Abdoulaye Saine, Executive Director, was born in Kaur, CRR. Following his primary school education in Kaur, he proceeded to Armitage High School and to Yundum College, where he qualified as a teacher. 

Saine taught for nearly four years in Kerewan, and Crab Island Junior Secondary Schools. He earned a Ph.D.  degree from The University of Denver’s Korbel School of International Studies, and taught for several years at Colorado State, Washington State Universities, and Miami University where he served as Department Chair.

 In 2014 Miami University awarded Professor Saine the Distinguished Scholar Award for his research on African Studies. He has published widely on civil-military relations, elections, democracy, human rights and democratic transitions in West Africa, and The Gambia.

He is the author of: The Paradox of Third World Democratization in Africa: The Gambia Under AFPRC-APRC Rule, 1994-2008, as well as the Culture and Customs of Gambia. He also co-authored, Not Yet Democracy: West Africa’s Slow Farewell to Authoritarianism, and co-editor of: Elections and Democratization in West Africa, 1990-2009, and State and Society: Gambia Since Independence 1965-2012. He has published as well over forty peer-reviewed scholarly articles, book-chapters, reviews, and reports.