Rachel Toku

Rachel Toku-Appiah is the Nutrition Programme Manager of the Graça Machel Trust and has over 15 years of experience working in the private, non-profit and government sectors. In this role, she focuses on advocacy for nutrition to be addressed as a development priority. As part of this work, she engages with a wide range of stakeholders from government to civil society and academia, recognising the multi-sectoral effort required to effectively improve the nutritional status of communities and nations.

As the first Director of the Trust, Rachel worked on a broad range of development issues on the continent, including women’s economic advancement, child development and reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health, by engaging stakeholders at the national, regional and global levels.

Prior to joining the Trust, Ms Toku-Appiah worked as the Country Director of the Clinton Foundation Health Access Initiative (CHAI) in Lesotho, supporting the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of the Kingdom of Lesotho in the scale up of HIV/AIDS care and treatment. In this capacity, she provided strategic advice for planning and policy development at national level, as well as implementation support. Using HIV as an entry point, the work of CHAI in Lesotho succeeded in strengthening health systems.

Ms. Toku-Appiah has worked as a Management Consultant with McKinsey & Co in the US, consulting on projects around organisational strategy and operations. Her international experience in organisation change management, served her well when she joined Ben Dwimoh & Co. in Ghana in her role to re-establish and grow the company.

As a former educator, Ms. Toku-Appiah has a strong passion for developing and mentoring others. Since 2003, she has been a consultant for AWA International Education Consultancy & Recruitment, providing guidance and mentorship for African students seeking to study in North America; and was was a member of the selection committee for the Botswana Lesotho Malawi Namibia and Swaziland (BLMNS) Rhodes Scholarships from 2006 to 2013.

Ms. Toku-Appiah secured her BSc Microbiology from the University of Botswana and MSc Biochemistry from the University of Oxford (Rhodes Scholar, BLMNS and Keble, 1996).