Focus: Civil Society
Joy Olivier
Joy Olivier is passionate about finding innovative solutions to big social problems. She is the co-founder of Botanican, a social enterprise that is establishing Africa's first legal network of cannabis growers and bringing sustainable cannabis products to local and global markets. Joy is also the co-founder of IkamvaYouth, an education non-profit that enables disadvantaged youth to pull themselves and each other out of poverty, which she ran for fifteen years. Joy is intrigued by the power of collaboration, and the conversion of challenges into opportunities. She is committed to doing all she can to fight inequality and promote access to opportunities that change lives. In addition to being a Yale…
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Diala Khamra
Diala Khamra is CEO of the Haya Cultural Center in Amman, an organization that impacts the lives of nearly 50,000 Jordanian children every year through education, arts, and culture. She is passionate about the roles art and culture play in bringing about meaningful social change and development. Previously, Diala founded the Justice Center for Legal Aid based in Amman, Jordan. The Center provides the poor and the vulnerable with access to counsel and representation through legal aid clinics across the country. Diala has worked as a private consultant focusing on broad issues related to rule of law and governance, and has worked with USAID, the World Bank, and the Basel…
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Mohamed ElFayoumy
Mohamed ElFayoumy is an Egyptian diplomat with extensive experience in the Middle East. He currently serves as Political Adviser for the United Nations Special Envoy to Syria. Mohamed served as his government’s representative to the Syrian Opposition and he was the Consul in the Egyptian Embassy in Syria where he was instrumental in evacuating thousands of Egyptian nationals from Syria during the conflict in 2011-13. He is also active in a number of civil society organizations working toward the political development of Egypt.
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Nicolas "Nico" Ducoté
Nicolas "Nico" DucotĂ© has dedicated the last 20 years to strengthening civil society and democratic institutions in Argentina. After participating in and leading several NGOs, he co-founded CIPPEC (the Center for the Implementation of Public Policies for Equity and Growth) in 2000 and turned it into Argentina’s premier independent public policy research organization and one of Latin America's top think tanks. His professional contributions have spearheaded national initiatives to improve access to education, healthcare, and justice. Working with the Ministry of Education, Nico helped pass landmark education reform laws in 2005-06 and facilitated state-level education reform in several districts. He later became involved in politics, serving as Mayor of the…
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Korto Reeves
Korto Reeves is currently the global Head of Women's Rights in ActionAid International, a social justice federation in 43 countries. Over the last 13 years, she has worked with the organization in several positions, including Country Director in Liberia from 2010 to 2016. She has 20 years of professional experience working across Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, and with USAID and UNDP. She is an African feminist and strategic civil society leader in Liberia and on the continent. A significant contributor to shaping feminist discourse on multiple and intersecting issues in the region, she is a member of the Urgent Action Fund-Africa and Sustainable Development Institute boards. As a…
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Sally Abi Khalil
Sally Abi Khalil is a humanitarian and development practitioner with twenty years of experience in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Tunisia, Egypt, and Syria. She is currently Middle East and North Africa Director of Oxfam International and has served as chair of the Lebanon Humanitarian INGO Forum. As the first Lebanese woman to run a major international NGO within the Syria Response in Lebanon, she has led humanitarian response programming, programs supporting youth and women with social innovation and social entrepreneurship initiatives, promoted the right to decent work, worked for the establishment of civil society networks, and promoted feminist approaches towards leadership and collective action. Sally’s career has followed the trajectory of…
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Jovitta Thomas
Jovitta Thomas is a community development expert from India, specializing in development work in fragile and conflict states. In her over 20 years of international work, largely in the Balkans and Afghanistan, she focuses on helping new/ transitional governments design and implement very large development initiatives covering the sectors of local governance, poverty reduction, community development, conflict management, emergency support, and core public services. Her expertise is focused on implementing projects in highly volatile environments and adapting international best practices to local contexts. In the Balkans, Jovitta worked to remove parallel structures and integrate minorities into the judicial system of the newly independent Kosovo. In Afghanistan, she was first Deputy…
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Arif Zamhari
Arif Zamhari is a social activist based in Indonesia working to promote moderate and progressive Islam. He is committed to engaging civil society in countering terrorism and promoting tolerance through dialogue and education. Serving as Deputy Director of the International Conference of Islamic Scholars, Arif is devoted to interfaith discourse and is involved in Track II diplomacy through leadership of the International Conference of Islamic Scholars Forum. Arif is also a lecturer in theology and psychology at the State Islamic University in Jakarta and the State Islamic Institute in Surabaya.
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Neide Maria da Silva
Neide Maria da Silva is Founder and Executive Director of Equipe TĂ©cnica de Assessoria Pesquisa e Ação Social, one of Brazil's most important non-governmental organizations. She has played a crucial role in building community organizations and civil society especially in the context of resistance to military rule. The organization's activities focus on gender, violence, human rights, and land security issues and is active in monitoring state and municipal government urban policy. They work to protect children, youth, and families in slums, monitoring orphanages and protecting urban squatters from being evicted and brutalized. Neide has also been involved in global youth projects meant to encourage the social inclusion of vulnerable children…
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Lidia Kolucka-Zuk
Lidia Kolucka-Zuk serves as Vice President of Forum Energii, a European think thank supporting a fair, secure and effective energy transition towards climate neutrality.  She plays a leading role for the legal and financial affairs of Forum as well as a development strategy of programs and internal governance. She previously served as Director of PELION SA, leading in policy, regulatory strategy, public affairs, sustainable development and corporate responsibility and as Executive Director for the Warsaw-based Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe. Lidia is a lawyer by training and has worked as a strategic advisor to the Polish Prime Minister on issues of state efficiency, reforms in the judicial and legal sectors,…
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