Aaliyah Nadirah Madyun, MPH

Aaliyah Nadirah Madyun is a Program Director for the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Child Mind Institute. Aaliyah oversees public engagement and awareness as part of the Global Center’s aim to increase access to evidence-based mental health care and support for children and young people living in low- and middle-income countries. 

Aaliyah has over a decade of experience in broadcast journalism in the U.S. where she honed her skills producing engaging, data-informed multimedia content that resonates with diverse audiences for national media outlets, including Bloomberg, NPR, and ABC News. She later pivoted to policy storytelling, coupling her background in both journalism and international policy to craft compelling narratives that distilled complex ideas for a larger audience. She produced three original YouTube series for the Center for Strategic and International Studies with some of the world’s leading experts to create data-rich videos on diverse topics ranging from Brexit to the Nigerian presidential elections.

Aaliyah has a wealth of on-the-ground experience crafting advocacy campaigns across Africa. She developed an English- and Arabic-language website for UNICEF Sudan, worked closely with youth groups across the country to advocate for children’s rights following the 2019 popular revolution, and was part of advocacy efforts that led to landmark legislation criminalizing FGM in Sudan. She created culturally relevant communication materials in Somalia as part of a UN project to increase the number of female policewomen in the country. And as Associate Director of Advocacy & Communications at Africa Practice, she strategized and executed advocacy campaigns in-country, leveraging her expansive media network to amplify the voices and stories that matter in Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and South Africa.

In her most recent role as an External Affairs Consultant for the World Bank’s Fragility, Conflict, and Violence Group, Aaliyah managed digital platforms and led the production of impactful multimedia stories, podcasts, and social media campaigns.  Her work fosters understanding and discussion on critical issues in conflict-affected low- and middle-income countries.

• BA, African History and Psychology, Duke University
• MPA, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University