Kady Sylla

Kady Sylla is Senior Advisor – Africa at the King Baudouin Foundation United States (KBFUS). Kady oversees our Africa partnerships, network-building and programs. Before joining KBFUS, Kady managed grantee relationships, partnerships, strategy development and communications at the Issroff Family Foundation (IFF). At IFF, Kady designed and implemented leadership and organizational capacity strengthening programs, including IFF’s signature “Collaborative Learning Initiative,” and also managed the Tristate Africa Funders Network, a peer learning vehicle. Before IFF, she gained experience managing international development and philanthropic grants, working with public and private institutions like USAID, Open Society Foundations (OSF), and UK’s Department for International Development (DFID). Her passion for social justice and commitment to social impact in Africa are driven by her and her family’s experience of being forced to leave their native Guinea (West Africa) as refugees for settlement in New York. Kady takes pride in her African heritage and is passionate about equity and inclusive community development. She often volunteers as an interpreter for Harlem’s West African communities navigating systems like New York City’s Department of Education (DOE), NYC Health + Hospitals, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. She is fluent in French and three West African languages (Fulani, Maninka, Susu). Kady received her master’s degree with honors at the University of Sussex’s Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and a bachelor’s degree (cum laude) at CUNY’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice.