Albert Motivans

Albert Motivans leads data and research for Equal Measures 2030, a civil society and private sector-led data and advocacy initiative. He leads efforts to develop innovative approaches for visualizing development data and to strengthen the technical capacity of national advocates to monitor progress and improve policies and development outcomes related to gender equality, ensuring that data insights are accessible and understandable to all. He has worked in data and development for more than 20 years, including with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, UNICEF Office of Research, and the U.S. Census Bureau. He has published widely on education, gender equality, and child welfare.

Anne Connell

Anne supports the data strategy for Equal Measures 2030, building strategic data partnerships and ensuring our results and insights are accessible to all. With experience in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, Anne has previously worked with Partners In Health, Democracy Reporting International, the Brookings Institution, the Harvard Kennedy School, and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Stephanie Oula

Stephanie is a Program Officer with Data2X, where she manages partnerships on women’s financial inclusion data and gender data and Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) monitoring. Her prior experience as a consultant for the United Nations Foundation and other INGOs on gender issues included advising on partnerships, organizational gender strategies, high-level engagement, and advocacy around adolescent girls. Previously, she managed the Girl Declaration Joint Advocacy Group, a coalition of 14 organizations co-convened by UNF, Nike Foundation/Girl Effect, and Plan International.

Nina Rabinovitch Blecker

Nina is Director of Communications for Data2X where she oversees all aspects of communications strategy development and real-time execution for the alliance. Prior to joining Data2X, Nina created and implemented communications strategies and campaigns for global health, gender equality, and social justice organizations, including Population Council, Merck for Mothers, HIAS, Repair the World, and the Center for Communication Programs at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School for Public Health.

Anne Connell

Anne supports the data strategy for Equal Measures 2030, building strategic data partnerships and ensuring our results and insights are accessible to all. With experience in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, Anne has previously worked with Partners In Health, Democracy Reporting International, the Brookings Institution, the Harvard Kennedy School, and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Preston Mitchum

Preston is a Black queer advocate and activist with over five years of legal and policy experience in his role as Senior Legal & International Policy Analyst at Advocates for Youth. At Advocates, he supports both Policy and International Youth Health and Rights Divisions on the global sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) portfolio, and is a Board Member of the MenEngage Alliance. In addition to his work at Advocates, he is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center teaching LGBT Health Law and Policy. He is the first openly LGBTQ Division Chair of the Washington Bar Association Young Lawyers Division (WBA YLD). Prior to joining Advocates, Preston served as the Senior Policy Analyst at the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) where he provided in-depth analysis of new data, policies, and programs across SRHR.

Ambassador Deborah Birx

Deborah L. Birx, M.D., is the Coordinator of the United States Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS and U.S. Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy. Ambassador Birx is a world-renowned medical expert and leader in the field of HIV/AIDS. Her three-decade-long career has focused on HIV/AIDS immunology, vaccine research, and global health. As the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, Ambassador Birx oversees the implementation of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the largest commitment by any nation to combat a single disease in history, as well as all U.S. Government engagement with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Serving as the U.S. Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy, she aligns the U.S. Government’s diplomacy with foreign assistance programs that address global health challenges and accelerate progress toward: achieving an AIDS-free generation; ending preventable child and maternal deaths; and preventing, detecting, and responding to infectious disease threats.

Patrick Mwesigye

Patrick is the founder and team leader at the Uganda youth and Adolescents Health Forum a grassroots youth led and youth serving organizations that works towards empowering marginalized and vulnerable adolescent girls and young women to live quality lives with equity and dignity and support them with opportunities to realize their full potential through addressing their health, gender equality and livelihood needs. Patrick is a very passionate and dynamic young man from Uganda who has championed gender equality reproductive rights for girls and has strongly worked with both local communities in Uganda and the Uganda government to advocate for prioritise these rights.

Rasha Jarhum

Rasha Jarhum is a South Yemeni Senior Development Policy Advisor and Expert on Women, Peace, and Security. Jarhum has been working in the humanitarian and development fields, and advocating for Human Rights including women and refugees rights for over 15 years. She is also a civil society activist and development campaigner. Jarhum is a recipient of the Women Have Wings award.

