Governance & Team

The Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children is governed by a Board and an Executive Committee. These governing bodies reflect the diverse nature of the Partnership and include governments, multilateral agencies, civil society and faith organizations, the private sector, foundations, academics and independent experts.

Explore this Governance Document for the governance standard operating procedures and membership terms of reference

For the latest updates, announcements and meeting minutes, please:

Click here for the End Violence Board
Click here for the End Violence Executive Committee

The End Violence Board is the highest decision-making body aligned around a shared vision for the Partnership and Fund: to support the achievement of SDG 16.2

Helle Thorning-Schmidt

Former Prime Minister of Denmark

Joy Phumaphi

Executive Secretary of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance

Joy Phumaphi

Executive Secretary of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance

Joy Phumaphi is Executive Secretary of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance. She has been Co-Chair of the UN Secretary-General’s Expert Review Panel for Every Women Every Child. Phumaphi served as Botswana’s Minister of Health (1999-2003), later held senior leadership roles at the World Bank and World Health Organisation, and has served/serves on the boards of multiple global health initiatives and organisations, including the Clinton Health Access Initiative, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnership, Medicines for Malaria Venture, Roll Back Malaria Partnership, Hilleman Laboratories, the Gates Foundation Malaria Program, and the Harvard Health Ministerial Leadership program.

Niklas Andréen

President & Chief Operating Officer of Carlson Wagonlit Travel’

Niklas Andréen

President & Chief Operating Officer of Carlson Wagonlit Travel’

Niklas Andréen is President & Chief Operating Officer, and is a member of the Executive Leadership Team.

He joined CWT in 2018 and has over 20 years’ experience in global travel, tourism and technology, having held various international leadership roles at Travelport and consulting positions with Accenture, Connecta and Monitor Company. He has started two businesses and served as an Advisory Board Member of the Cornell University Center for Hospitality Research. Niklas currently serves as an independent board member of B&B Hotels Group, an international hotel chain. He holds an MSc in Business Administration from the Stockholm School of Economics and is a Wharton Executive Education Aresty Scholar.

Gary Cohen

Chief Revenue Officer, Aerofarms

Marcelo Ebrard

Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Mexico

Henrietta H. Fore

Executive Director, UNICEF

Henrietta H. Fore

Executive Director, UNICEF

Henrietta H. Fore became UNICEF’s seventh Executive Director on January 1, 2018. She has worked to champion economic development, education, health, humanitarian assistance, and disaster relief in a public service, and has a private sector and non-profit leadership career that spans more than four decades.

From 2007 to 2009, Ms. Fore served as the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Director of United States Foreign Assistance. The first woman to serve in these roles, she was responsible for managing $39.5 billion of U.S. foreign assistance annually, including support to peoples and countries recovering from disaster and building their futures economically, politically, and socially.

Earlier in her career at USAID, Ms. Fore was appointed Assistant Administrator for Asia and Assistant Administrator for Private Enterprise (1989-1993). She served on the Boards of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Millennium Challenge Corporation. In 2009, she received the Distinguished Service Award, the highest award the Secretary of State can bestow.

Virginia Gamba

United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict

Virginia Gamba

United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict

Virginia Gamba is the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, to which she was appointed in 2017. Ms. Gamba brings more than 30 years of experience and professional leadership on issues relative to disarmament, peace and human security. She served most recently as Assistant Secretary General, Head of the Joint Investigative Mechanism Syria (SC Res 2235 and 2319). She previously served as Deputy to the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs and Director of the Office for Disarmament Affairs.

Ms. Gamba has a long career in peace and security, human security and disarmament issues. From 2007 to 2011 she served as Deputy Director and Senior Coordinator on Safety and Security at the Instituto Superior de Seguridad Publica, Ministry of Justice, Government of the Autonomous city of Buenos Aires. From 1996 to 2006 she was based in Africa serving inter-alia as peace and security consultant to the Africa Union, Deputy Director of the Institute for Security Studies in South Africa and Director for South-South Interactions of Safer Africa. Ms. Gamba holds an MSc (Econ) in Strategic Studies, University College of Wales, Aberyswyth and a B.A. (Hons) in Spanish and Latin American Studies, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom.

