About us
The Australian African Foundation for Retention and Opportunity (AAFRO) exists primarily to build a bridge between young people of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) background – especially those of African descent and their families – and the wider Australian community.
Our mission is to create sustainable access to opportunities for immigrants, refugees, and vulnerable young people, particularly those of African background. We do this by supporting them to reach their full potential as individuals, and by integrating them harmoniously into the wider Australian community.
Our vision is that Africans, and other culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities, feel welcomed, trusted and understood.
To achieve our mission, we strive towards meeting three key objectives for young people and their families.
To assist with their integration into wider society by providing them with education, counselling, self-development skills, housing assistance and cultural advice to re-establish their economic and emotional independence.
To develop and run programs to improve their livelihoods – including those that focus on preventing poverty and distress and providing educational opportunities to improve economic and social circumstances for at-risk youth.
To promote greater awareness – in schools, government and non-government agencies and service providers – of the circumstances of young people of African and other descent, as well as members of their families living in Australia.
Through Ubuntu Framework of community restorative and healing practice, AAFRO has designed and delivered various programs for young people and their families.
“Our vision is that Africans, and other culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities, feel welcomed, trusted and understood.”
Meet the AAFRO Family
Our Team
Mamadou Diamanka
AAFRO CEO & Managing Director
The founder of AAFRO, Mamadou has worked widely in council, youth justice services, non-for-profit organisations, and flexible school education. He has extensive experience working with disadvantaged and incarcerated young people and families. Having grown up in Africa, he is active in promoting permaculture and sustainability across diverse communities. In 2015 he was awarded the Ethnic Community Council of Victoria (EECV) Scholarship to enter Leadership Victoria’s Williamson Community Leadership Program. In 2016, he was the recipient of a Westpac Social Change Fellowship to travel to Baltimore for group community conferencing training. On his time off, Mamadou volunteers as a boundary umpire at his local girls’ junior football club, and enjoys running, walking, and swimming.
Jiress Musafiri
General Manager - Children, Youth & Family Program
Jiress is a Congolese born Australian who migrated to Australia at a young age after fleeing what is now known as Africa’s great war. He is a qualified Community Service worker with years of experience. Through his experience of completing his primary and secondary school in country Victoria, it helped shape his understanding on the tension between maintaining traditional African cultural practices while adhering to the demands of a new society. He is passionate about young people’s education.
He holds the view that education and employment pathways are key components for social inclusion and young people should be empowered to make informed decisions on their own. In my spare time I enjoy socialising with friends and family and I have a keen interest in sport.
Dr Ebrima Sarr
Manager - Operations, Compliance & Child Safety
Ebrima is the AAFRO volunteer manager of operation, compliance and child safety. He is a qualified social worker with several years’ experience in local government and not-for-profit organisations. He believes in the safety and empowerment of children, young people and families. He is committed to social justice, advocacy and has served as a democracy ambassador. Ebrima likes spending time with his family and sport. He enjoys learning and speaking different languages.
Advisory Board
Amakou Bol
Amakou Bol is a proud mother of three, a passionate educator, community advocate and activist. Amakou is very outspoken about issues affecting the South Sudanese community in Australia. She believes in creating a safer and welcoming environment for all children and that it is our duty as adults to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all our children. ‘No child should ever feel isolated, disempowered and disadvantaged based on the colour of their skin or socio- economic background’
Amakou Bol works as a teacher at Parkville College where she has been able to connect and support students from diverse backgrounds. She uses her knowledge and lives experience to create opportunities for enriching conversations with incarcerated young people about the importance of ones sense of identity, community and language. Amakou is an active member of the South Sudanese community and navigates through different systems to find new ways of creating learning opportunities through social networking.
She is the founder of a group called ‘It Takes a Village’. This group works with different sectors of the community to create a sense of safety, culture, community, identity and belonging through planned activities catered to mothers, fathers, children and young people. She has a double degree in Arts and Education and is currently working towards her Masters in Applied Behavioural Analysis. She has volunteered with Migration Resource Centre (MRC) and Australian Refugees Association (ARA), Dementia SA to help create a dementia awareness video in Dinka Language, teach Dinka language at Ethnic school and Facilitated a women empowerment program at McCauley Community Services for Women as part of The Australian African Foundation for Retention and Opportunity (AAFRO)
Jennifer Coster
Jennifer Coster is the Director of English at Monash College Pty Ltd and responsible for the development and delivery of English language and academic skills programs which prepare international students for their university degrees in Melbourne and the Asia region.
