Welcome ELAW Fellows

We are pleased to welcome our fall ELAW Fellows: Vanessa Torres from Bogota, Colombia (left) and Alpha Diallo from Conakry, Guinea. Vanessa and Alpha arrived in Eugene this weekend and will be with us for approximately three months.

Vanessa has collaborated with ELAW for many years and says we are “friends and family.” Alpha is new to ELAW and excited to collaborate with the local team, Vanessa, and new colleagues from around the world.

Fellows will work closely with ELAW to advance their work protecting communities and the environment in Colombia and Guinea. They will also improve their English through participation in the Intensive English Program at the University of Oregon American English Institute.

Profiles follow:

Vanessa Torres is Deputy Director at Ambiente y Sociedad (Environment & Society) based in Bogota, Colombia. She works to promote and strengthen human and environmental rights in Colombia and Latin America. During her ELAW Fellowship, Vanessa will work with the ELAW Team to advance her work protecting the climate and challenge short-sighted oil projects that threaten the Colombian Amazon. Vanessa earned a law degree at the Universidad del Rosario and a master’s degree in sustainability studies from the Universidad de los Andes.

Mamadou Alpha Diallo is a Guinean lawyer. He is Monitoring and Evaluation Program Officer for a coalition of 10 organizations: Le Collectif des organisations de la société civile pour la défense des droits des communautés impactées par les projets de développement (CODEC Guinée, The Collective of civil society organizations for the defense of the rights of communities impacted by development projects). CODEC works to protect natural resources and defend human rights. He also serves as Monitoring and Evaluation Program Officer at Créativité et Développement (C-DEV), focused on women’s land rights, including the rights of local communities affected by mining projects. Alpha is pursuing a master’s degree in environmental law, mining and sustainable development at Université Général Lansana Conté de Sonfonia (UGLC).

Many thanks to the University of Oregon’s American English Institute for providing Vanessa and Alpha with Janet Hughes Mersereau Scholarships. And thanks to Penny Salus, Jared Rubin, Peg Boulay, and Bruce Newhouse for serving as ELAW Host Families.

If you would like to connect with Vanessa and Alpha while they are in Oregon, please contact me by email.

Warmly,

Maggie Keenan
Communications Director & Fellows Program Coordinator
Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide

P.S. ELAW has hosted nearly 300 environmental professionals from all over the world. ELAW Fellows are committed advocates who help communities protect the environment through law. Learn more.