Fona Konate
Cote d'Ivoire

Fona Konate has over seven years of experience in social science research, project management, and good governance promotion, which includes election process monitoring and conflict analysis. Fona is currently the community relations officer at MAKO Gold, an Australian exploration mining company, where he is responsible for engaging external stakeholders, managing environmental issues, recruiting local workers, and providing social services to communities impacted by the projects. He also serves as vice president of the Ivorian Leaders Network (RIL) and is the founder of NOFA Academy, a think tank. This think tank promotes citizenship, political leadership, and associative governance through debates, training, applied research, networking, and opinion polling. Fona earned a master’s degree in socioeconomics, governance, and development. He is passionate about citizenship, community development, and RSE. His goal is to promote good governance and help create a generation of citizens that are more engaged, accountable, and prepared to deal with local governance issues. After completing the Mandela Washington Fellowship, Fona intends to contribute more expertise in RSE policy implementation in mining companies, promote the management of sociopolitical think tanks in local contexts, and share all civic engagement soft skills and best practices with volunteer organizations.