Mariame Maiga is a rural development sociologist, development policy and project analyst, gender specialist. She holds a post-graduate degree (DEA) in Philosophy and a post-graduate degree (DEA) in Sociology from Abidjan-Cocody University in Cote d’Ivoire. Mariame Maiga has worked with national and international institutions for conception, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects, with interest on gender issues. She was awarded a PhD fellowship from the African Women Leaders in Agriculture and Environment (AWLAE) program of Winrock International, funded by the Netherlands Government. She is finishing her PhD in rural development sociology at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, and works on gender, HIV/AIDS and food security. In February 2010 Mariame got a PhD Research Intern fellowship with the United Nations in Helsinki, Finland.