Fanta Toure
Fanta is the inaugural director of the Girls First Fund. She works closely with the funders, key stakeholders, and a dynamic team at Geneva Global to provide leadership and set a strategic vision for the fund.
Fanta was born and raised in Cote d’Ivoire. Her thinking and the collaborative approach that she promotes in her work were shaped by her experience working in humanitarian relief at the grassroots level early in her career, witnessing firsthand deep inequities in international aid architecture. Fanta firmly believes that long-term and meaningful change can only be achieved if and when communities are at the front and center of all discussions. She strives to carry forward the grantee perspective into all programmatic and policy decisions, using a pragmatic approach that has been forged through years of designing and implementing development programs in several African countries.
Prior to joining the Girls First Fund, Fanta worked at the World Bank in the Human Development department. She managed loans and grants provided to government clients to design, implement, monitor, and evaluate social protection policies and programs. Her work focused on productive social safety nets (conditional and non-conditional cash transfers), social assistance delivery systems building, youth employment, early childhood development, livelihood support, and post-conflict stabilization.
She holds a MA in International Affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University, and a BA in International and Public Relations from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.