Meg Gardinier

Secretary-General, ChildFund Alliance & representing the End Violence CSO Forum

Meg Gardinier

Secretary-General, ChildFund Alliance & representing the End Violence CSO Forum

Ms Gardinier is an international, not-for-profit advocate specializing in women’s and children’s issues. She has more than 25 years of experience in NGO development, advocacy, fundraising, strategic leadership and volunteer management. She has held leadership positions in a range of child rights organizations, including senior coordinator of the Elevate Children Funders Group; director of Arigatou International – New York; managing director of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF; and executive director of the International Catholic Child Bureau – North America. She has also undertaken consultancies for Save the Children and the Global Network of Religions for Children. Ms. Gardinier is a founding member of the Campaign for U.S. Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and a board member of End Child Prostitution and Trafficking.

Ms Gardinier holds a Master’s Degree in International Political Economy and Development from Fordham University. She is married to Thomas Lawder and is the mother of three daughters.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Director-General, World Health Organisation

Dr Etienne Krug

Director, Department for Social Determinants of Health, World Health Organization

Dr Etienne Krug

Director, Department for Social Determinants of Health, World Health Organization

Dr Krug is Director of the Department for Social Determinants of Health at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. He leads global efforts to prevent violence and injuries, to address social determinants of health and promote healthy ageing. He oversees the development of intergovernmental resolutions and global reports, the implementation of multi-country development projects, and advocacy campaigns. He chairs the International Organizing Committee for World Conferences on Injury Prevention, the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration and co-chairs the Executive Committee of the Global Partnership to End Violence against Children. He is a member of the Editorial Board of several scientific journals. Before joining WHO, Dr Krug worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, USA, with Médecins sans Frontières and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Dr Krug holds a degree as Medical Doctor from the University of Louvain in Brussels, Belgium and a Masters Degree in Public Health from Harvard University and has received many awards.

Dr A.K. Shiva Kumar

Co-Chair, Know Violence in Childhood

Rev. Keishi Miyamoto

President, Arigatou International

Dr Najat Maalla M’jid

United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children

Dr Najat Maalla M’jid

United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children

Dr Najat Maalla M’jid, a medical doctor in paediatrics, has over 30 years’ experience in the promotion and protection of children’s rights. She was Head of the Paediatrics Department and Director of the Hay Hassani Mother-Child hospital in Casablanca. Dr Maalla M'jid was also a member of the Moroccan National Council on Human Rights and founder of the non-governmental organisation Bayti, the first programme addressing the situation of children living and working in the streets of Morocco. From 2008 to 2014, she served as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography.

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

Executive Director, UN Women

Wendy Morton MP

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for European Neighbourhood and the Americas)

Dr Joan Nyanyuki

Executive Director, African Child Policy Forum

Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro

Independent Expert

Dr Joanna Rubinstein

Expert and former President and CEO of Childhood USA

Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca

Acting General Secretary, World Council of Churches

Dr Rajeev Seth

President, International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN)

Dr Rajeev Seth

President, International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN)

Dr Rajeev Seth is the current Chairperson of the Indian Child Abuse, Neglect & Child Labour (ICANCL) Group and is President-Elect of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) Delhi. He was co-chair of the 9th ISPCAN Asia Pacific Conference of Child Abuse and Neglect (APCCAN), held in September 2011 in New Delhi, India.

Dr Seth obtained his Medical Pediatric training at AIIMS, India and at the University of California - San Francisco (UCSF), and did his post-doctoral fellowship at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles, California, USA.

For past 14 years, Dr Seth has been working as a volunteer to provide medical care and rehabilitation services to orphans and vulnerable children worldwide. He is a member of a high power committee for the Convention of Child Rights and National Policy for Children, constituted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India.

Dr Seth has received several academic awards, including the Sorel Catherine Freyman Prize, the McAllister Foundation Fellowship Award, the Oak Foundation Award, and the Fellowship of Indian and American Academy of Pediatrics. He is the editor of CANCL NEWS, the quarterly newsletter of the ICANCL Group, and has written several scientific publications and chapters on social pediatrics, child rights, development and protection.

Märta Stenevi

Minister for Gender Equality and Housing, Government of Sweden

Dr Howard Taylor

Executive Director

Dr Howard Taylor

Executive Director

Dr Howard Taylor is Executive Director of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, an innovative public-private partnership launched by the UN Secretary-General.

Howard has lived in Africa, Asia, Europe and the US. He has led a global corporate foundation, established a creative social enterprise, built government teams, and led a UN-hosted global partnership – all to improve the lives of millions of people.

As Vice-President and Managing Director of the Nike Foundation, Howard was the driving force behind the successful spin-out of Girl Effect as an independent, a creative social enterprise that uses branded mass and social media, technology and data to tackle negative social norms and change behaviours.

Prior to Nike, Howard held senior roles across the UK Government, including at the Department for International (DFID), Cabinet Office and Foreign Office. He was Chief of Staff to two Secretaries of State and led DFID’s largest country programmes in India and Ethiopia. In Ethiopia, he co-chaired the Development Assistance Group, responsible for coordinating the most impactful investment of over $3 billion/year of development finance.

Howard serves on the Board of the WePROTECT Global Alliance and is a member of the International Telecommunication Union Broadband Commission Working Group on Child Online Safety. He is married with two children and enjoys sports, arts, politics, and pursuing inspirational ideas that can change the world.

Motegi Toshimitsu

Former Minister for Foreign Affairs, Japan

The Executive Committee is an essential coordination and decision-making body responsible for the overall Partnership strategy development and implementation, funding decisions, fundraising for the field and the Secretariat, and oversight of the Secretariat.

Charlotte Coles

Team Leader, Violence Against Women and Girls and Child Protection, UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Ian Drennan

Executive Director, WeProtect Global Alliance

Kul Gautam

Independent Expert / Former UNICEF Deputy Executive Director and UN Assistant Secretary-General

Maureen Greenwood-Basken

Program Director, Global Children's Rights: Realizing Rights for Girls and Boys, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund

Dr Etienne Krug

Director, Department for Social Determinants of Health, World Health Organization

Dr Etienne Krug

Director, Department for Social Determinants of Health, World Health Organization

Dr Daniela Ligiero

Executive Director of Together for Girls

Amanda Melville

Senior Child Protection Officer, UNHCR

Dr Jim Mercy

Director, Division of Violence Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Steve Miller

CEO, Save the Children South Africa & representing the End Violence CSO Forum

Steve Miller

CEO, Save the Children South Africa & representing the End Violence CSO Forum

Steve Miller joined Save the Children South Africa (SCSA) in October 2019. He is a development specialist and has worked in the international non-profit sector for over 15 years. He spent most of those years pushing for social change in various countries across Africa, including Namibia and Liberia.

Upon returning to South Africa, Steve completed his Masters in Development Management, and went on to lead two child-focussed NGOs, working in alternative care and youth empowerment.

Throughout his career, Steve has focused on improving opportunities for children and the youth. He believes SCSA has a great potential to make a difference to the lives of children in South Africa, especially since the country is dealing with the scourge of violence against children (VAC).

