Knight-Bagehot Fellow, Dieng is new Director of Communications for AfDB

Ismaila Dieng, one of the seven Africans to be awarded the most sought after journalism fellowship in the world, the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Economics and Business Journalism at Columbia University, has been appointed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) as its new Director of Communications and External Relations.

His appointment takes effect on September 1, 2016, a press statement from the Bank copied to ghanabusinessnews.com has said.

He holds a Master’s Degree in Journalism from the Graduate School of Journalism of Columbia University, USA and a bachelor degree from the University of Dakar, Senegal. He was a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Business and Economics Journalism at Columbia University and a Reuters Fellow at Green Oxford.

Mr. Dieng, a Senegalese National joins the Bank from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where he is currently working as Africa Team Leader in the Communications Department.

Mr. Dieng started his career as a business journalist, working for Sud Quotidien, Le Journal de l’Economie and Marches Tropicaux. He also led Oxfam Great Britain’s media work in West and Central Africa. In this position, he worked on high-profile global campaigns such as the humanitarian crisis in Darfur and Eastern Chad, the Food and Fuel Crisis, the adoption of the ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms, as well as numerous development projects, the statement said.

He joined the International Monetary Fund in 2009 as Press Officer.  Over the years, he has led several high-stakes communication campaigns on numerous country and policy issues, including the reform of IMF facilities for low-income countries, the 2014 Africa Rising Conference, and the Ebola crisis.

Dieng has also worked with several other departments within the Fund, including the Research Department where he led media work on the World Economic Outlook, and the Asia-Pacific Department. Most recently, he served as the Senior Editor and Online Editor for Finance and Development, the Fund’s flagship magazine.

The Knight-Bagehot Fellowship, established some 40 years ago, has about 400 fellows to-date.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi