Gemima Neves Barlow is the deputy regional director for Southern and East Africa. She has successfully implemented a wide range of democracy programming across the African continent, especially  West and Southern Africa. 

Gemima’s extensive career with NDI began in 2001 as a Program Officer for Southern and East Africa, when she supported electoral integrity and political party strengthening programs in Angola, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Since then Gemima has expanded her technical expertise on democratic development in Africa, managing NDI’s largest country programs in West Africa as a Program Director for the Central West Africa Region (Anglophone). She has coordinated several large international election observation missions in such countries as Ghana, Nigeria, and Liberia and served in NDI offices in Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe. 

Prior to joining NDI, Gemima was a program specialist at the Africa-America Institute (AAI) designing and implementing cross-cultural exchange programs for African activists in the areas of conflict resolution, good governance, citizen engagement and human rights. For NDI and AAI respectively, she also organized and led study missions to South Africa for delegations of Iraqi women leaders and U.S. Fulbright teachers. 

Gemima earned her Masters degree in African Studies from The Ohio State University, and a Bachelors degree in Philosophy from Lincoln University, Pennsylvania. She speaks English and Portuguese.