Erin Kenny

Ms. Erin Kenny (MPH) is the Head of the Technical Unit and Senior Adviser to the United Nations-European Union Spotlight Initiative to Eliminate Violence Against Women and Girls. In this role she provides technical oversight to a 500 million Euro portfolio of programmes worldwide. Prior to assuming her current position, Erin was a team leader in UNFPA’s Humanitarian Division, overseeing their work on addressing GBV in emergencies. Before joining the UN, Erin worked with the International Rescue Committee, Child Fund International, EngenderHealth, Save the Children, the Women’s Refugee Commission, and the Open Society Foundations.

Geetanjali Misra

Geetanjali Misra is the co-founder and executive director of CREA. Geeta has worked at the activist, grant-making, and policy levels on issues of sexuality, reproductive health, gender, human rights, and violence against women. Before joining CREA, she was program officer sexuality and reproductive health for the Ford Foundation in New Delhi and supported nongovernmental organizations in India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka working on sexual and reproductive health and rights. She also co-founded SAKHI for South Asian Women in New York in 1989, a nonprofit organisation in New York, committed to ending violence against women of South Asian origin.

Diana Mukami

Diana is the Head of Programmes and Director, eCampus at Amref Health Africa’s Institute of Capacity Development. She has experience in designing, implementing and managing health systems and strengthening programs that seek to increase access to quality health services in sub-Saharan Africa. For more than 15 years, Diana has been involved in capacity development programs for frontline healthcare workers, including community health workers. She believes that technology, used the right way, contributes significantly towards the development of responsive human resources for health in Africa.

Marie-Ange Saraka-Yao

Marie-Ange Saraka-Yao is a senior executive with a relentless drive for results and a 20-year track record in strategic leadership, policy development, innovative finance, and resource mobilisation in emerging markets and globally. Ms. Saraka-Yao is currently the Managing Director of Resource Mobilisation and Private Sector Partnerships reporting to the CEO of Gavi, the vaccine alliance. Since joining Gavi in 2011, her leadership was instrumental in raising the largest amount of resources ever for Gavi close to USD 18 billion by 2015. She is the lead negotiator with G7 and G20 leaders, corporates and high net-worth individuals in the expansion of Gavi investors’ base.

Dayna Kerecman Myers

Durga Sapkota

Durga Sapkota is a Women Deliver Young Leader with more than 8 years of clinical and public health work experience, specifically, sexual, reproductive, maternal, neonatal, and adolescent health. She has been involved in qualitative research related to women's health as a freelance Research Consultant and has been providing training related to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and rights, especially to girls and women in hard to reach, poor resource, rural areas. Currently she is pursuing her Bachelor degree of law (LLB) as well as Advance Nursing with specialization in Women's Health Development. She is a Youth Champion of Asia Safe Abortion Partnership (ASAP).

Dr. Sameera Al Tuwaijri

Sameera M. Al Tuwaijri is a Lead Health Specialist and Global Solutions Lead for the Population and Development at the Health, Nutrition and Population Global practice, the World Bank since June 2016. She is a board-certified medical doctor (OB/GYN). She also has a master’s degree (Harvard) and a Ph.D. (Johns Hopkins) in Public Health, focusing on health systems development. Prior to the World Bank and after concluding her public health studies, she worked in the United Nations system for ten years.

Gary Barker

Gary Barker, PhD, is a leading global voice in engaging men and boys in advancing gender equality and positive masculinities. He is the CEO and founder of Promundo, which has worked over 20 years in more than 40 countries. Beginning in low-income areas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Promundo’s approaches have been incorporated into ministries of health and education around the world. Promundo is a Global Consortium with members in Brazil, the US, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Portugal. Gary is co-founder of MenCare, a global campaign working in 45 countries to promote men’s involvement as caregivers, and co-founder of MenEngage, a global alliance of more than 700 NGOs. He co-created and leads the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES), the largest-ever survey of men’s attitudes and behaviors related to violence, fatherhood, and gender equality. He is a co-author of the 2015 and 2017 State of the World's Fathers reports. He has advised the UN, the World Bank, numerous national governments, and key international foundations and corporations on strategies to engage men and boys in promoting gender equality. In 2017 he was named by Apolitical as one of the 20 most influential people in gender policy around the world. He is an Ashoka Fellow and received the Voices of Solidarity Award from Vital Voices for his work to engage men for gender equality. Gary holds a PhD in Developmental Psychology.

