Augusta Senenssie

An experienced ethnographer and policy consultant of dual British and Sierra Leonean nationality, Augusta is the Founder of Walinda Lingo. Primarily operating within Africa and other MAPAs in the global south, Walinda Lingo is ethnographic research and multimedia consultancy that explores how Indigenous and displaced are. Rural realities intersect with human rights and environmental policy. Pre-launch, the consultancy has self-financed several research projects and collaborations across Africa, the Pacific & Europe. Some of their work has explored the relationship between resource scarcity, conflict and climate change, climate displacement and indigenous land rights. Hailing from a lost line of indigenous Paramount Chiefs in Sierra Leone, Augusta is committed to preserving these traditional knowledge systems and learnings, particularly within the Continent of Africa. She is currently working with several Indigenous Councils across the Continent on projects to digitize these knowledge systems for future generations. Working to cement the validity of local lore internationally, Augusta has delivered several keynotes on the applications of indigenous and displaced research in global policy formation and of oral ontologies in reimaging environmental policy. She has explored the interconnectedness of climate change with other developmental and foreign policy issues, consulting with foreign governments, civil society organizations, UN agencies and traditional leaders, all committed to embedding non-Western processes within their strategies for change. Alongside her appointment as a European Global Council Representative for Earth Uprising International, Augusta most recently served as Youth Advisor for Plan International UK, The UK Department for International Development, and the US Embassy in London. She was a Global Ambassador for World Sustainable Development. She is a Founding Member of an international research hub, in partnership with the University of Johannesburg, committed to female empowerment in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals & Agenda 2063.