Dr Najat Maalla M’jid

United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children

Dr Najat Maalla M’jid

United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children

Eleanor Monbiot

Regional Leader of Middle East and Eastern Europe, World Vision & representing the End Violence CSO Forum

Dr Joan Nyanyuki

Executive Director, African Child Policy Forum

Christian Papaleontiou

Deputy Director, Tackling Exploitation and Abuse Unit, Serious and Organised Crime Group, UK Home Office & Safe Online Working Group Chair

Patricia Sainz

Regional Program Director for Latin America and Caribbean, SOS Children’s Villages International & representing the End Violence CSO Forum

Karin Strandås

State Secretary to the Minister for Gender Equality, Government of Sweden

Dr Howard Taylor

Executive Director, End Violence Partnership

Dr Howard Taylor

Executive Director, End Violence Partnership

Sanjay Wijesekera

Director of Programmes, UNICEF & Pathfinding Progress Working Group Chair

Sanjay Wijesekera

Director of Programmes, UNICEF & Pathfinding Progress Working Group Chair

Mr Sanjay Wijesekera is currently the Director of Programmes at UNICEF Headquarters in New York. Prior to this, he was UNICEF Representative in South Africa. Before that, he was serving as the Chief of Section for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), and Associate Director of Programmes in New York.

Before joining UNICEF, from 2005 to 2011, Mr Wijesekera was working for the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), where he was responsible for managing overall policy and global programmes related to achieving the water and sanitation Millennium Development Goals. He also worked for DFID in Ghana as an infrastructure adviser, where he helped coordinate a Joint Assistance Strategy for the donor community and was the lead donor representative for the water sector. Between 2003 and 2005, Mr Wijesekera worked for UNICEF as a water and sanitation adviser in Nigeria. From 2000 to 2002, he worked for the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry in South Africa, supporting newly formed local governments to take on the responsibility for delivering water and sanitation services, and helping to regulate public and private sector service providers. He also worked on emergency programmes in Rwanda for Oxfam in 1994 and for UNICEF, supporting post-tsunami reconstruction, in Sri Lanka in 2005.

Working Groups are flexible arrangements that bring together strategic partners with resources and an ability and willingness to support delivery at scale on a priority area of work. We currently have three working groups: Safe to Learn, Pathfinding Progress and Safe Online.

The End Violence Secretariat is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Global Partnership’s work around the world. Based in New York, Geneva and other locations across the world, the team connects individuals, organisations and governments to get violence against children on the global agenda and grow the resources and political will to make the world safer.

Dr Howard Taylor

Executive Director, End Violence Partnership

Dr Howard Taylor

Executive Director, End Violence Partnership

Ace Aceron

Governance and Strategy Specialist

Ace Aceron

Governance and Strategy Specialist

Ace leads the monitoring and reporting of the Partnership’s key performance indicators and provides executive and operational support for governance effectiveness, strategic planning and investor relations. With over 10 years of experience in the field of international relations and education for sustainable development, Ace has been part of numerous country-level, regional and global initiatives of the United Nations, with previous engagements at the UN Academic Impact (USA), UNICEF (Philippines) and UNESCO (Viet Nam and Thailand).

Ace is a PhD candidate at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. He has a master’s degree in International Relations, major in Peace and Global Governance from the Graduate Institute of Peace Studies, Kyung Hee University, Korea and a graduate diploma in European Studies at the University of Vienna, Austria.

Ace enjoys lifestyle and travel photography, and all sorts of contemporary digital art. When available, he joins his mother’s medical missions in indigenous populations and disadvantaged communities in the Philippines.

Shreya Arora

Communications Specialist

Sally Burnheim

Deputy Executive Director

Sally Burnheim

Deputy Executive Director

Sally joined End Violence in March 2018, where she oversees programmes and operations, including investments from the Fund to End Violence Against Children.

Prior to that, she worked for UNICEF, leading diverse advocacy initiatives with governments and business, and engagement in multi-stakeholder platforms and global programme partnerships. She led the development of UNICEF’s strategic framework for partnerships and grew relationships with some of UNICEF’s major public and private sector partners. She worked in the office of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2002-06 on special political assignments and as Executive Officer.

