The World Fellows

District Chief Executive, Shama District

As the President’s representative, Emelia Arthur works to facilitate meaningful participatory democracy and development in the resource-rich Shama District of western Ghana. Before her appointment, she engaged in consulting and advocacy work in natural resource governance at the local, regional, and international levels and served as the Global Team Leader for the British Council’s InterAction Leadership Programme. Arthur served on the board of the Open Society Initiative in West Africa and continues to serve on the board of CARE International’s Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Advisory Group. She founded IADI, an organization established to strengthen rural communities’ autonomous and sustainable capacities for development. IADI’s work includes economic empowerment, access to basic education, civic and social rights education, and political participation. She has been a prominent leader in Ghana’s National Reform Party, through which she has championed efforts to make government services available to women, children, and other marginalized populations.