Joana Foster was educated in Ghana and the United Kingdom. She qualified to practice as a lawyer in both countries. A social activist for over 30 years, Joana Foster worked most of her adult life in the United Kingdom as a law lecturer in various colleges and a practicing lawyer specializing in immigration law, divorce, welfare rights (housing and labour rights). In her spare time, she gave free legal advice to clients in various women’s and ethnic centres.

Joana worked in Africa first as a Country Director for Canadian University Service Overseas (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 a gender advisor to the UN Mission in Liberia.

We sadly lost Joana in November 2016.