An Australian national, Sally began her career in communication and external relations and has lived and worked on four continents, including in two emergencies – South Sudan in the 1990s and the Kosovo crisis in 1999. She has worked with UNICEF HQ offices in New York, Geneva and Sydney, and UNICEF National Committees in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. She holds a Master’s degree in human rights from the University of London’s Institute of Commonwealth Studies and a BA in Communication from Charles Sturt University, Australia. She enjoys spending time in nature.

Sandra Daniels-Harte

Senior Administrative Associate

Andrew Hassett

Director, Communications and Advocacy

Andrew Hassett

Director, Communications and Advocacy

Andrew is a passionate child rights and international development leader with more than 20 years of experience leading teams in the areas of strategy, advocacy, campaigns, policy, communications and marketing. Andrew is currently the Director of Communications and Advocacy at End Violence. Prior to this, he held the position of Senior Director of Advocacy and Global Campaigns at World Vision International, where he led the organisation's advocacy campaigns in the areas of child health and ending violence against children across 70 countries.

Andrew has also led global and national coalition campaigns in support of the Sustainable Development Goals and held the position of co-convenor of the Make Poverty History campaign in Australia. He holds a Master of International Studies and a Bachelor of Commerce and Arts and previously held the position of honorary research fellow at Deakin University.

Bess Herbert

Advocacy Specialist, Corporal Punishment

Miguel Garcia Egido

Grant Management Specialist, Safe Online

Miguel Garcia Egido

Grant Management Specialist, Safe Online

Miguel joined End Violence in July 2020. After five years working in the areas of Grants Management and Strategic Coordination at Madrid’s Regional Ministry of Family and Social Affairs, he joined UNOPS Cambodia Hub from 2015 to 2019, where he acted as Business Developer, Grants and Project Manager, covering Cambodia, Viet Nam, Lao PDR and the Philippines. His studies are in Law and Political Sciences
(Dual Bachelor’s Degree) and Public Management (Master’s). In addition to this, Miguel passed two Public Competitions to access the Spanish Civil Service, as a Senior Technical Officer within the General Administration and as Specialist in Human and Social Sciences. More recently, he has been upgrading his skills in the fields of emerging technologies applied to enterprise contexts and supply chain, as well as social innovation (design thinking and human-centered design).

Miguel is currently based in Madrid with his wife Sophia and will be relocating to Addis Ababa soon. In his spare time, Miguel likes bouldering, going to music festivals (pre-Covid), and when in Madrid, he loves just to chill with his nephew and niece, Daniel (9 years old) and Alba (7). In fact, Daniel is teaching him how to surf (!), while Alba is more into playing cards with him (dinosaurs are her favourite ones).

Rebeca Oliveira Esteves

Consultant, Safe to Learn

Rebeca Oliveira Esteves

Consultant, Safe to Learn

Rebeca is a consultant for the Safe to Learn team where she supports partner engagement, visual communications, and knowledge management.

Previously, Rebeca worked with International Education and Development at IREX where she co-led the design of communication materials, supported partnership outreach, and the evaluation and implementation of programs through knowledge management, survey design, and data analysis. In addition, she has been engaged with the implementation of local educational programs across communities in Washington DC and in satellite cities of Brasilia, Brazil.

Rebeca holds a Master of Arts in International Development with a concentration in Education from the American University’s School of International Service. She enjoys cooking, learning new recipes, hiking, reading, and spending quality time with family and friends.

Chloë Fevre

Director, Safe to Learn

Chloë Fevre

Director, Safe to Learn

Chloë has dedicated her professional life to the rights, well-being, and safety of children. She has more than 15 years of experience working at the international level in designing, implementing, and evaluating policies and programs aimed at ensuring girls and boys have the conditions to fulfil their potential both through more inclusive education systems and through evidence-based violence prevention activities.

