On November 3 2017, we lost Diana Ware,  a beloved friend, colleague, and Wasafiri family member. To honour her spirt, and the role she played in our lives and our work, we created the Diana Ware Award; and last mont, here at our Nairobi Office, a wide group of Wasafiri friend’s clients and community came together to celebrate, share stories of the work we are all doing and present the first ever Diana Ware Award.

Diana was a phenomenal woman. She brought much to the world and her community and so collectively, we decided that the Diana Ware award is for to someone who:

• Inspires courage and integrity in trying to tackle the world’s toughest problems
• Goes above and beyond and is always striving to do better
• Shows care and compassion for others
• …..and does it all with a bit of joy and flare!

This year we had two phenomenal nominees:

The Nominees:

Gaelle Le Pottier, Team Leader of DAI’s BRICS program. Gaelle has shown immense courage in taking on tough challenges. As Team Leader she has worked tirelessly, braving tough conversations and facing head on the difficult decisions needed to make this complex programme a success. She is unfailingly driven by the challenge of making a difference to groups and communities at-risk of violent extremism. She is unceasingly curious and demanding to better understand how change happens, and what influence the program has, striving to constantly do better. She is courageous and relentless, and demonstrates an immense desire to support and enable others to succeed within their roles.

Abla Abdalla, one of Wasafiri’s researchers, and the county coordinator of our research activities in Lamu and Kilifi. Abla rhas eally given all of herself to her work with the RRU. She has been outspoken in trying to improve the way things are done to positively impact people in her community, demonstrating her compassion and courage to the relentless work required. In doing so, she has generated a very high level of respect amongst imams, governors, and all others she engages with. She has shown immense care for the people she works with for whom VE affects their daily lives. Since she started working with the RRU, it’s been obvious that she seeks to go far beyond expectations and will do whatever it takes to deliver real change to the communities in which she lives and works.

The nominations were reviewed by a small committee of Diana’s family and friends and we were honoured to present the first ever Diana Ware Award to Abla Abdalla.