Co-Founder and Manager, Community Development Programs

Biography

Mary Hawa Turay is a Co-founder and the Manager of Community Development Programs of the Centre for Development and Peace Education (cdpeace). Her background is in the areas of Community Development, Enterprise Development, Career Development, Retail Management and Customers Service Relations, Fashion Design and the design and delivery of non-formal adult education programs. In Sierra Leone, she served for several years as Coordinator of the Women’s Development Program (WDP), of the Mapaki Descendants Farming Association (MADFA) and facilitated small-scale enterprise development and leadership training with grassroots women’s associations and female high school dropouts in the Paki Masabong Chiefdom, in Northern Sierra Leone. In Canada, she worked as the Assistant Store Manager/Acting Manger of SAAN Stores Limited in Antigonish and is presently the Assistant Manager/Co-coordinator of the Academic Co-operative Education Program at the Gerald Schwartz School of Business Administration and Information System at St. Francis Xavier University.

Mary is a Master of Adult Education student at St. Francis Xavier University (StFX) Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Her research focus is in Women’s Enterprise Development in Rural Communities in Sierra Leone. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the Gerald Schwartz School of Business Administration and Information System at St. Francis Xavier University with a major in Enterprise Development. She also holds a Certificate in Fashion Design from George Brown College, Toronto.

Mary has been active in many women’s programs in Canada and Sierra Leone, including:

• Participation at the 3rd Annual Canadian Immigrant Women’s Round Table Conference with the Governor General of Canada, Her Excellency Michaëlle Jean, hosted by the Nova Scotia Office of Immigration where she designed and presented an African outfit to Her Excellency.
  
• Membership of Board of Directors of the Antigonish Women’s Resource Centre (AWRC).
  
• Participation in the Invitation Project where she took part in creating The Quilt of Belonging. “A stunning textile art project that shows there is a place for all in the fabric of society. It recognizes Canada's diversity, celebrates our common humanity and promotes harmony and compassion among people”. The Quilt of Belonging is now exhibited at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau (Ottawa).
  
• Membership of the Advisory Boards of several Community-based Women’s Organizations in Sierra Leone.
  
• Membership of the Rotary Club of Makeni’s Inner Wheelers, Sierra Leone.