Meet Thiarra Diagne!

Based in Dakar, Senegal, Thiarra Diagne joined Knowledge SUCCESS in December 2023 to support the project’s West Africa portfolio. She dove in immediately to collaborate on the 12th Ouagadougou Partnership Annual Meeting recap report, by helping to synthesize key insights from the conference. Since then, she has also supported planning and facilitating in-person and virtual workshops and other events in the West Africa region. We interviewed Thiarra to learn more about her background, what inspired her commitment to family planning and reproductive health, and what type of impact she’s looking forward to creating in this new role.

Tell us about your academic and career background?

With a bachelor’s degree in business management and a master’s degree in project management, I have held support positions in various companies and projects. I have 8 years experience in projects. At FHI 360, I worked as a program assistant and technical program manager, supporting the technical teams in coordinating activities with partners, planning and monitoring the execution of deliverables.

What informs your passion for family planning and sexual and reproductive health?

As a woman, I am committed to improving the living conditions of women and children. And I see family planning as a springboard to achieving this great ambition for our communities, giving women the choice over their sexual and reproductive life, which gives them a certain autonomy in their day-to-day lives.

What are you excited about most in your role at Knowledge SUCCESS?

I’m learning a lot with the project, especially about the different tools and techniques of knowledge management (KM), an innovative and cross-disciplinary practice that can be applied in various fields of activity. Their adaptation to different targets and contexts, and the results we can achieve in a collaborative, rapid and user-friendly way, impress me every day. And, on a daily basis, I find that I want to learn more and more. Bringing out people’s tacit knowledge, which we recognize is no easy task, seems so easy with knowledge management. It really is a beautiful science.

Any challenges you envision encountering in this role?

In this role, I anticipate challenges in implementing knowledge management techniques that are tailored to various activities and contexts. Additionally, leveraging knowledge management strategies to enhance understanding and achievement of family planning and reproductive health objectives may pose challenges. Moreover, facilitating effective knowledge sharing among peers or stakeholders within communities in our target countries is expected to require careful navigation and coordination.

Challenges may also arise in producing documents to share information, such as success stories, fact sheets, and blogs, as well as in determining the most effective methods for documenting and storing knowledge.

What sort of impact do you hope to make?

To be able to transfer knowledge and introduce different KM techniques to FP/RH partners, enabling them to use them in turn.

Anything else you would like to share?

I’m very happy to be joining the Knowledge SUCCESS team and look forward to learning a lot about knowledge management and acquiring new tools that will be useful to my work and the community.