Our Consultants

Dr. Ir. Agustinus Hermino, M.Pd was born in Indonesia and he has long experience in educational management in ASEAN Country. His Bachelor degree was in Civil Engineering from the Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia; and his Master degree and Doctor degree were Educational Management from the State University of Malang, Indonesia.

His expertise as a Project Director, Project Manager, Consultant, are in educational management, strategic management in education, policy in education, leadership in education, and human resource development in education. Some projects that ever done by him were under World Bank, GTZ, AUSAid; World Vision International; World Concern Laos; ChildFund Laos; JAPFA Foundation; and other international organizations. He is also the member of Community of Practice (CoP) under the SEAMEO RIHED.

He is also as the Researcher, Book Writer, Reviewer in several International Journals, Swimming Coach, and Master Swimmer in the Open Water Swimming. At this time, he is working as the International Lecturer at the National University of Laos (NUOL) at both Faculties namely: Faculty of Economic and Business Management; and Faculty of Education. His publication can be seen in the “google scholar agustinus hermino”.

Ahmed Abidur Razzaque Khan, alias Ahmed Abid is a storyteller with nearly two decades of empirical knowledge of conducting research on labour trafficking, migration, child rights, Human Rights Education (HRE), health including mental health, and application of alternative media including new media, film and theatre. He has produced and directed films on rights-based issues such as ‘The Dreaming Vendors’ (Bangladesh-Thailand) and ‘Click to Protect, Change to Connect’ (Brazil-Thailand). Abid was the artistic director of the first travelling ‘Human Rights Film Festival’ in Thailand. Abid’s magnificent journey of storytelling and research allowed him to work around/ on South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal), South East Asia (Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore), Middle East (Dubai-UAE, Jordan) and Europe (Italy and the Netherlands).

He has taught at the Department of Communications and New Media (CNM), National University of Singapore and worked at its CARE Lab as a Research Assistant. He coordinated Knowledge Management for CIDA-SEARCH (Southeast Asia Regional Cooperation in Human Development) project that supported the rights of undocumented and documented migrant workers, ethnic minorities and children with gender as a cross cutting theme in South East Asia. He also worked with/ for Child Protection Partnership (CPP), Plan International Thailand, the International Institute for Child Rights (IICRD) and SIDA-SE Asia as an international consultant. Abid did his second international master’s degree in Human Rights and Social Development from Mahidol University of Thailand. He also successfully completed a diploma in ‘Cinema and Human Rights’ from the European- Inter University Centre for Human Rights and Democratization (EIUC) from Venice, Italy.

Abid’s present boat people’s story telling research narrative allowed him to station in Western Sydney University, Australia for a joint PhD in ‘Human Rights, Society and Multi-level Governance’. Recently, he organized a timely visual story telling project on displaced Rohingya children titled ‘Children of Naf River Basin’ around Asia- Europe. Being an active member of Humanitarian and Development Research Initiative (HADRI) of Western Sydney University he now is on a new project of ‘Diversity and Human Rights Film Festival’ in Sydney, Australia.

Dr. Al Artaman is a medical scientist with years of experience in clinical and pharmaco- epidemiology as well as public and global health epidemiology.  He is an assistant professor of community health sciences at the University of Manitoba (Canada).  He was recently the Coordination Committee chair of the Canadian Alliance for Regional Risk Factor Surveillance.  He had previously worked as consultant in the private sector, researcher in the academia, and epidemiology manager in the government sector.

Dr. Artaman is currently an expert for the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study coordinated through the University of Washington (USA).  He is also the founding co-chair of Oncology Special Interest Group of the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology.

Amélie is an international consultant in business and human rights, who has worked in the past 12 years across North and Latin Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. Her diverse background is based on a hybrid expertise working both in the private and social sectors. Amélie’s professional aim is to challenge businesses to thrive through clean and sustainable growth, and to tackle human rights violations.

She gained extensive experience in migration, human trafficking, gender equality and child protection as a researcher for a Costa Rican NGO, covering the Colombia-USA migration and drug trafficking route. When heading Justice Without Borders Hong Kong, she supported modern slavery victims and migrant domestic workers suffering from exploitation or abuse to access justice in the APAC region. Amélie provided learning workshops and capacity building trainings on labour rights, migration, gender and racial-based violence in Hong Kong and in Indonesia. Amélie was also involved in the Hong Kong Civil Society Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force, led by IOM. Entrepreneur-at-heart, Amélie co-founded in early 2018 a social enterprise in the clean and renewable sector in Rwanda, headquartered on the border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Amélie undertook various assignments for multinationals and iNGOs as a consultant. Her first contract was in 2011 for a Canadian manufacturing company, in India. Other undertakings include operations management, market studies, feasibility analysis, market penetration strategies, fundraising & investment mapping, situational assessments, data analysis of evaluation and monitoring research, and literature reviews. In early 2019, she notably produced a risk assessments analysis of the potential of having child labour in cocoa supply chains in five countries for Cargill, and a fundraising mapping and market study of Bangkok for a Dutch iNGO.

