Adjaratou Wakha Aïdara is the Executive Director of Partners West Africa (PWA), a volunteer-driven non-profit based in Senegal that serves underprivileged communities through sustainable development initiatives. Aidara Ndiaye is a member of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies and the African Security Sector Network. She has worked with the U.S. Institute of Peace to foster dialogue in the Sahel, a region that increasingly suffers the threat of terrorism and poverty.