Makmid Kamara is a Sierra Leonean human rights leader, reparatory justice advocate, and development communications practitioner, with almost 20 years’ experience working with national and international development, human rights, and grantmaking organisations in Africa and the United Kingdom. He is the Regional Director for Africa and the Middle East at the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM), where he is leading the organization’s grantmaking efforts to support independent media. He is also the Founder of Reform Initiatives (LBG), an organization working with policymakers, political leaders and affected communities to advance the cause of reparatory justice for historical crimes against Africans and people of African descent. Until recently, he was the founding Director of the Africa Transitional Justice Legacy Fund (ATJLF), based in Accra, Ghana.

Prior to the ATJLF, Makmid worked at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International in London as (Ag.) Deputy Director of Global Issues and Head of the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR) Team; he served as interim Country Director for Amnesty International Nigeria and as a West Africa Researcher. As West Africa researcher, Makmid led Amnesty’s research on serious human rights violations and mass atrocities committed in the Boko Haram conflict in north-eastern Nigeria and co-authored several reports on crimes against humanity and war crimes. As interim Country Director for Amnesty in Nigeria, Makmid helped found the Human Rights Clinic at the University of Lagos and the Legal Intervention Network in Nigeria. He has also held posts with Oxfam GB in Sierra Leone and the UK, and with Concern Worldwide in Sierra Leone. Makmid started his career as a journalist in Sierra Leone and has written several articles and reports on human rights and social justice issues for high-profile African and European publications and institutions.

Recently, Makmid has been leading efforts to support independent public interest media in Africa and the Middle East through the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM). In his role as Regional Director for Africa and the Middle East, he works with governments, media stakeholders and journalists across multiple countries, to promote media viability and sustainability through grant funding and other forms of support. He is a Rotarian, a Global Atlantic Fellow and an Obama Foundation Leader- Africa. He is based in Accra, Ghana.