Dr Amornsak Kitthananan is a professional analyst and development practitioner with more than 15 years of extensive experiences working in developed and developing countries including countries in Asia. His experience included positions with the USAID’s Regional Development Mission for Asia, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), Asia-Pacific Regional Centre of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), National Institute of Development Administration, School of Public Policy of the University of Singapore, Management Research Centre of the University of Bristol, and Institute of Future Studies for Development. He has held visiting fellowships at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Birmingham, Australian National University and Thammasat University.

His research and consulting practices serve clients in various government agencies, business, public organizations, and not-for-profit organisations at the local, national and international levels such as the UNESCAP, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), UNDP, Rockefeller Foundation, Oxfam GB, Professional Associations Research Network of UK, Impact Investment Exchange Asia, Thailand’s National Security Council, Thailand’s National Decentralization Commission, Secretariat of the Cabinet, National Economic and Social Advisory Council of Thailand, and National Research Council of Thailand.

His extensive areas of experience involve policy research and analysis, policy formulation and advocacy, program development, project design, management and evaluation with key specialization in democratic governance, decentralization and local governance, public sector reform, institutional capacity building, anti-corruption, civil society and community empowerment, corporate social responsibility, private management, and social policy.

Amornsak completed 38 research and consultancy assignments, published 18 book chapters and articles, and spoke at numerous seminars, trainings and lectures. He received a Doctorate in Policy Studies from the School for Policy Studies at University of Bristol, England.

Areeluck has 11-year experience in the social research field in Thailand. She has extensive experience in qualitative research methodologies such as in-depth interviews, participant observation, ethnography, and reporting. She has worked with many institutions and individuals, helping them plan and implement their research studies. She is involved in these studies as either a research consultant or data collecting.

Areeluck holds a Master of Anthropology from Thammasart University and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Southeast Asia study from Kasetsart University. The Master’s Degree was a studentship funded by the Thailand Research Fund, Master Research Grants (TRF-MAG) in 2015 for the Defining and Practicing Childhood: Burmese Children in a Thai School project. Her thesis focuses on how childhood was defined by different agencies working to promote literacy among the children of Burmese migrant workers in Samut Sakhon, Thailand.

Areeluck has highly empathetic levels, being a good listener, and a good observer. She has the capability and experience of collecting data with various groups of people, such as vulnerable children, ethnic groups, migrant workers, and the elderly group, etc. And she has experience collecting interviews with government organizations, business organizations, educational institutions, individuals, both Thais and Southeast Asians and Westerners.

She had done voluntary teaching with migrant children for a couple of years. Besides that, she has undergone training in “Child Protection: Children’s Rights in Theory and Practice” as an online learning course from Harvard University. Also hold certificates in “Good Clinical Research Practice Guidelines” by the Human Research Ethics Subcommittee, Thammasat University, and certificates in “Foundations of Project Management” by Google, etc.

Arip Muttaqien is an experienced economist with over 15 years of expertise in research and consultancy, specializing in synthesizing complex data into clear insights and connecting the dots across various disciplines (inter-disciplinary specialist). He has worked on a broad range of projects/sectors, such as Southeast Asia, regional economic integration, public policy, sustainable finance, education, health, women empowerment, child protection, poverty, inequality, and digital economy. He also specializes in quantitative methodology and with a special interest in future economy. Arip is open to working outside his current knowledge and is agile in facing new challenges.

During his tenure as a Senior Officer at the ASEAN Headquarters, he conducted in-depth economic analysis across over 20 sectors in Southeast Asia, monitoring over 2,400 activities and 370 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), covering areas such as macroeconomics, trade, investment, financial integration, digital economy, sustainability, climate change, infrastructure, transport, and MSMEs.

Previously, he worked in various organizations—including government, private sectors, and NGOs—such as an Evaluation Specialist supporting stunting prevention programs at the Office of the Vice President of Indonesia, a researcher at an Indonesian NGO dedicated to promoting access to quality education in remote areas, and an analyst at a leading marketing consultancy in Southeast Asia.

Arip holds a PhD in Economics from UNU-MERIT/Maastricht University in the Netherlands, with a dissertation on inequality and polarization in developing Asia, focusing on case studies from China, India, and Indonesia. He also completed visiting fellowships at UNU-WIDER in Helsinki and LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg. Additionally, he holds a MSc in Public Policy & Human Development from UNU-MERIT/Maastricht University, a master’s degree in Economics from the Toulouse School of Economics in France, and a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Indonesia.

Arip is currently serving as a Lecturer and Researcher at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Indonesia.

