Jamila Sulu - Chairperson
Jamila Sulu is a Lawyer and a Human Rights Practitioner with over 20 years of experience in human rights work drawn from her previous work at the Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance in Tanzania, and from Amnesty International Tanzania Section.
She holds a master’s degree (M.A Development Studies: Human Rights, Gender and Conflict Studies) from The Hague-based International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam; a bachelor’s degree in Law (LLB), and a Diploma in International Relations and Diplomacy from Tanzania.
Her areas of expertise include international human rights law, promoting the rights of the most vulnerable, as well as gender and development issues.
Jamila became a widow at the age 38. Having witnessed the challanges that the underprivileged widows and their children face in Africa, she became a passionate advocate of widows economic empowerment as an important pillar for rebuilding their lives after the loss of their husbands. Jamila speaks English, Swahili, intermediate Dutch and basic French, and currently lives in The Netherlands.
Petra M. Meiser-Sustmann - Deputy Chairperson
Petra is a Partner at EY Parthenon located in Amsterdam with a focus on national and international business transactions and developments, large transformation projects and performance improvement. Before joining EY Parthenon, Petra was as senior executive with almost 20 years of working experience working for global companies.
She worked as a CFO and CRO, and was a member of the board of management of the HERE Technology Group. Before that, she worked at Daimler AG (now Mercedes-Benz Group), where she was the global program lead of their largest transformation program (“Project Future”) and was also global head of M&A Corporate. In this function, she held positions as board member and managing director of several companies within the Daimler Group.
Petra has many years of experience in worldwide M&A, setting-up cooperations and joint ventures, developing and streamlining businesses and is experienced in working internationally, with a focus on emerging markets. She was born in Germany and holds a degree in business law. Petra speaks German, English and Dutch.
Salome Magembe - Treasurer
Salome Magembe is a Food Scientist and an International Food Quality Professional with over 10 year of experience.
She holds a master’s degree in Food Quality Management from Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR) in the Netherlands specialising in food quality management, food ethics, food analysis and food judgment.
She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Food Science and Technology from Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) in Tanzania focusing on food microbiology, food chemistry, food engineering, and food contaminants.
She has previously worked with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Rome, Italy as well as world leading food companies in the Netherlands. She is currently working with METRO Food Sourcing (RTO)-Delft in the Netherlands as Quality Assurance Assistant.
Salome speaks English, Swahili and Dutch.
Marten Jansen - Board Member
Marten Jansen is the Chairman and Senior Project Manager at a non-profit organization namely World Projects which supports Hospitality, Tourism and Technical Education in Developing Countries as well as supporting women empowerment and gender equality initiatives.
He previously worked with PUM (Programma Uitzending Managers) which is a joint cooperation of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Dutch employers’ organization (VNO-NCW) to support Small and Medium Enterprises in developing countries and emerging markets. In this organisation, he served as Country Coordinator for Georgia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and carried out several missions to Benin, Burundi and Zambia.
He also worked at Flex Facility as Senior Project Manager for the Project Internationaal Leren Ondernemen (ILO) in Malawi and Zambia. Other companies that Marten worked for include IBM, Data Sciences BV as well as Golden Tulip Hotel in Bussum, The Netherlands.
Marten speaks Dutch, English, German, French and limited Russian.
Jerome Pellat - Board Member
Jerome Pellat is a senior executive with over 19 years of experience in Marine, Water and Energy (Oil & Gas, Power) industries.
He has extensive exposure to international markets, particularly in Africa, Europe, Middle East and South America.
He holds a Master 2 degree in Management from Grenoble Business School, and a Bachelor’s degree in Sales & Marketing from the University of Lyon, France .
Jerome currently works as Managing Director for Europe at Trelleborg Marine & Infrastructure based in The Netherlands.
He speaks English, French, Spanish and at elementary level Russian, Italian, and Portuguese.
Tara Barry - Board Member
Tara Barry is a Global Human Resources Leader and was most recently the Chief Human Resources Officer of a pharmaceutical company headquartered in The Netherlands.
She has worked in a variety of industries such as Media, IT and Financial Services and currently works as an HR Consultant. Tara has had the opportunity to manage over 40 countries in her career, with a particular focus on North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa.
She is actively involved in philanthropic work and has recently founded Work In NL, a volunteer organisation focused on supporting displaced Ukrainians find work in The Netherlands and has an active interest in Corporate Social Responsibility.
Tara is a Canadian currently living in The Netherlands, and has a BA in Organisational Psychology from the University of Waterloo in Canada.
Tara speaks English, German, French, and elementary Dutch.