Prior to becoming Safe to Learn Director, Chloë led the Safe Schools Initiative at the World Bank that aimed to create the next generation of best practice education projects where violence against children would be an integral part of any future education support. She has also served as violence prevention technical lead for the World Bank Fragility, Conflict and Violence Strategy focusing on mainstreaming violence prevention in human capital and urban development endeavours. Before the World Bank, Chloë worked at the Inter-American Development Bank where she led a series of strategic and operational evaluations on violence prevention in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Chloë has worked in more than 25 countries and deeply values all the partnerships developed in each of them. She began her career and volunteer work at the grassroots level working with street children in Mexico and physically and mentally challenged orphans in India. Her heart and soul stay focused on the mission thanks to these early experiences.

Chloë obtained her PhD from UCL, UK, with a dissertation focusing on mainstreaming inclusive violence prevention in the development agenda. She is an animal and art lover, enjoys learning about neuroscience, and practices meditation.

Catherine Flagothier

Safe and Inclusive School Specialist

Catherine Flagothier

Safe and Inclusive School Specialist

Catherine has dedicated her professional life to child protection in development, with focus on violence in school, adolescent development and participation and social norms change to prevent harmful practices against girls. She has lived in Africa, Asia, Europe and Canada and has been working in developing and middle-income countries for almost 20 years, serving for UNICEF, UNFPA and a variety of other UN, civil society organizations and donors.

Prior to joining Safe to Learn as the Safe and Inclusive School Specialist, she was responsible for the Violence against Children in School portfolio in the violence against children team at UNICEF New York Headquarters. Catherine has worked at regional and country level in a variety of countries, including Mozambique, Nepal, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Thailand and Cambodia. Through her inter-sectorial work she has contributed to develop and strengthen a variety of evidence-based interventions, policies and programmes and partnerships uniting child protection, education and health to prevent and respond to violence against children and women in many different contexts and cultures.

Catherine has conducted and published many researches in the field of violence against children in school and child protection, including most recently to strengthen the integration of Child Protection into Education in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She began her career at the grassroots level in Africa, with Enda Tiers Monde and the African Movement of Working Children and Youth, a grassroots movement of adolescent-led associations present across Africa. She holds a Master’s Degree in Advanced Studies in Cooperation and Development, pursued with a thesis on the exploitation of students from Qur’anic schools in West Africa. She enjoys nature, traveling, biking and spending time with friends and with her family.

Iryna Gudyma

Digital Communications Specialist

Iryna Gudyma

Digital Communications Specialist

Iryna Gudyma is a communication professional with an international background and more than eight years of experience in international development, the humanitarian system, and crisis response. She is passionate about communication and advocacy for social impact, and sustainability.

Born and raised in Ukraine, Iryna is currently living in New York and working for the United Nations. She is leading digital communications at the UNICEF-hosted Partnership to End Violence Against Children aiming to protect and ensure children’s safety online, in schools, and in communities. She focuses on communication campaigns and manages social media.

Prior to this, Iryna provided communication support for the UN Department of Global Communications including during the High-Level Political Forum and UN General Assembly. She also advised the Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth on communication and advocacy to help drive the youth agenda forward.

Before joining the UN, she was a Public Affairs and Media Officer at the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, contributing to peace and security in Ukraine. With the mission to keep the world informed about the true nature of the war in eastern Ukraine, she provided official communication from the war zone. Iryna ensured media coverage on ceasefire violations and the human costs of the conflict, including as a first responder to the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.

Iryna holds a master’s degree in Globalization and Development Communication from Temple University as a Fulbright scholar, and a master’s in International Business from Kyiv National Economic University. She loves connecting people, solving problems, and building projects. She is fascinated with discovering the world, spending time in nature, diving and yoga.

Kristen Hansen

Fund Portfolio Manager, Safe to Learn

Kristen Hansen

Fund Portfolio Manager, Safe to Learn

Kristen has been part of the Safe to Learn team since its introduction in January 2019. Initially working as a Policy and Campaign Officer, Kristen now manages the Safe to Learn window of the End Violence Fund, where she has direct oversight and provides technical guidance to ensure high quality and efficient projects to end violence against children in all learning environments.