She is a committee member of University English Centres Australia (UECA) and an active member of English Australia, the national peak body for the English language sector of international education in Australia. I am passionate about teaching quality and have presented at a number of conferences on initiatives to improve teacher capability, and the quality of the sector.
She feels strongly that every child should have equal access to education and the necessary support to keep them engaged in their studies.
Jennifer is currently an Advisory Committee member of the Australian African Foundation for Retention and Opportunity (AAFRO) and has been working with AAFRO since 2013. She is passionate about the work that AAFRO does to support young people with their educational goals and how they bring partnerships with schools, community groups and family into this work. She is also very proud of the Women's Words program and how it can help isolated women form connections with each other and support services.
Eloisa Evangelista
Masters of Public Health, Masters of Health and Human Services Management, B. Orth & Ophthal. Sciences
Eloisa has a proven track record of challenging the status quo, driven by her passion to create positive social change through improved health and wellbeing outcomes. A qualified Orthoptist, she has a unique skillset of program evaluation, stakeholder consultation, strategic planning, project management, public policy and analytics accumulated over a decade of community and health service experience.
Eloisa is currently a Managing Consultant at Impact Co., a boutique start-up consultancy firm specialising in health, mental health, disability and Indigenous Affairs. Prior to Impact Co., Eloisa worked at Bupa where she consulted and provided strategic insights to corporate and tertiary education consumers to initiate positive ways of thinking and doing business through improved employee health and productivity. Prior to this, she held roles at South Eastern Melbourne PHN (SEMPHN), RACGP, Victorian Healthcare Association and Bayside Medicare Local.
Eloisa is also a member of the Australian Evaluation Society and Co-Chair of the Australasian College of Health Service Management's Emerging Health Managers' group.
Dr Diana Johns
Diana Johns is Associate Professor of Criminology at the University of Melbourne, where she researches and teaches about prisons and punishment, young people and the justice system. Her research is focused on the effects of criminalisation, the impacts of imprisonment, the possibilities of restorative, relational, reintegrative justice practices, and working in an Ubuntu way with African Australian communities. Her book ‘Being and Becoming an Ex-Prisoner’ was published in 2018. Two more recent books, written with colleagues, include 'Place, Race and Politics: The Anatomy of a Law and Order Crisis' (published in 2021) and 'Coproduction and Criminal Justice' (published in 2022). She has three daughters, a husband, a dog and a guinea pig.
Dr Ian Coller
A founding member of AAFRO, Dr Ian Coller is Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine. He volunteered for five years teaching English and Humanities classes in the AAFRO tutoring program at Flemington Primary School and helped to shape programs such as the Wheel Project. He completed his PhD at the University of Melbourne in 2006 and taught for a number of years there and at La Trobe University before leaving for California in 2015. He has published two books, Arab France: Islam and the Making of Modern Europe, 1798-1831 (University of California Press, 2011) and Muslims and Citizens: Islam, Politics and the French Revolution (Yale University Press, 2020) as well as many articles for academic journals and news services. At UCI he teaches classes on French, European and world history, the history of genocide and crimes against humanity, and the interface between Europe and Islam. He is passionate about working toward a more just and inclusive society in ways that empower young people of all backgrounds.
Ben Hansky
Ben is a lawyer and strategic advisor who heads up the social enterprise and not-for-profit practice at LUNA. He is passionate about the intersection of technology, scalable business models and impactful thinking. He has been fortunate to help some of Australia's best and brightest young people launch, grow and optimise change-making organisations. In his spare time he loves nothing more than listening to a wide array of music and spending time in the great outdoors.
Tom Mason
Tom is a social worker, and currently the Child Safeguarding Manager for a network of alternative education schools across Victoria and Tasmania. Tom is passionate about influencing systemic change to create equal access to education, employment and health care for all who call Australia home.