ICVA 2023 Annual Conference

Since 1 September 2020, Jürg Lauber has been the Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations and to the other international organisations in Geneva. From 2015 to 2020, he served as Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations in New York. Between 2011 and 2015 he served as head of the United Nations and International Organisations Division in Bern. Between 2009 and 2011 he was Deputy Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations and other international organisations in Geneva and Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the Conference on Disarmament. Between 2007 and 2009 he served as chef de cabinet to the President of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. As a diplomat he was posted in Bangkok, Bern, Beijing, and the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations in New York. Before joining the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) in 1993 he worked in peacekeeping missions in Namibia (UNTAG) and Korea (Panmunjom). Jürg Lauber has a law degree from the University of Zurich. He was born in 1963 in Horgen, Switzerland.

United Nations SecretaryGeneral António Guterres appointed Martin Griffiths of the United Kingdom as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator in May 2021.

Mr. Griffiths brings extensive experience in humanitarian affairs. Since 2018 he served as the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Yemen. Between 2014 and 2018, he served as the first Executive Director of the European Institute of Peace. Between 2012 and 2014, he served as an adviser to all three Special Envoys of the Secretary-General for Syria, and Deputy Head of the United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS). From 1999 to 2010, Mr. Griffiths was the founding Director of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue in Geneva.

He also worked in the British diplomatic service and for various international humanitarian organizations, including UNICEF, Save the Children and Action Aid. In 1994 he became the Director of the Department of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva and, from 1998 to 1999, served as Deputy to the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator in New York. He has also served as United Nations Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Great Lakes and in the Balkans.

Mr. Griffiths holds a master’s degree in Southeast Asian studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and is a qualified barrister.

A leader in international development and a long-serving champion of gender equality, Sofia has almost 30 years of experience working at CARE. She spearheaded CARE’s first program strategy and was integral to placing women and gender equality at the very heart of CARE’s worldwide work.

Sofia, originally from Uruguay, lives in Quito, Ecuador. Having worked in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, Sofia unshakable commitment to women and girls is drawn from many years of working alongside some of the worlds most marginalized communities; from domestic workers, women working in the garment sector and survivors of gender-based violence.

Prior to working in international development, Sofía was a Sociologist in the field of public opinion polls and audience research. She holds a B.A. in Sociology from the Universidad de la República Oriental del Uruguay and an MSc in Epidemiology from the University of London/London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Ms. Taïba Rahim is an Afghan national and teacher by training. She is the president and founder of the Nai Qala Association, an NGO engaged in education programs in some of the remotest regions of central Afghanistan.

NQA has faced many challenges and had to show great strength. As one of the rare Afghan NGOs led by a woman, it has contributed to important cultural change. Despite the new pressures, NQA remains fully committed and is operational.

She worked previously with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Afghanistan. In March 2010, she was awarded a prize by the city of Geneva for her work in Afghanistan.

Nai Qala is a non-governmental, non-political, and non-profit organisation founded in 2007 in Switzerland; Nai Qala has an operational office in Kabul with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The association is governed by a board of volunteers with a wide range of experience in humanitarian and development sectors. Nai Qala Association was formally registered with the Ministry of Economy of Afghanistan in 2013.

Ignacio is the Executive Director of ICVA since January 2018. He strengthens the impact and collective voice of ICVA and leads its engagement with the highest levels of the U.N., governments, philanthropies, and civil society actors.

He has been working in the field of development cooperation and humanitarian assistance for over 30 years,  the past 10 years in CEO positions at international aid organisations. Ignacio has worked for Terre des Hommes, the Swiss Tropical Institute, the European Association for Development and Health and Médecines Sans Frontières. As a strong supporter of inter-organisational collaborations, he has led strategic partnerships with these organisations.

He is an expert on human rights and social issues and has been strongly engaged in global advocacy on protection frameworks for people on the move with a focus on children and youth.

Stephanie has 10 years of experience working with local and international NGOs in the MENA region on different advocacy initiatives and research.

Before joining ICVA in 2020, Stephanie worked as the Country Program Manager for HelpAge International in Jordan, with a focus on policies and strategies related to ageing and disability.  She has also worked in the United States House of Representatives as Immigration and International Affairs Specialist. Stephanie has experience on promoting inclusion and localization agendas. She also has experience in conducting trainings on inclusive approaches to humanitarian and development interventions

She has a degree in International Relations focused on the Middle East, and a master’s in Public Administration, both from universities in the US.

