NANA OYE BAMPOE ADDO (Ghana)

Nana Oye Bampoe Addo is a human rights lawyer in Ghana with 30 years’ experience in court practice, human rights advocacy and litigation, gender, governance, and social protection. She has worked with Government as the Minister of Gender Children and Social Protection in Ghana, and with civil society as the Regional Coordinator for the Africa Office of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative.

As a leading member of Ghana’s civil society movement, she coordinated advocacy for passage of the Right to Information Bill and was a leading member for advocacy for passage of the Domestic Violence Act (2007), Human Trafficking Act, and the Disability Act. At the Africa region level, she was part of the CSOs that advocated for adoption of the Additional Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women.

As a cabinet minister, she led the creation of a formal social protection system in Ghana, and created a Ghana National Household Registry for social protection (the first ever in West Africa).

She strengthened the Ghana legal and policy framework for gender, children, and social protection by leading the adoption of five key Policies and Operational Plans: Gender Policy, Social Protection Policy, Child and Family Welfare Policy, Justice for Children Policy and the School Feeding Policy.

She is passionate about human rights protection, women’s rights, HIV/AIDs, governance, transparency, accountability and protection of key populations.