SETSI - INTERVIEW WITH ALINE NIZIGAMA - CEO | PDG OF YWCA CANADA

Aline Nizigama is the incoming Chief Executive Officer of YWCA Canada. Aline is a dynamic, multilingual leader with extensive professional experience working with equity-deserving groups. Her career has instilled in her an in depth understanding of issues affecting francophone and multilingual communities, as well as Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) communities; how these complex issues intersect to produce varying degrees of inequities in the Canadian and global contexts; and how to address such challenges.

She has almost a decade of experience in non-profit leadership and has honed her research, policy, and strategic thinking expertise in both the social and public sectors. Aline grew up in Burundi (East Africa) where she was forced to flee civil war in the mid-1990s with her siblings. She has lived in 5 different countries between the African and North American continents and has called Toronto home since 2006.

Aline joins YWCA Canada from Centre Francophone du Grand Toronto, the largest francophone multiservice charitable agency in the Greater Toronto Area, where she served as Director of Strategic Projects, Communications and Partnerships. In this role, she led the development and implementation of key initiatives, including the establishment of a new housing department, strategy, and associated services. She also led a regional multi-year anti-human trafficking initiative, and championed diversity, inclusion, and equity efforts, with a strong focus on GBA+ awareness raising and capacity building.

Aline’s professional experience includes management and senior policy advisor roles in the Ontario public sector. She has extensive experience in providing services for women, delivering affordable and supportive housing for women, grassroots organizing for feminist solidarity, and intersectionality. Aline holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of Toronto and an Honours BA in Health Policy from York University, with a focus on the social determinants of health. She has an executive certificate in fostering Diversity and Inclusion from Yale University. As a former YWCA Canada employee, Aline brings deep knowledge of YWCA movement, having worked as part of the National Office for 4 years early in her career.

As a leader deeply rooted in her community, Aline chaired the Board of Directors of Margaret’s Housing and Community Support Services for over 8 years, where she actively supported the Executive Director and the rest of the Board in championing the redevelopment of 2 heritage properties into 35 new apartments for women with mental health challenges, new housing acquisitions and a merger with a small feminist housing charity. Aline was previously the Executive Lead and President of Haguruka Association of Women from Burundi, a grassroots organization promoting international solidarity and economic empowerment of women through microcredits that has helped over 3000 women in Burundi and strengthened their communities. She has also been involved with the Canadian Women’s Foundation’s Rebuilding Lives grant review committee, the Munk School’s Gender and Public Policy Initiative Advisory Committee and the Couchiching Institute for Public Affairs.

Aline was inducted to the 2016 Wall of Role Models as part of the annual Black Canadian Awards by the Diversity Advancement Network, a celebration of success and inspirational stories of Black Canadian community builders and outstanding achievers.

Aline is married to Bruno Moynie, a French filmmaker and translator, and is a stepmom to two beautiful daughters, Julia and Lou, and mother of 2 mischievous and multilingual little ones, Caetano, and Simone. She lives in Toronto in a multigenerational and multicultural family where her mother reigns as matriarch and Elder-in-Chief.