Jan Egeland has been Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council since August 2013, leading humanitarian operations with some 16,000 relief workers, and serving over 9 million people in need across the world. In June 2021, he was appointed Eminent Person of The Grand Bargain initiative. Within this role, he is responsible for promoting and advocating for the advancement of The Grand Bargain’s commitments to better serve people in need. From 2015 to the end of 2018, he was Special Advisor to the UN mediation efforts in Syria and chaired the 23-nation humanitarian task force for the protection of and access to Syrian civilians. Egeland served as UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator 2003-2006 where he spearheaded a reform of the global humanitarian system. He has been Europe Director of Human Rights Watch (2011−2013), Executive Director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (2007−2011) and served as the UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser to Colombia (1999−2001). From 1990 to 1997, he was State Secretary in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he co-organized and co-initiated the Norwegian Channel that led to the Oslo Agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (1993), as well as peace agreements in Guatemala (1996) and elsewhere. He has received several international awards. In 2006, Time Magazine named Egeland as one of the ‘100 people who shape our world’. 

Kelly T. Clements joined UNHCR as Deputy High Commissioner on 6 July 2015. Clements has been closely involved with refugee and displacement issues throughout her three-decade career.

Before joining UNHCR, Clements was a member of the Senior Executive Service, serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) where she was responsible for humanitarian issues in Asia and the Middle East and global policy and budget. In 2014, she was Acting Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon.

From 1993 to 1996, Clements served at the U.S. Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland on a Foreign Service appointment. She was Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs in 1997-1998. Clements served as a Senior Emergency Officer for Europe, the Newly Independent States, and the Americas, and later as Balkans Assistance Coordinator; she was deployed to Albania in 1999. She worked for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Bangladesh in 1992.

Clements holds a B.A. in International Studies and an M.A. in Urban Affairs from Virginia Tech, USA. She is a national of the United States of America.

Predrag Avramović currently heads the humanitarian and migration section at the European Union Delegation to the United Nations and other international organisations in Geneva. During his over twenty years in the EU civil service he has also headed the humanitarian section at the EU Delegation in New York and the cooperation section at the EU Delegation in Cuba, and held positions in EU headquarters services including DG ECHO, DG AIDCO (currently INTPA) and DG RELEX (currently EEAS/FPI), working on all parts of the humanitarian-development-peace nexus. Before joining EU institutions in 2000 he worked as a teaching and research assistant at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) from which he holds degrees in Business Engineering (1994) and Political Science (1995). He was a Wiener-Anspach fellow at the University of Cambridge from which he holds an M. Phil. in International Relations (1996). He is married and has four children.  

Marta Valdés García is the Humanitarian Director of Oxfam International. She provides leadership for the confederation on the design of quality standards and on the use of evidence to support organizational learning and performance as well as overseeing Oxfam’s surge and advisory support to emergency responses. She is responsible for fostering and driving innovation within technical areas and across sectors.

Ms Valdés García has a background in economics and a master’s degree in Development and Humanitarian Assistance. With over 20 years’ experience in relief and development work, she has led and supported an important number of humanitarian programs in Central America, Africa and in the South Caucasus. She has worked with different INGOs at field and headquarter level and with FAO. During her career, she has engaged in the quality agenda as a food-security advisor, monitoring and evaluation practitioner and advisor as well as in different leadership positions focussing on producing evidence and innovation to improve humanitarian work.

Since April 2019 she co-chairs the IASC Result Group 4 on Humanitarian-Development collaboration.

Mr. Jeremy Rempel is the Head of Humanitarian Finance for the ICVA network, leading policy work focused on the harmonization and simplification of donor conditions for humanitarian financing, improved NGO access to quality funding, and risk management. Jeremy has worked with humanitarian and development NGOs over the past twenty years in roles linked to accountability, monitoring & evaluation, capacity assessment, and audit. Prior to joining ICVA, he spent eleven years with World Vision International where he led the operations audit group and helped to develop capacity assessment processes for national offices. Jeremy holds a bachelor’s degree in Diplomacy from Occidental College, and a master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of California Los Angeles. 

Azmat Khan is the Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation for Rural Development (FRD), a national NGO based in Pakistan. The FRD is implementing different programs associated with climate change, migration and other social services in the north-west of Pakistan. Azmat works with professionals and volunteers to deliver Humanitarian and Development services to the communities where it is needed the most. He is an advocate of principled humanitarian action in Pakistan and contributes significantly to national, regional and global discussions on aid sector reforms, as well as having work experience in program designing, implementation and monitoring and evaluation. Azmat holds an MSc in Development studies from the Institute of Management Sciences (IMSciences), a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Law from the University of Peshawar and is currently enrolled in an evening postgraduate degree course in Development Studies at IMSciences Peshawar. 