Kristen has a passion for humanitarian affairs, community development and improving livelihoods. Prior to joining the team, Kristen served as a United States Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania. During her service, she planned and executed various projects and trainings focusing on gender empowerment, safe schools, WASH, improved health, including proper nutrition, and developed an income generating farming group for women and people living with HIV/AIDS. Following her Peace Corps Service, Kristen worked as a Project Officer on the Afya Bora (Better Health) programme with Save the Children, Zanzibar Office, where she focused on newborn and maternal health.

Kristen earned a Master of Science in Global Challenges, with a particular focus on Displaced Persons and Development from the University of Edinburgh, and received her Bachelor of Arts in Government, Law and National Security from Misericordia University. Additionally, Kristen holds the Girl Scout Gold Award. She is fluent in English and Kiswahili and enjoys travelling, outdoor adventures, and being active – so much so that she once ran and completed the Kilimanjaro Marathon – and has decided that one marathon per lifetime is enough!

Emily Laurie

Senior Advocacy Specialist, Safe To Learn

Emily Laurie

Senior Advocacy Specialist, Safe To Learn

Emily has more than 15 years of experience in advocacy and campaigning primarily focused on education and gender equality. She is currently a Senior Advocacy Consultant for Safe to Learn.

Her past experience includes leading advocacy and campaign initiatives for many of the major global education actors including the Global Partnership for Education, the Global Campaign for Education, the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Plan International, the World’s Largest Lesson, and Education Cannot Wait. Emily also has experience advising two former Heads of Government, the RT Hon Tony Blair and the RT Hon Gordon Brown, on global education initiatives.

Emily's global advocacy career originally started out leading Plan's Learn Without Fear campaign as she is delighted to be back working on the important issue of violence in and around schools.

Marija Manojlovic

Director, Safe Online

Marija Manojlovic

Director, Safe Online

Marija is working on the strategic alignment of Partnership’s priorities, governance engagement and leading on End Violence Fund’s investment approaches on child online safety. Marija believes in the power of multidisciplinary teams and that the key to achieving sustainable development is to work at the intersection of human needs and new technologies.

Prior to joining the Partnership, Marija has worked with UNICEF in East Africa and Central and Eastern Europe on issues that affect children through innovations in research, partnerships, and system reforms, testing new approaches with and for children and young people. Throughout her career, Marija has focused on shedding light on the nature, drivers and impacts of violence against children as part of a broader agenda on early childhood learning, quality education, innovations for young people, social and emotional skills of children, as well as through her work on the Violence Against Children Survey and information poverty of children in Mozambique. Marija holds a MSc in International Relations and Diplomacy from Leiden University, the Netherlands. Finally, Marija is a space nerd, vinyl lover and animal rights activist.

Josee Nakhle

Visual Communications Specialist

Josee Nakhle

Visual Communications Specialist

Josee has been with End Violence since 2019. Since she leads on visual communication and branding. Prior to End Violence, she pursued a masters’ program in branding at SVA in New York City where she learned the ins and outs of the meaning of branding, the psychology behind it, and how to best communicate the message. Josee uses visual communication to tell a story and boost the visibly of the cause and brand. As a designer, Josee has worked in many sectors, from a web designer in an advertising agency, to an art director in a fashion magazine, to a consultant with various clients.

Josee speaks 3 languages French, Arabic and English and is currently learning Spanish going into level 3. She also loves to cook, paint, read and travel around the world to discover new cultures and places (which will soon be continued).

Natalie Shoup

Grant Portfolio Specialist, Tech Coalition Safe Online Research Fund

Natalie Shoup

Grant Portfolio Specialist, Tech Coalition Safe Online Research Fund

Natalie has recently worked with Nest Foundation in combatting child sexual exploitation and trafficking through engaging with communities of young people, educators, and experts in prevention education programs. Natalie has also supported the work of Developing Minds Foundation in various capacities over the past 8 years, most recently as Executive Director. She supported community-based NGOs in the US, Brazil and Colombia to provide access to quality education and psychosocial support for children, youth and families affected by violence. Previously, Natalie was Program and Training Manager at the Data-Pop Alliance, a coalition created by Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, MIT Media Lab and Overseas Development Institute. Natalie managed multi-sectoral projects and research partnerships and contributed to the creation and implementation of professional data literacy training workshops jointly with UN Systems Staff College. 