Sophie Grégoire Trudeau

Sophie Grégoire Trudeau is an engaged advocate for gender equality and a mother of three young children. Over the past 15 years, she has been involved with a variety of causes as a speaker and mentor, including causes for teenage self-esteem, women and girls’ rights and freedoms, eating disorders and mental health.

In 2013, Sophie received the UN Women National Committee Canada Recognition Award for her contribution to human rights. She received the 2018 Humanitarians Award from the United Nations Association of New York.

As part of her advocacy, she works as an official spokesperson for Plan Canada’s “Because I am a Girl” initiative and the FitSpirit Foundation. She was named influencer for the Deliver for Good campaign of Women Deliver. Sophie is always looking to deepen the conversation around mental and physical well-being and is now the National ambassador and ally to We Well-being to bring awareness on mental health.

As a mother, Sophie’s outdoorsy and energetic personality translates into regular active family time in nature and practicing a multitude of sports. She was honoured as the 100th member of Nature Canada’s Women for Nature initiative for her support of nature and the outdoors and continues to be committed to sharing her passion for nature with Canadians as Honourary Guide for Families for Parks Canada.

Fully bilingual, Sophie studied Commerce at McGill University, and finished her B.A. in Communications at the Université de Montréal. She completed another degree at the École de radio et de télévision Promédia in Montreal. After her studies, she worked in sales and advertising before becoming a television and radio reporter.

Her intrinsic curiosity and her willingness to explore spirituality motivated Sophie to study hatha yoga and attain her certification. She has also completed her “Radiant Child” kundalini yoga teacher training, a practice specifically for children, and has taught classes on a volunteer basis at a public school close to her home.

Maria Toorpakai Wazir

Maria Toorpakai Wazir hails from South Waziristan, along the Pakistan Afghanistan border. This area is known as the most dangerous place on earth and the birthplace of the Taliban. Due to the centuries old ultra-conservative norms, girls/women have been suffering from the worst of human rights’ conditions. Girls here are bought & sold into marriages at young ages & have no right to decide for their lives but despite these disadvantages, Maria became Pakistan’s top female squash player and turned professional in 2006. She started her journey of rebellion for equal rights at age 4 ⅕ by burning her girly clothes/dresses and cut her hair. She is trailblazer in her native Pakistan, she fought against gender barricades inflicted on her by the so called Islamic & cultural beliefs and posed as a boy using the name Genghis Khan to compete in sports in her younger days. Due to her audacious and outspoken nature, She got death threats from the Taliban in 2007 & so she locked herself in her house for 3 years. She continued to train in her bedroom while sending out thousands of emails around the world to sports academies in order to train & compete with peace of mind. She escaped her country in 2011 to Canada. Her passion for Sports and her quest for Equality & liberty continued. Athletic competition gave Maria her platform to learn about the world and channel her abundant energy in a positive direction, and she hopes to inspire young women to seek empowerment through athletic competition, particularly in conservative cultures through community engagement and mentorship. Coming from violent & war affected area, she truly believes in the power of Sports to combat negativity, extremism and violence. She uses sport as the medium for change.

Regina Honu

Regina is the CEO of Soronko Solutions. She just opened the first coding and human centered design school for children and adults called Soronko Academy. She was just awarded the 2018 AFS Active Global Citizen Award​ for her contributions to global competence education.

