Biography
Mareme NDOUR, Mareme’s career at CorpsAfrica began in 2016, when she became the very first employee hired for the Senegal office. For six years, as Deputy Country Director, she helped build the national program from the ground up: establishing core operations, supporting the first five cohorts of volunteers, and building the network of strategic partners that now anchors CorpsAfrica’s presence in Senegal.
Her achievements led her to international responsibilities. As Liaison Officer with country offices, she identified and supported the launch of new national programs. Then, as Director of Program and Policy Implementation, she designed global programmatic frameworks supporting more than 50 frontline staff across ten countries and spearheaded flagship initiatives such as the volunteer exchange program and CorpsAfrica Green.
Mareme is also one of the most influential voices in African civil society on climate issues. She successfully led CorpsAfrica’s admission as an official observer organization to the UNFCCC and represented it at COP26, COP27, and COP28. In Senegal, she pioneered the Local Conference of Youth on Climate (LCOY), mobilizing more than 1,000 young change-makers across four editions. She also served on the African Union’s Volunteers Committee.
What sets Mareme apart is her experience at every level. Few leaders have spent their morning with a first-year volunteer in a rural village and their afternoon shaping continental program policies—and even fewer master both as well as she does. Her methods work because they are born from her own lived experience. After celebrating her tenth year at CorpsAfrica in 2026, Mareme is returning to where it all began—as Country Director of CorpsAfrica/Senegal—to scale up community development and youth volunteering across the country and prepare the next generation of African leaders to take the helm.
Mareme holds a master’s degree in environmental studies from Gaston Berger University in Saint-Louis (with highest honors). She received the Kaala de Sanar award for best student and the GESTES award for gender equality for her contribution to promoting women’s leadership. She is based in Dakar, Senegal, and is fluent in French and English.