She recently completed a Master’s in Education and International Development at the University of Cambridge, focusing on the intersection of peace-building education, digital futures, and informal learning. For undergrad, Natalie received her BSE in Operations Research and Financial Engineering from Princeton University. 

Zara Taylor-Jackson

Senior Advocacy Specialist, Safe To Learn

Zara Taylor-Jackson

Senior Advocacy Specialist, Safe To Learn

Zara specialises in high-level advocacy, stakeholder management, and developing high-impact external influencing strategies and integrated campaigns. She joined the End Violence Partnership in 2021 as a Senior Advocacy Consultant for Safe to Learn.

Zara previously worked for Save the Children and Unicef UK where she delivered successful campaigns and strategic political engagement to public policy change across a range of issues including human rights, humanitarian response, climate change, global health, and protection issues affecting women and girls.

More recently, Zara has worked with a range of clients including the International Rescue Committee, Christian Aid, and Malaria No More UK as part of the partnership that delivered the 2018 London Malaria Summit. Zara has a Masters in Conflict, Security, and Development from Kings College London and is currently undertaking a part-time MSc and Clinical Diploma in Integrative Psychotherapy.

Serena Tommasino

Knowledge & Advocacy Specialist, Safe Online

Serena Tommasino

Knowledge & Advocacy Specialist, Safe Online

Serena has been with End Violence’s Safe Online team for the last two years where she provides technical guidance to support the investment portfolio and strategy, and the learning, knowledge dissemination and advocacy across the End Violence partners.

Serena has 15 years of experience in violence prevention programs, policy dialogue and partnership development at national and international level. At UNICEF India, Serena led the country office’s violence prevention program, and at UNICEF Tunisia she conducted an in-depth situational analysis to support the development of the new cross-sector program for adolescents. Prior to joining UNICEF, Serena supported the work of the South Asia Regional Partnership to End Violence Against Children and spent four years working as a Child Protection Advisor for the Safeguarding Children Board in England. She also worked in East Africa coordinating the work of a USAID-funded regional project and as Advisor to the European Union Presidency at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Fluent in English, French, and Italian, Serena received her Master’s in Sociology from the University of Naples, a Master’s in Non-Profit Project Management from Catholic University of Sacred Heart of Milan and completed a Research Fellowship at the University of Toronto. Serena is based in Tunis with what she loves the most, her two daughters Sofia and Laia, the sun and the sea!

Sonia Vohito

Legal Policy Specialist, Corporal Punishment

Sonia Vohito

Legal Policy Specialist, Corporal Punishment

Sonia joined the End Violence Partnership as Legal Policy Specialist (Corporal punishment) in October 2020. Prior to this, she worked for the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children for 11 years as Africa Project Coordinator. In this role, she promoted law reform and supported national campaigns and research for the eradication of legalized violence against children, particularly in Africa. Sonia is a long-standing human rights activist committed to the promotion and protection of human/ children’s rights. She has over twenty years of advocacy and management experience in the not-for-profit sector in the UK and in Africa (e.g. Ethiopia, South Africa). She worked for Amnesty International, Women's Aid, Women Living Under Muslim Laws. Sonia holds a Master’s in International Law from the University of Paris XI, a Master’s in Non-Profit Administration from the London South Bank University and a PhD in Constitutional Law from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. She speaks English, French and Sango.

Sonia holds a Master’s in International Law from the University of Paris XI, a Master’s in Non-Profit Administration from the London South Bank University and a PhD in Constitutional Law from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. She speaks English, French and Sango.