Lasana DIAKHATE

A Senegalese economic planning engineer, Lasana Diakhaté powerfully combines technical rigor with humanist activism. His commitment, resolutely focused on feminist peace, gender equality, and social justice, resonates far beyond national borders, across African and international stages.

As the youth focal point for Africa within Young WILPF (Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom), he designs and leads impactful awareness campaigns, weaving connections between young people, local communities, and the ideal of feminist peace. At the same time, he carries out concrete solidarity actions, such as collections and donations of essential supplies for incarcerated women, addressing their daily needs with palpable humanity. His leadership also shines on the diplomatic scene: in Geneva, he contributed to the development of WILPF’s youth action plan, and in Bangkok, at the international AWID conference (Association for Women’s Rights in Development), he gave voice to African youth within the WILPF delegation.

This international grounding draws its strength from a dense network of associative engagement in Senegal. He serves as Community Manager for the Circle of Planning Engineers and Economists of Senegal, is a member of the Steering Committee of the ESEA Alumni Network, and is a key actor in the Applied Research Unit of the same institution.

Academically, Lasana holds an engineering degree in economic planning and organizational management consulting (ESEA, formerly ENEA, valedictorian), as well as a Master’s in Project Management. His university career was also marked by a term as president of the ESEA/UCAD student association, revealing early on his talent for uniting, energizing, and championing collective causes. Alongside his professional activities, his personal research explores international and intra-African migrations, which he analyzes through the lens of development policies, socio-economic dynamics, and the challenges of regional integration.

Since May 2023, he has been working as a Planning Engineer at Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD), where he develops monitoring and evaluation tools and coordinates institutional partnerships. His career is further enriched by diverse experiences: research on educational data systems (ESEA), consultancy in territorial development with IVEA Afrique, and program coordination with GIZ Senegal. He is fully proficient in French (C2), speaks Wolof fluently (his national language), and has an intermediate professional level in English (B1).