Bakary Tandia

Bakary Tandia works as both Case Manager and Policy Advocate at African Services Committee. As a case manager, he assists clients newly diagnosed with HIV in accessing health care, housing and supportive services that enable them to regain their health and build productive lives. In this role, he facilitates a weekly support group that is culturally and linguistically appropriate for people from across the African Diaspora.

As policy advocate, Tandia works to raise awareness of public health and human rights issues in the African community and to empower newcomers to understand and protect their rights as immigrants. He has extensive experience in community organizing, coalition work and building strategic partnerships across diverse communities. He advocates on behalf of African immigrants by participating in public hearings with elected officials and policymakers and and lobbying trips to City Hall, Albany and Washington, D.C. 

Originally from Mauritania, Mr. Tandia is a human rights activist in the movement against slavery and racial discrimination. Abolition Institute Co-Founder Bakary Tandia, a native of Mauritania currently residing in New York City, is well-respected and dynamic human rights advocate with an extensive background in promoting human rights and social justice causes. He has been leading the campaign against slavery and human rights violations in Mauritania for over two decades. Bakary Tandia has spoken on human rights issues at more than 100 universities and colleges around the United States and played a leadership role in major conferences and trainings around the world. As a member of the African NGOs Coordinating Committee representing the African Diaspora during the World Conference against Racism, he developed strong relationships with human rights organizations across the continent.

He served as an Advocacy Workshop facilitator at the Human Rights Advocates Program at Columbia University (NY) helping to educate and empower human rights activists around the world.

He is a graduate of the Global Masters Program in International Affairs, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University and holds bachelor degrees in International Criminal Justice and Criminology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the University of Abidjan, respectively. In addition to that, Tandia is a graduate of the Human Rights Advocates Program, Columbia University. 

He was recipient of the 2005 New American Leaders Fellowship Program jointly sponsored by Coro Leadership Center and The New York Immigration Coalition and was a participant in the Hamburg-New York 2007 IntegrationXchange 2007, a program jointly sponsored through DCS by the U.S. State Department and the Koeberg Foundation, Germany.

Besides Soninke his native language, Tandia speaks Fulani/Pulaar, English and French.