Dr. Miled A. Boukrami - Board Member
Miled Amokrane Boukrami is a Senior Finance Professional who holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree (PhD) in Transfer Pricing in Frontier and Emerging Countries from the University of Aix-en-Provence in France. She also studied MSc (Masters) degree in Business Administration with an option in Corporate Finance & Accounting from the University of Poitiers in France; and a bachelor’s degree in BSBA, Administration with an option in Diplomacy from Ecole National d’Administration (ENA) in Algiers.
She has worked in the corporate sector for over ten years, currently working at MHS as Finance Director for the international business providing financial oversight on the entire financial control function across the Netherlands, Germany, UK, Italy and China.
Previously, she worked at Agro where she created the accounting functions and established the global consolidation process. She has also worked at Elsevier as the sparring partner of the CTO where she supported the building of the Amsterdam Tech Hub and led the growth of the technology business unit. She speaks French, English, Arabic, and Dutch and lives in The Netherlands.
Yifat Leder - Board Member
Yifat Leder is a Change Communication and Media professional with Socio-Cultural and Persuasive Communication expertise for over 15 years. She holds a master’s degree in Media, Culture and Society from Erasmus University and a Journalism Studies diploma from the Koteret Journalism Institute.
She is highly skilled in Public Relations, Reputation Management, Branding, Crisis Management, Storytelling, Content and Research Design. While also accomplished in Communication strategies development. In her recent assignment as Change communication Freelance Advisor, Yifat advised the Israeli Covid-19 task force, assembled by the public diplomacy directorate of the Israeli Prime minister's office whereby she contributed insights based on the research of vaccine hesitancy discourse online.
Previously, she founded a Public Relations Agency, namely Tavit PR, which provided communication and marketing services to the national and international clients; worked as Communication & Production manager at Nana Disc; Freelance Writer at Maariv Newspaper; and as Broadcaster & Producer at Lev Ha'medina radio station.
She received the Galatz Commander Award (Galei Zahal) which is an Israeli Broadcasting award for excellent media event coverage for the social-cultural project namely 'A tribe of brothers and sisters' ('Shevet Achim Ve'Achayot'). Yifat speaks English, Hebrew; Russian and elementary Dutch and lives in The Netherlands.
Our Team in Tanzania
Angela P. Mhawili - Secretary General
Angela Peter Mhawili is a senior Educationist with over 20 years of teaching experience who is currently working as a School Quality Assurance Officer in Kigamboni Municipality in Dar es Salaam under the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.
She conducts school inspections in various schools within the Municipality, before which she held the same position in Temeke Municipality.
She holds a Master's Degree (M.A) majoring in Kiswahili from the University of Dar es Salaam; a bachelor's degree in Education from the Open University of Tanzania; a diploma in teaching from Mpwapwa Teachers College; and a Grade III Teaching Certificate from Kasulu Teachers College.
Previously, she worked as a teacher and as academic teacher in primary schools in Rungwe, Kinondoni, and Temeke districts teaching various subjects.
Hussein Ringi - Program Manager
Hussein Ringi is a social scientist who graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Archaeology from the University of Dar es Salaam.
As a specialist in the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture, Hussein has taken part in projects involving archaeological excavations in Juani Island at Mafia Archipelago and Makuyuni Arusha in Tanzania, archaeological investigation of trade connections between the Mafia Island and the rest of the ancient world, and archaeological investigation of Pleistocene Hominin and Mammalian Paleofauna.
Previously, he has worked as an intern at the National Museum of Tanzania in the Village Museum Department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism serving as Cultural Material Preservation Assistant; conducting research on indigenous culture of the Tanzanian ethnic groups and guiding the tourists who visit the Village Museum.
He is also skilled in conducting systematic surveys, mapping, analysis, and impact assessment. He has also undertaken volunteer work previously with different local organizations working on the rights of disadvantaged communities in Tanzania.
Asya O. Mwilima - Special Advisor (based in the United States of America)
Asya Omar Mwilima is an expert in Information Technology (IT specialst) and a Teaching Professional who lives in Delaware, United States of America (USA).
She holds a bachelor's degree in Computer Information Technology from the New York City College of Techonology at the City University of New York. She has also graduated as an associate in Applied Science (Microcomputers for Business) from the Hostos Community College. Previously, she studied education (B.A Hons - Education) from Mbale University in Uganda.
Asya has worked as an IT Support Specialist and Consultant with different New York City Departments, and currently as Accounts Manager with a financial company in Newark, Delaware in the USA.
She also worked as Assistant Labour Officer responsible for Industrial Relations at the Commission of Labour under the Chief Minister's Office in Zanzibar, Tanzania.