Announcement: Anounou Sissoko’s Retirement

After 20 years of devoted service, Anounou Sissoko will retire from his position as the Alliance’s Field Director in August. We are extremely grateful for his years of dedication. He has led our Mali operations with integrity, conviction, and heart.

Anounou is a highly respected leader in Ouelessebougou. Over the years, he has played a key role in establishing trusted relationships with our villages and community partners. Through his skilled direction, the Alliance has been able to continue providing our programs during extremely difficult times including the Ebola crisis, the 2012 coup d’etat, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Many international NGOs have left the area, but Anounou has expertly led our operations to ensure our work could continue with local Malian staff.

Anounou’s contributions to the villagers of Ouelessebougou are too many to count. Tens of thousands of Malians lives have been saved and transformed because of his leadership. Words cannot express our deep gratitude to him for his dedication and sacrifice. We also thank his beautiful wife Gundo and his family for their constant support.

We are very fortunate that Anounou will continue his association with the Alliance and play an important role in expanding our malaria control efforts. He will serve as our Malaria Project Manager and assist with the launch of Mali’s first-ever mosquito abatement program.  

Announcing Our New Field Director: Djiba Soumaoro

We are pleased to announce Djiba Soumaoro will be stepping into the role of Field Director starting August 2nd. Djiba was born and raised in the town of Ouelessebougou. He was introduced to the “Utah Alliance” at a young age and says he was greatly impacted by the organization’s work. This instilled in him a great desire to serve his community of Ouelessebougou.

Djiba worked as an OA Intern in our Mali office and as a translator for our OB/GYN expeditions. He came to Utah in 2011 and graduated from Utah Valley University then went on to earn his Masters of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. He is the first recipient of the Hesburgh Global Fellowship which provided him the opportunity to work for an international NGO. In 2019, Djiba started his employment as Program Coordinator in our Utah office. In 2020, he returned to work in our Mali office to train with Anounou and he completed his fellowship in July.

We are honored he has chosen to continue his employment with the Ouelessebougou Alliance. We are confident in his leadership skills and look forward to this next chapter as we continue to work together to transform the quality of life for thousands of Malian villagers.