Marie Fall holds a Master’s Degree in Geography, a Postgraduate Diploma (University of Dakar) and a Doctorate (Ph.D.) in Geography (University of Montreal. After completing her PhD in geography, she pursued a post-doctoral fellowship at the International Development Research Centre in Ottawa (Canada). She then worked at the Regional Office for West and Central Africa in Dakar, where she was responsible for administrating and implementing the Rural Poverty and Environment Programme. This experience enabled her to develop expertise in international development, with a special emphasis on international cooperation, solidarity and development assistance. Since August 2007, Marie Fall has been a lecturer and researcher at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (Canada), where she lectures in the Geography and Sustainable Development, International Cooperation, Regional Studies and Interventions, Regional and Territorial Development, Applied Humanities, Eco-Counselling, Governance, Self-Determination and Development. Her research and work focused on issues and challenges of international development; the recognition and enhancement of traditional knowledge in international projects; participatory governance of territorial resources; the vulnerability, adaptation and resilience of island and coastal communities to climate change; and agriculture, agroecology and sustainable food systems. Intersectional, decolonial and collaborative approaches and gender-inclusive development are cross-cutting themes in her research and work. She is responsible for the international cooperation internship in Senegal, which enables her students to work on various village initiatives on the Saloum Islands.
Marie Fall has expertise in multi-sector partnerships and in drawing up local development plans that are adapted to the socio-cultural, environmental and economic contexts of rural West Africa. She has been head of Canadian projects and responsible for the research component of international development projects in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire. She was co-leader of the Mali, Mauritania and Senegal teams in Phase 1 of the GETSPA project.
Her contribution to community services is reflected in her involvement in solidarity, humanitarian, humanist and inclusive organisations and her commitment to various regional and national institutions dealing with education, sustainable health, culture, community life, solidarity and cooperation.
