As Regional Director, Kamara will guide the International Fund’s strategy and grant-making across Africa and the Middle East. Currently, media organizations in 10 countries across the region are eligible for funding: Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Lebanon, Namibia, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and Tunisia.

As part of its inaugural open call for proposals, which concluded earlier this year, the International Fund has already awarded six grants in the region, to Bush Radio (South Africa), Daraj (Lebanon), Media Reform Coordinating Group (Sierra Leone), Nawaat (Tunisia), Raseef22 (Lebanon), and Studio Kalangou (Niger).

Kamara joins Irene Jay Liu, Regional Director for Asia & the Pacific, and Vanina Berghella, Regional Director for Latin America & the Caribbean, in guiding the International Fund’s regional activities and grant-making.

More information about the International Fund’s geographic focus and initial grantee cohort is available on its website.

Makmid Kamara is a Sierra Leonean human rights leader, democracy advocate, and development communications practitioner, with almost 20 years’ experience working with national and international development, human rights, and grantmaking organizations in Africa and the United Kingdom. 

He is the Founder of Reform Initiatives (LBG), an organization dedicated to harvesting the dividends of democracy and contributing to reforming broken systems and structures. Until recently, he was the founding Director of the Africa Transitional Justice Legacy Fund (ATJLF), based in Accra, Ghana. 

At ATJLF, Kamara’s focus was on transitional justice and reparations for historical crimes. He led various collaborative efforts around reparatory justice issues and TJ mechanisms meant to repair the wrongs of the past in selected African countries. 

Prior to the ATJLF, Kamara worked at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International in London as (Ag.) Deputy Director of Global Issues and Head of the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR) Team; served as interim Country Director for Amnesty International Nigeria and as a West Africa Researcher.

Kamara has also held posts with Oxfam GB in Sierra Leone and the UK, and with Concern Worldwide in Sierra Leone. Kamara started his career as a journalist in Sierra Leone and has written several articles and reports on human rights and social justice issues for high-profile African and European publications and institutions. He is a Rotarian, a Global Atlantic Fellow, and an Obama Foundation Leader- Africa. He is based in Accra, Ghana.