She recently spoke at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris and on closing the gender gap in computer science. She also spoke at Brookings Institute in Washington DC on Advancing Female entrepreneurship in Africa. She is an ambassador and mentor for thecamp, first European campus dedicated to emerging technology and social innovation. She is listed as one of BBC 100 most inspirational and innovative women for 2017. She was also recently interviewed by Bishop TD Jakes. She was awarded the 2017 Northwestern University Buffet Institute for Emerging Global Leaders Award and awarded by Coca Cola in the Coca Cola young achievers award as one of the big six and a leader in technology. She was also unveiled as the 2016 Vlisco Brand Ambassador. She won Startup Entrepreneur of the year and Soronko Solutions won Social Start-up of the year for 2016 at the Ghana Startup Awards. She was featured on CNN as one the 12 inspirational women who rock STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). She was named as one of the six women making an impact in Tech in Africa and one of 10 female entrepreneurs to watch in emerging economies. She was awarded Young Entrepreneur of the year by the GPA Awards from Africa 2.0 and JCI Ghana Outstanding Young Person award for scientific and technological advancement. Soronko Solutions was nominated for the editor’s choice award in the Women in IT award in the UK. She was featured on CNN African Voices,CNN African Startups and interviewed by BBC World Service, Deutsche Welle and Aljazeera. She is an Ashoka Fellow, Aspen Institute New Voices Fellow, GOOD Fellow, Global Shaper of the World Economic Forum, Vital Voices Fellow and a Change Leader with Tigo Reach For Change. She belongs to Africa Leadership Initiative West Africa.

Elhadj As Sy

Elhadj As Sy is the Secretary General of the IFRC. He began this leadership role on 1 August, 2014 and is based at the IFRC secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland.

Mr. Sy has extensive experience in leadership roles in the humanitarian sector, having previously served at a senior level with UNICEF, UNAIDS, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and other agencies for more than 25 years.

Before joining the IFRC ‐ the world’s largest humanitarian network ‐ Mr. Sy was UNICEF’s Director of Partnerships and Resource Development in New York. He has also served as UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa and Global Emergency Coordinator for the Horn of Africa.

From 2005 to 2008, Mr. Sy was Director, HIV/AIDS Practice with the United Nations Development Programme in New York. Before that, he worked with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as its Africa Regional Director and later as Director of Operational Partnerships and Country Support in Geneva. Mr. Sy has also held the position of UNAIDS Representative in New York and Director of the New York Liaison Office. From 1988 to 1997, he served as Director of Health and Development Programmes with Environment and Development Action in the Third World in Dakar, Senegal.

Mr. Sy holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts and Human Sciences from the University of Dakar. He then pursued Master’s studies in Arts and Germanistik at the University of Graz, and graduated from the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna. He was also awarded a post graduate diploma in Education from the Ecole normale superieure in Dakar. He speaks English, French and German and is a national of Senegal.

Wendy Grant-John

Wendy Grant-John is a Senior Aboriginal Advisor at Deloitte. She grew up with cultural values and teachings instilled by her family and surrounding families. Wendy is a member of Musqueam Chief and Council and has spent most of her adult life working for her community as well as representing First Nations across this country in many different forums. Wendy is a recipient of the Order of BC and has two Honourary Doctorates of Law.

Mrs. Grant-John served three terms as Chief of the Musqueam and was the first woman elected Regional Chief to the Assembly of First Nations. As Musqueam Chief, she helped to negotiate one of the first Aboriginal commercial fisheries in Canada. She has previously worked at Indian and Northern Affairs Canada as Associate Regional Director General of British Columbia and has served as a lay bencher of the Law Society of British Columbia and as a Board Member with Canada Lands Company Limited. She has also served as a Commissioner on the Pacific Salmon Commission. She was a founding member and director of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and a founder of the Musqueam Weavers. Most recently, Mrs. Grant-John was the official Representative for the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada on the issue of Matrimonial Real Property on Reserve.

Grant-John’s weaving group proved to have a significant impact on her own life. “Those women encouraged me to run politically, and when I was 38 years old, I was first elected chief. Things just grew from there.”

Martín Aguirre

Martín is a journalist and a lawyer, working with the biggest newspaper in Uruguay, El País, where he leads a newsroom of more than 100 professionals. He also commands the digital strategy of the newspaper, and writes a very popular column every Sunday analyzing local politics. Some of his articles of covering different issues, from soccer to international politics, have been published in newspapers such as The Guardian, El Tiempo, from Colombia, or El Mercurio, of Chile. He is also a college professor, where he teaches legal regulation of media and communications, and has been involved in the recent process of modification of the law that regulates media companies. He has studied Spanish literature, Latin American studies, and recently published his first book, “The progressive wave”, about the series of left wing governments that have re shaped South American politics during the last decade. And during 2017-2018 he was a Humphrey Fellow, a program supervised by the State Department of the United States.