Mary Boafo is a Ghanaian first-year Master of Development Practice student at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Management Education from the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana.
Before coming to Minnesota, Mary worked for over eight years as a Social Health Worker with Compassion International Ghana, an international child development organization. In this role, she designed and implemented programs in health, education, child protection, and household economic empowerment for children and families in rural communities. She is also a co-founder of Girls Empowerment Ghana and the founder of Voicing the Voiceless, an initiative that supports survivors of violence and promotes women’s economic empowerment.
Mary’s research interests include social protection, poverty reduction, child development, and education in marginalized communities. Her current research examines the effects of community-based, multisectoral programs on child and household well-being in rural Ghana. She is particularly interested in interdisciplinary and mixed-methods approaches that connect research with community knowledge to inform equitable development policies and practices across Africa and the Global South.