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Brian Kagoro
Brian Kagoro is the Programme Support Division Director of the Africa Regional Office (AfRO) of the Open Society Foundations (OSF). Prior to that he was Founder and Executive Director of UHAI Africa Group, a governance and development consulting firm with operations in Johannesburg, Harare, and Nairobi. Brian is a Pan Africanist and a constitutional and economic relations lawyer. Prior to establishing UHAI Africa Group, Brian was the Regional Programme Advisor for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Africa Governance and Public Administration Program, where he also led the UNDP Africa Governance Team within the Regional Service Centre for Africa. Prior to joining the UNDP, Brian served as Pan African Head…
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Emlyn Jones
Emlyn Jones is a Family Medicine Physician at Kaiser Permanente in California. She completed a joint MD/Master of Health Science Research degree at the Yale School of Medicine in 2007. While at Yale, Emlyn participated in a clinical research fellowship with the Doris Duke Foundation investigating the economics of substance abuse treatment and also traveled to South Africa to investigate the immune response to hepatitis B vaccination in HIV positive children. She received her undergraduate degree from Emory University. During that time, she worked in Tanzania for Population Services International, as a Technical Trainer for the U.S. Peace Corps in Niger, West Africa and interned for the Carter Center's Trachoma…
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Chude Jideonwo
Chude Jideonwo is Co-Founder of the media group RED | For Africa, and human flourishing company Joy, Inc. Chude's work centers on storytelling from across disciplines, to inspire new, human-centered narratives about politics, markets, faith, identity, and society in Africa. He is also host of #WithChude, a TV and podcast network syndicated across Africa, telling stories that enable and strengthen the mind, the heart, and the spirit. He also hosts #ChudeExplains with documentaries focused on social justice, true crime and culture from the Black African perspective. RED, one of Africa’s leading media content and consulting companies, has worked on national elections and social movements in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone…
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Hauwa Ibrahim
Hauwa Ibrahim, J.D., S.J.D., M.L., is an internationally known human rights lawyer, currently serving as President of The Peace Institute, who was awarded the European Parliament Sakharov Prize for freedom of thoughts in 2005. She has defended over 150 cases involving women sentenced to death by stoning and children sentenced to amputation of limbs under Shariah law. Brought up in a small village in northern Nigeria, Hauwa was born into a culture that did not encourage schooling for girls beyond elementary school. Through sheer persistence and the gracious support of others, she attended teachers’ high school for women, the local university in Jos, Nigeria and continued to law school. Prior…
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Gabriella GĂłmez-Mont
Gabriella GĂłmez-Mont is Founder and CEO of Experimentalista, a novel type of nomadic and creative office specialized in cities – and that constantly shifts shape to accommodate high-level, transdisciplinary collaborations across the world. She was also the Chief Creative Officer of Mexico City, and the founder of Laboratorio para la Ciudad (2013 – 2018), the award-winning experimental arm and creative think-tank of the Mexico City government, reporting to the Mayor. As director of the Lab she headed a highly transdiciplinary team: from urban geographers, political scientists, internationalists, lawyers, civic tech experts etc., to artists, historians, architects, designers, future thinkers and philosophers, amongst others. The Lab was created to tackle urban challenges, creating novel transdisciplinary…
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Feng Gao
Feng Gao is the co-founder and managing director of Open Data China, the first civic group and social enterprise in China working on data transparency and digital rights. Under Feng’s leadership, Open Data China actively advises governments and other data holders on how to build an open and transparent data agenda. Open Data China also sets up a community for data users to make their voices heard. In 2015, Open Data China co-launched Shanghai Open Data Apps (SODA), a competition-based open data innovation model. Since then, Feng leads the daily operation of SODA and its sister programs in Chongqing, Shenyang, and other cities in China. The SODA model unlocks more…
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Marcelo Furtado
Marcelo Furtado has over 30 years of experience working in the sustainability field, committed to advancing environmental and social justice through advocacy and philanthropy. Most recently, he became a Principal at Finance for Biodiversity leading the food transition initiative and co-leading the secretariat of the Task Force on Nature Markets. He was a founding partner at the start-up ZCO2/BlockC, a traceability platform for environmental assets using blockchain technology. He was the CEO of Alana Foundation and ArapyaĂş Institute, family foundations that promote sustainability, social justice and education. Marcelo is a co-founder and was the facilitator of the Brazilian Coalition on Climate Forest and Agriculture, a multi-stakeholder forum with representatives from academia, business and civil society to implement a…
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Mary-Ann Etiebet
Dr. Mary-Ann Etiebet is a physician, researcher, and strong advocate for women's health, with extensive experience working with international development partners to design, manage and evaluate programs that address the needs of vulnerable and at risk populations. As the Executive Director of Merck for Mothers, Mary-Ann is responsible for successfully implementing a robust set of innovative programs across the globe, designing new high-impact partnerships, managing relationships with important external stakeholders, and serving as an internal and external ambassador of the initiative. She combines clinical expertise as a Board Certified Infectious Disease physician with global experience in healthcare strategy, health systems strengthening and performance improvement in the private, public and non-profit…
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DU Yang
DU Yang is the co-founder of China Philanthropist Magazine and CiMedia Group, a pioneering joint venture and an influential media source for the philanthropy industry in China. His work focuses on building partnerships and networks with global philanthropists and China’s growing philanthropy sector. As a culture “ambassador” in the philanthropy industry, he has been involved in the process of launching a platform of China’s top philanthropists and an east-west cultural program. DU is also on the advisory board of Mediadesign Hochschule – MD.H Berlin. Â
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Nandita Das
Nandita Das is a filmmaker, actor, and social advocate. She has acted in more than 40 feature films in 10 different languages. Her directorial debut feature film, Firaaq, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2008 and has travelled to over 50 festivals and won more than 20 awards. Nandita was a member of the main jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005 and 2013 and the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2007 amongst others. She also wrote, directed and acted in the play, Between the Lines, in 2012, that dealt with the subtle gender inequalities that exist amongst the affluent, educated, and urban couples. Nandita's second directorial…
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