Nana Oye Bampoe Addo is a human rights lawyer with 32 years of experience in human rights law, litigation, and solicitor’s practice. She holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of Ghana, Legon, and a Master of Laws (LLM) in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa from the University of Pretoria, South Africa.
Her work has spanned diverse areas, including gender equality, children’s rights, public health, and governance at international, regional, and national levels.
She served as the Africa Regional Coordinator for the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative from 2004 to 2008. In 2008, she established the Human Rights Advocacy Centre, a human rights research and advocacy NGO. She led advocacy efforts for the promulgation of several key Acts, including the Children’s Act (1998), the Criminal Code Amendment Act (1998), the Domestic Violence Act (2007), and other landmark laws. She mobilized human rights NGOs and led missions to monitor human rights violations and hold the government accountable.
Her awards include the Vera Chirwa Award for Human Rights in Africa (2007), recognition as the fourth most influential African woman (2013), and the Champion Torchbearer for Women’s Rights (2008).
In 2013, she began a four-year term as Minister of Gender, Children, and Social Protection in Ghana. She returned to legal practice, lecturing, and consulting in 2017 and currently serves as the Executive Director of the John Evans Atta Mills Memorial Heritage.
As a Cabinet Minister, she spearheaded the creation of a strong legal and policy framework for gender, children, and social protection. Under her leadership, the Cabinet approved five key policies: the Gender Policy, the Social Protection Policy, the Child and Family Welfare Policy, the Justice for Children Policy, and the School Feeding Policy (2013–2016).
During her tenure, the Ghana Household Registry was developed, and she led the restructuring of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty Programme (LEAP), a national cash transfer program. The National Standards for Disability-Friendly Public Buildings were gazetted and adopted by the government in 2016. For the first time in Ghana’s history, a traditional witch camp in the Northern Region was closed on December 15, 2015.
She was a leading member of CSOs that advocated for the adoption of the Additional Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women (Maputo Protocol) and the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa.
She served as the ECOWAS Chair of the Conference of West African Ministers of Gender and Social Development. During her tenure, gender-related policies were adopted.
In 2022, she was appointed by the World Bank as a member of the World Bank Advisory Council for the Partnership for Economic Inclusion.
At the political level, she has held several positions in the National Democratic Congress (NDC), including Secretary of the Conflict Resolution Committee (2019, 2020, 2022), Secretary of the 2020 and 2024 NDC Manifesto Committees, and Secretary of the NDC Social Democracy Lab (2021–present). She is also the Chair of the NDC Gender, Children, and Social Protection Committee (2023–present), a branch executive member of Perez 1B, Ogbojo Ward, Adenta, and a member of the NDC Finance Committee in Adenta.
By: Ekow Annan/newsalertgh.com