Catherine-Lune Grayson leads the ICRC’s policy team, as well as its climate policy work. She has carried out research on the humanitarian consequences of converging climate risks and armed conflict and co-led the development of the Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organizations with the IFRC. She has previously focused on the experience of populations displaced by armed conflict and violence. Catherine-Lune has worked in East and Central Africa for several years for the Danish Refugee Council, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the United Nations High  Commissioner for Refugees. She is trained in political science (Sciences Po, Paris) and international law (Université de Montreal), and holds a Ph.D in anthropology (Université de Montreal).

Charlene Watson works as Senior Research Associate for the global independent think-tank ODI. Charlene has over ten years’ experience in climate finance with research focusing on the complexities associated with channelling and programming climate finance effectively. Her work increasingly considers how all financial flows can become more consistent with climate objectives and the goals laid out in the Paris agreement and is a regular technical contributor to the Biennial Assessment and Overview of Climate Finance flows of the Standing Committee on Finance of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Charlene holds a PhD in Environmental Economics from The London School of Economics and Political Science, an MSc from Imperial College London and an MA in Zoology from the University of Cambridge. 

Isaiah Toroitich leads the organization’s policy and advocacy work on climate change and environment, human rights, gender justice and peace and interfaith action. He coordinates the organizations work and engagement with the United Nations in Geneva and in New York. Before joining the LWF, Isaiah worked with the ACT Alliance as the Head of Advocacy and Development Policy. He has co-authored, edited or otherwise contributed to several publications including: The Paris Climate Agreement, towards a climate-friendly future; Climate change and labour: impacts of heat in the workplace; The Youth Climate Change Handbook; among others. Isaiah is from Kenya and holds an Executive master’s in Advocacy in International Affairs from the Geneva Graduate Institute, a Master of Arts degree in Development Communications from Daystar University, Kenya and a Bachelor of Education degree from Kenyatta University, Kenya. 

Agronomist, from University of Louvain-La-Neuve in Belgium, with more than 30 years of professional experience in development, humanitarian, climate and environmental management. Working in FAO since more than 15 years, on emergency and resilience for agriculture and food- based livelihoods systems with most vulnerable and fragile countries. Together with public-private and community partners, supports FAO strategic programme on multiple and colliding risks, impacts and emergencies from disaster, climate change, food chain threats and epidemics, socio-economic disturbance and conflicts, with the aim to build resilient agrifood systems. Is the co-leader of the UNFCCC Marrakesh Partnership for Global Climate Action-MPGCA and its Climate Resilience Pathways and is engaged in the UN Food System Summit and its 3 Resilience Alliances. Worked previously on environmental and community development issues in Africa region based in Zambia and Kenya, with World-Wildlife Fund, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and the European Commission.  

Matthew Nims serves as the Deputy Assistant to the Administrator of USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), the U.S. Government lead for international disaster response. With a mandate to save lives, alleviate human suffering, and reduce the impact of disasters, BHA monitors, mitigates, and responds to global hazards and humanitarian needs. The Bureau also promotes resilience by preparing communities for disasters before they strike, and by helping people recover and move beyond crises.

Prior to the establishment of BHA, Matthew Nims served as the Deputy Director of USAID’s Office of Food for Peace (FFP), and before that, as FFP Acting Director from January 2017 to October 2018. In 2018, he was a finalist for the Sammies People’s Choice Award, held every year by the Partnership for Public Service for outstanding public service, for leading USAID’s response in providing emergency food assistance to 20 million people in countries fighting famine that year.

Mr. Nims has over 20 years of international development and emergency programming experience, and has been with USAID since 2000. His career with USAID began in Indonesia, where he worked for three and a half years managing and overseeing development and emergency food assistance programs. He then served in Washington, D.C. for four years backstopping Asia and Latin America for the USAID Office of Food for Peace, responding to the Tsunami in Asia as well as several cyclones and other disasters.

Mr. Nims also worked on a broad portfolio of health and HIV prevention programs in Guyana for a year, followed by another year posting in Afghanistan managing energy and water infrastructure creation programs.

Misikir Tilahun is the Executive Director of Africa Humanitarian Action (AHA), a pan-African non-governmental humanitarian organization based in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. Since its founding in 1994, AHA has reached displaced populations and host communities in more than 20 African countries providing support in the areas of health care, shelter, nutrition, WASH, livelihoods and other lifesaving services.

