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Miss Sandra Owusu-Gyamfi is SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana’s Advocacy and Campaigns Director. She holds a masters degree in Environmental Conservation from the University of Greenwich and an undergraduate degree in Environmental Science from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Sandra has been working on conservation issues in Ghana since 2012. She is West Africa’s first female amphibian conservation scientist, which has earned her the nickname ‘frog woman.’ She has dedicated herself to ensuring the protection of one of the world’s most threatened taxa, amphibians, through research, advocacy and training of the next generation.

Through her collaboration with other like-minded institutions and with funding from major donors such as SAVE THE FROGS!, Whitley Fund for Nature, Rufford Foundation, Disney Conservation Fund, and British Ecological Society, she has helped to secure the homes of the critically endangered Giant Squeaker Frog (Arthroleptis krokosua) and the Togo Slippery Frog (Conraua derooi). Sandra helped establish community tree nurseries and to date have raised over 50,000 native seedlings used to restore degraded critical habitats of the Giant Squeaker at its last viable population stronghold at the Sui River Forest Reserve in western Ghana.

Sandra currently is working on campaigns to halt bauxite mining exploration at the Atewa Range Forest Reserve, home to the last viable population of the Togo Slippery frog and Ghana’s remaining upland evergreen forest that supports endemism. Sandra’s past efforts helped to delay the exploration of this unique biodiverse area. Her current lobbying goal is to see the Atewa Forest Reserve upgraded to the level of national park as the last resort to prevent future mining interests by successive governments. Sandra was again the first individual to throw spotlight on amphibian roadkills in West Africa, estimating amphibian kill rate and educating motorists at Ankasa Conservation Area.

Sandra’s contributions to science and the environment have won her the prestigious spot of “Personality of the Week” in Ghana’s widely read newspaper, The Mirror. She also received invitations to give presentations to academics and conservationists at the Universities of Cambridge and Nottingham, and the British Herpetology Society to share her experiences as well as build networks. Sandra takes inspiration from women such as Wangari Maathai, Rachel Carson and Jane Goodall who have contributed immensely to the field of conservation science.