International Team

Sobel Aziz Ngom is a dedicated social entrepreneur and a strong advocate for youth leadership and the transformative power of education. For more than 15 years, he has worked to expand opportunities for young people to learn, lead, and shape the future of their communities. Using his time, talent, and network, Sobel brings together leaders and organizations to advance youth empowerment, inclusion, education, and emancipation.

He began his career with Ashoka Changemakers, supporting over 2,000 young African social entrepreneurs. In 2014, he founded Social Change Factory, a civic leadership center in Senegal that grew to reach millions across seven African countries. He later co-created the Youth Consortium of Senegal, an alliance of 18 organizations amplifying youth voices in national programs and policies, directly impacting over 200,000 young people.

Sobel has advised national and global leaders, mobilized significant resources for youth-led initiatives, and represented African youth at major international forums. His impact has earned recognition from world figures including Barack Obama, Ursula von der Leyen, Bill Gates, and, most recently, Élisabeth Borne, the French Prime Minister.

At 34, Sobel holds degrees in Communication Science from SupdeCo Business School in Dakar and Civic Leadership from Wagner College in New York. As Tostan’s CEO, he brings a steadfast belief that lasting change takes root when people have the knowledge, and collective power to shape their own future.

Carina is an organizational development and project management expert with fifteen years of proven track record in donor regulation, contracts, compliance and risk management, and procedure development/implementation for development programs worldwide.

She spent ten years managing and improving program management issues and systems at Family Health International, including a recent four-year assignment as the head of an education project operations department in Equatorial Guinea and as a Strategic and Legal Advisor to SMEs in Dakar, Senegal.

Moctar is the founder and member of several Guinean civil society organizations, including the Guinean Center for Training and Education for Development, which is his NGO, and the Guinean Literacy Network, which he led as Executive Secretary, adopting a participatory and inclusive approach. His activism within CSOs dates back to 1993 after his graduation from Ecole Normale d’Instituteurs as the First of the Republic. Mouctar then had the opportunity to work at Aide et Action, a French international organization for community literacy, especially for women, for their empowerment and monitoring of schooling. He has been applying his pedagogical expertise to his work with Tostan since 2009, demonstrating an unwavering commitment to human dignity for all.

Edrisa has been the National Coordinator of Tostan Gambia since 2016. Before that, he was Assitant to the National Coordinator from 2006-2011. He is originally from Sukuta, in The Gambia. With a background in entrepreneurship and development, Edrisa has represented Tostan in a series of fora both in The Gambia and abroad with different governments and other partners.

Moussa began working with Tostan in 2010 as a Development Support Supervisor. He then held the position of Assistant to the National Coordinator before being appointed Project Manager. Moussa is a lawyer and has extensive experience in the community-driven development approach, gained through many years of accompanying communities in Mali with Tostan. His dream is to see a world in which human rights are the compass for sustainable development.