Social Work Global Conference Report 2020

Speaker Biographies Dr. Mavis Dako - Gyeke, Ph.D. The Dilemma of Migration: Experiences of Independent Adolescent Migrants from Selected West African Countries Mavis Dako - Gyeke is an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Social Work, University of Ghana at Legon, Accra, Ghana. She has been involved in independent and collaborative research projects in the fields of child and family welfare; mental health with emphasis on stigmatization and discrimination; disability, migration; as well as adolescent and gender issues. Her current research projects focus on (a) independent migration among adolescents and (b) experiences of women living with obstetric fistula in Ghana. Alhassan Sulemana, Ph.D. Alhassan Sulemana is an assistant lecturer at the Department of Social Work, University of Ghana. His research areas include migration, child and family welfare as well as older people. He has done work on health issues confronting internal economic migrants (Kayayei), older people, drivers of independent migration among adolescents from selected West - African countries and current running a project on the living and working experiences of independent adolescent migrants. Dr. Ernestina Korleki Dankyi, Ph.D. Dr. Ernestina Korleki Dankyi holds a PhD in Migration Studies, a Master of Philosophy degree in Sociology and Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Work all from the University of Ghana. She aspires to be a world class childhood research scholar and one of Africa ’ s finest child ’ s right advocate. Her lifelong goal is to work assiduously towards the elimination of all forms of homelessness and streetism among children in Sub - Saharan Africa. It is her greatest desire that children will find a home preferably among ‘ family ’ within which they will grow and develop. Her research focuses on diverse groups of children and adolescents affected by both internal and international migration. She has for the past three years been working on the mental health experiences of street children and adolescents. She was awarded a grant by the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) to examine the existing institutions and programmes available for street children and how these are positioned to meet their mental health and other related needs. Her interest in street children and adolescents spans their general well - being and the micro and macro level structures that are responsible for providing care for them. She is also a 2016 Global Fellow with the Global Child Behavioural Health Fellowship programme funded by the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at the New York University and a member of the Society for Research in Child Development.