DENISE KISWAHILA KAKO-KAKUDI 

Ms. Denise Kiswahila Kako-Kakudji Demindoyee holds a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from
the University of Felix Houphouët Boigny (Côte d'Ivoire) and another Bachelor's degree in Public
Relations, and a Master of Arts in Communications from the University of Ottawa. She is currently
is a PhD candidate in the Department of Social and Public Communication at the University of
Québec in Montréal (UQAM). She specializes in Media Studies and her research focuses on
content analysis of traditional and conventional media from a cultural, political and regulatory
standpoint. Her Ph.D. thesis is entitled deployment of community radios in West Africa since the
1990s: from communication for development on the way to empowering communication. thesis
critically explores the fields of development communication and community media. As part of her
work in Empowering Communication, she has demonstrated that this is a driving force behind the
desire for ideological, geostrategic, political, cultural and identity-based emancipation of any
people aspiring for a sustainable transformation of their environment. In 2017, she published a
book titled The Professional Role of Journalists in the 2010 post-election crisis in Côte d'Ivoire:
RTI Journalists, Crisis Investigators or Victims of a System?
 

At the community level, she has contributed in many ways to the well-being of her community.
For example, she has collaborated extensively with Club Richelieu in the realization of several of
its projects and the organization of events for the Canadian Council for Africa. Ms. Kako-Kakudji
has also helped organize gala events to raise funds for humanitarian programs.
 

Concerned about the plight of immigrants in general and international students in particular, Ms.
Kako-Kakudji founded the FARRECI university club (Forum académique de réflexion et de
rapprochement des étudiants de Côte d'Ivoire). Within this forum, she and her collaborators
promoted the values of peace, collaboration and leadership, and trained members and supporters
in the process of academic integration and social inclusion of students. She was also Vice-President
of External Affairs for the Communications Graduate Student Association (CGSA) at the
University of Ottawa. It is this passion for humanitarianism and the well-being of the community
that led her from 2017-2019 to join the Ligue des Africains du Canada (LAC) where she made
significant contributions to foster the mission and vision of the organization.

 

As the founder of the non-governmental organization, SensAfrica, Ms. Kako-Kakudji strongly
believes in the autonomy and sovereignty of peoples, as well as promoting patriotism and
endogenous initiatives including capacity building and the development of local talents to foster
development. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Council on Africa and
currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Advocacy Centre for Tenants in Ontario.

 

In terms of her political commitment, Ms. Denise Kiswahila Kako-Kakudji Demindoyee is a
member of the Pan-African Federalist Movement (MFPA) from 2017. As part of the movement's
activities, she took part of the North America Pan African Federalist Conference in Washington
DC, May 25-26, 2018; she also organized a conference in July 07, 2018 in Canada that saw the
participation of MFPA Champion, Professor Théophile Obenga and the movement's comrade
secretary general, Mr. Joomaay Faye. In 2019, she set up the Ottawa/Canada local coordination
committee, where she continues to serve as an advisor. This local committee, in line with the
movement's new guidelines, is in the process of becoming the national coordinating committee for
Canada. In addition, during her stay in Côte d'Ivoire in 2022, she set up the national coordinating
committee. In order to popularize the MFPA among the various communities, Ms. Kako-Kakudji
has produced an educational document entitled Pan-African Federalist Movement (MFPA); a
credible path towards a fully sovereign, politically and economically strong and powerful Africa).
She organized a series of conferences for various community groups and delivered interviews on
social media. These conferences enabled a large number of people to become familiar with MFPA,
and to eventually join the association. Since 2019, Ms. Kako has been working within the
movement as the Head of Research and Strategy Committee. A position in which she has
contributed to the development of important working documents including, among others, The
Roadmap to Victory, Building Our Campaign Machine, PAFM Manifesto etc. She was recently
promoted to Vice-Chair of the Regional Coordinating Committee (CRC) for North America. This
appointment gives her the opportunity to sit on the movement's supreme body, namely the
International Preparatory Committee (IPC).