WILLIAM NIYUNI is a professionally trained Social Worker. He holds a Master of Arts (MA) Degree in Governance and Leadership from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Social Work and Sociology, a Diploma in Social Administration both from the University of Ghana, Legon and a Certificate in Social Work from the School of Social Work, Accra. He has over 30 years’ experience in State Social Welfare Service provision. He is the immediate past the Deputy Director and Deputy National Programme Manager of the Government of Ghana Flagship Social Protection Programme, Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP).
Mr. Niyuni has extensive knowledge and experience both in the local and international space in Social Protection, Social Work and Monitoring and Evaluation. He has participated in a number of International Training courses including the following: International Social Safety Net Course held in Washington DC, USA in 2011; South – South Conference in Social Protection, Beijing, China in 2015; presentation of a paper (Linking Social Protection Programmes, the case of the LEAP Programme in Ghana) on Tying the Knots in Social Protection Conference in Bonn, Germany in 2016; participation in International Monitoring and Evaluation Programmes in Bologna, Italy (June 2009); Shanghai, China (October, 2009), Wageningen, the Netherlands (February/March 2010); Ottawa, Canada in June and July 2010; Social Protection Conferences held in Algiers, Algeria, April, 2017 and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in October, 2017.
He was also a member of the Community of Practitioners (CoP) on Social Protection between 2012 and 2019. He therefore participated in the CoP face to face meetings held in Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia and Brazil. He has once served as an executive member of the Ghana Association of Social Workers (GASOW) between 2005 and 2010.
Mr. Niyuni retired from the Ghana Civil Service in June 2019 and has found space in the Social Consultancy loop where he has undertaken consultancy services for the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) through the revision and finalization of the GSFP National and District Operation Manuals. Between January and July 2022 Innovations for Poverty Action IPA Ghana engaged him as its Social Protection Policy Consultant where he supported to develop a Social Protection Strategy for the IPA Ghana Country Office.
As Board Chair of Centre for Development Initiatives (CDI), Mr. Niyuni with this wealth of extensive experience brings to the table a reservoir of knowledge that can be tapped to improve the operations of CDI.