Misikir joined AHA’s head office in 2008 as the organization’s External Relations Officer, leading AHA’s humanitarian policy and advocacy work. From 2009 – 2014, he served on the governing board of the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) as the Vice Chair, and on the Steering Committee of the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Partnership (ALNAP). In those roles, he amplified the voices of African-based local/national humanitarian NGOs in high-level policy dialogues.

Misikir served as AHA’s Head of Programmes during the same period, providing program coordination support and oversight to AHA’s country offices; followed by a role as AHA’s USA Representative from 2015 – 2018, focusing on AHA’s resource mobilization efforts in North America.

Since 2020, Misikir has been serving as AHA’s Executive director, where he is responsible for the overall planning, coordination, and direction of the organization’s operations and programmes.

Prior to joining AHA, Misikir practiced law as a litigation attorney in Phoenix, Arizona. He received a Juris Doctor degree in law (2005), and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and International Relations (2001), from the University of Kansas in the U.S.

Hazel De Wet became Deputy Director of UNICEF’s Office of Emergency Programmes in Geneva in January 2023.

Hazel has 23 years of extensive and diverse experience in political affairs, human rights, protection of civilians, women’s rights, international relations, and diplomacy in the United Nations, she is a former diplomat and a committed United Nations staff member. Hazel’s experience spans across a wide spectrum of action, from the grassroots level in the field directly with local actors, to policy making, high-level political engagement and intergovernmental processes at UN headquarters.

For last 14 years Hazel was at the frontlines of conflict, post conflict and emergency contexts in the United Nations Peacekeeping Missions in Sudan and South Sudan. In her previous role Hazel has been serving as the Head of Office of the States of Jonglei and the Upper Nile in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan where she has dealt with crisis situations and successfully navigated volatile and sensitive political scenarios. Her most recent role has been the Director of civil Affairs in South Sudan.

Hazel is a Namibian national and holds Law degree in Human Rights from University of London and bachelor’s degree in political science from University of Western Cape.

Sarah Fuhrman joined InterAction as the Director of Humanitarian Policy in July 2022. She represents InterAction in U.S. and international policy fora, focusing on protecting the humanitarian space and improving humanitarian efforts. This includes support to teams responding to forced displacement; managing risk in humanitarian settings; improving NGO-U.N. partnerships; and carrying out system-level reforms.

Sarah is an attorney and humanitarian aid professional with more than a decade of experience in policy, advocacy, research, and operations. She has worked with a variety of organizations on issues including adherence to international law, food insecurity, gender equality, and the protection of civilians in conflict. Sarah has supported humanitarian responses in Afghanistan, DRC, Iraq, Kenya, Mexico, South Sudan, Thailand, and Yemen. Recent roles include as a Senior Information Officer for USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (now the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance) and as CARE USA’s Senior Manager for Humanitarian Policy and Advocacy. She is also an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Sarah holds a J.D. from the Thomas M. Cooley Law School and an LL.M. in Public International Law from the University College of London.

Mirela joined ICVA in 2019 as Director of Policy where she leads a policy team focusing on forced migration, humanitarian financing, and coordination.

As a human rights lawyer from Albania, she has 15 years of professional experience on humanitarian and development issues working for both NGOs and UN Agencies. She worked with UNICEF as advocacy coordinator on the rights of refugee and migrant children in Europe. Prior to UNICEF, Mirela served as global protection adviser for Terre des hommes, covering programmes aiming at preventing child exploitation, trafficking and other forms of violence against children. For few years she provided direct legal services to vulnerable families and Albanian children exploited or living in the streets of Albania and Greece.

She holds an LLM degree and has authored various publications on human rights and migration law.

Ignacio is the Executive Director of ICVA since January 2018. He strengthens the impact and collective voice of ICVA and leads its engagement with the highest levels of the U.N., governments, philanthropies, and civil society actors.

He has been working in the field of development cooperation and humanitarian assistance for over 30 years,  the past 10 years in CEO positions at international aid organisations. Ignacio has worked for Terre des Hommes, the Swiss Tropical Institute, the European Association for Development and Health and Médecines Sans Frontières. As a strong supporter of inter-organisational collaborations, he has led strategic partnerships with these organisations.

He is an expert on human rights and social issues and has been strongly engaged in global advocacy on protection frameworks for people on the move with a focus on children and youth.