rights Activist with over 20 years experience working to promote women’s rights at national, regional and international levels. She is one of the founding members of International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Ghana. Md. Coker-Appiah also served as Chairperson of the Legal Aid Steering Committee for FIDA Ghana’s legal aid programme and as the Project Coordinator of the Legal Literacy and Publications Committee. She is a member and currently the chair of Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) – a pan-African network of organizations and individuals with members in twenty-six African countries. She is a former member of the CEDAW Expert Committee. She is highly skilled in organisational development, fundraising, research and writing, project management and adult training methodologies.
Name: Prof. Akua Kuenyehia
Prof. Akua Kuenyehia is a Ghanaian Lawyer who has been a Judge of the International Criminal Court since 2003. She is currently the First Vice-President of the Court.
Prof. Kuenyehia was educated at the University of Ghana and Oxford University. She has spent most of her professional career teaching at the University of Ghana, as Dean of Law, and as a Visiting Professor at other institutions including Leiden University and Temple University.
Name: Mrs. Joana Foster
Ms. Foster was educated in Ghana and the United Kingdom and is qualified to practice as a lawyer in both countries. A Social Activist for over 30 years, Joana Foster has worked most of her adult life in the United Kingdom as a law lecturer in various colleges and is a practicing lawyer specialising in immigration law, divorce and welfare rights (housing and labour rights). In her spare time, Ms. Foster gave free legal advice to clients in various women’s’ and ethnic centres. Over the last 10 years, she has been working in Africa first as a Country Director for CUSO in Ghana, then as a Regional Coordinator for Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) and was based in the headquarters in Zimbabwe. She is a co-founder of the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) – the first Africa-wide fund for women in Africa. She also served as gender advisor to the UN Mission in Liberia.
Name: Ms. Emelia Adjepong
Emelia is Legal Consultant on Gender Issues and Human Rights. Emelia received training as a lawyer from the Ghana Law School and University of Ghana. She initiated the FIDA Legal Aid Programme and worked on the programme as a volunteer and administrator. She has presented a number of papers on the legal rights of women and children in Ghana. Along with two other colleagues, she has simplified and translated Ghanaian laws on succession, marriage and divorce.
Name: Mrs. Lucy Arthur
Ms Arthur is a lawyer by training and has over thirty years experience as a women’s human rights activist. She served as President of the International Federation of Women lawyers, FIDA Ghana in 1997 – 2008. During her tenure as president, FIDA Ghana was honoured with a human rights prize in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She is currently retired but continues to devote time to providing free legal advice at the FIDA legal aid clinic
