A Fireside Chat with Yassine Fall, who ties economics with social justice

By Kelvin Childs

Yassine Fall, minister of African integration and foreign affairs for Senegal, rose from modest beginnings to being a global leader in activism for social justice and economic empowerment across the continent. Fall credits her time at Howard University, where she earned a master’s degree in economics, as an experience that rooted her in the world at large and instilled in her the importance of giving back.

Fall spoke at a Fireside Chat on Thursday, Sept. 19, at the School of Social Work Auditorium in the Lindsay Hall Building. The discussion was moderated by J. Jarpa Dawuni, M.A., LLB, PhD, immediate past executive director and founder of the Howard University Center for Women, Gender and Global Leadership.

After the Fireside Chat, Fall spoke of each alumni’s responsibility to Howard. “I think giving back to the University can be in different forms. It can be in terms of global dialogue, in terms of integrating the University into the international knowledge network building that would need Howard’s presence and contributions as much as the University would need to be present in that global space,” she said. 

She continued, “So I think that giving back is a must, and I am committed to do that in different forms. And I'm inviting all the alumni, in different forms, but all of it to make our University bigger, greater, more important and more valuable and more recognized worldwide.”

Fall noted that she was in her 20s when she and her husband, Jacques Habib Sy, and children arrived in Washington. “We came to Howard because it is the Mecca of the Black world,” she said. “We wanted to come to study here, and we wanted also wanted to come to experience, share our knowledge and share with the African-American community.” 

The environment was welcoming to Fall, who did her undergraduate studies in economics in France, but was not fluent in English when she came for graduate study in the United States, she said. But Howard’s approach to the topic — infused with social justice — captivated Fall. So did the friendly atmosphere between instructor and students, and the campus community. She appreciated “how people say hello to you everywhere in the street. It was just like being in Africa because we lived very close to the University. So, this was a community of teachers. It was a community of people.”

She continued, “The first time we organized African Liberation Day at the University, it was just amazing, because it was a mix of everyone in the community at Howard. And this is what we did every year that the community came to the University and we exchanged several issues related to the African community, but also related to survival. So, my study of economics was also grounded on always issues related to the community.” 

“So, I can say that my social justice and my passion for development, my passion for human development, was also mentored at Howard,” Fall said.

Fall has many credentials and experiences over her career. A few include heading an international consulting firm with a focus on humanitarian operations, macroeconomic policy and the eradication of poverty; and 15 years with the United Nations, including being director of the UN’s International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) and director of economic empowerment for UN Women.