Anil is a Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation Specialist. He brings together more than nine years of experience from Government and Intergovernmental organizations in the development field in the region and beyond. He has worked closely, and in coordination with various organizations, in particular government, and development agencies for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) projects. Previously, he has worked with the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) and Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA) in various capacities.

He has handled several projects related to DRR ranging from early warning and communication, emergency operation center, risk assessment, community-based disaster risk reduction, disaster response, and recovery. He has been a visiting lecturer for several institutes and an active member of disaster response efforts in the region. He has been instrumental in writing several reports for government and international organizations on various issues related to disaster financing, traditional knowledge in DRR, disaster response, and recovery.

In his various capacities, he has not only provided technical support to organizations but also contributed towards field-based research to bridge gaps between science and policy. As part of technical assistance and support, he has developed several short & long-term strategy papers for various interventions, policy briefs, baseline assessment reports, monitoring & evaluation frameworks, results tracker, theory of change, knowledge products, process documents & communication material for projects.  

He holds a Master’s degree in Disaster Management from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and a Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Sciences. Anil is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Disaster Resilience and Climate Change with a focus on coastal critical infrastructure from the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand.

With close to 17 years of experience in development sector, Ashwin Kumar Rao specializes in evaluating programs, projects and internal processes. Beginning career as a social researcher, he  has applied evaluation techniques across various domains like Health, Education, Community Development and Microfinance.

Designed and executed large evaluation studies; Keenly interested in undertaking baseline evaluation, endline evaluation and process monitoring.  Within the implementation paradigm, instrumental in designing and setting up monitoring systems.

His work has helped organizations

• Design programs effectively
• Evaluation success of projects
• Uncover fraudulent practices

And establish measurement and evaluation as a key component of programs and projects.

He built his experience working with leading research organizations in India like AC Nielsen ORG-MARG (Now the Nielsen Company) company and IMRB International (now Kantar IMRB). Apart from India, he has worked on projects in Brazil, Kenya, Cambodia and Myanmar.

Ashwin Rao has a Masters in Economics from Madras Christian College, Chennai, India and a Masters in Philosophy (M.Phil.) degree in Economics from University of Madras, Chennai, India.

Binod is a monitoring, evaluation, and capacity development specialist with a PhD in Development Studies from the Australian National University, He brings over 25 years of grounded multi-disciplinary international development experience. He has demonstrated expertise in conducting baseline, midterm, and final evaluations, and studies; and developing monitoring, evaluation, and learning plans and frameworks. Binod is a seasoned trainer and has facilitated many training and capacity development events. He has provided services to bilateral, multilateral, and international development agencies in multiple fields, including migration and trafficking, governance and civil society, human rights, livelihoods and economic opportunities, poverty and inclusive growth, gender equity and social inclusion, environment and climate change, natural resources management, and the private sector collaboration. Binod has worked directly in 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific region and provided technical assistance to programs funded by various donors, such as the Governments of the United Kingdom (FCDO), Australia (DFAT), BMU-Germany, European Union (EU), Norway (NORAD), Switzerland (SDC), Sweden (SIDA), USAID and USG departments, and private foundations.

Charis Smuthkochorn is a consultant on corporate sustainability and business and human rights (BHR) based in Bangkok, Thailand. Also, she is currently holding a Bachelor’s degree in Geography from Clark University (MA, USA), as well as fluent in English and Thai.

Her private sector experience includes consulting Thai companies on integrating the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to their business processes. She has helped organize 10+ human rights workshops with businesses across different sectors, and engaged company personnel from different functions on their human rights risks.

Besides human rights projects, she has also supported companies with sustainability reporting, monitoring and evaluating community investments through the use of impact valuation and SROI tools, and conducting social impact assessments and audits.

Following her work in the private sector, Charis has consulted nonprofits and UN agencies on private sector engagement and BHR. This included conducting research and engaging employers and companies to identify private sector engagement opportunities, developing and brokering partnerships, and overseeing projects done in partnership with private sector. She has led private sector-supported research projects on identifying forced labor and human trafficking risks in sectors with high risks of forced labor and human trafficking, mapping supply chains and migration routes, and good practices in operating non-state-based grievance mechanisms.

Chariya has the academic and work experience, a career long commitment to the rights of the venerable people, and aim for sustainable development and peaceful society.

She has been engaged in the child development in various settings from YMCA youth summer camps, Indochinese refugee camps, university students, disadvantaged children groups and children with no identity at the border areas of Thailand.

Chariya hold a Master degree of Social Work and a Bachelor degree of Arts (French and psychology from Thammasat University, Bangkok Thailand. Her thesis for Master of Social Work in 1984 was a study on the knowledge and attitude of Thammasat’s first year students towards sex education where she recommended for family life education, reproductive health education, including gender equality and sensitivity.

With Save the Children UK, Thailand office, she engaged in the preparation for the ratification of the UNCRC in Thailand through supporting many networks for children i.e. disability, labour, trafficking, sexual abused etc. She had provided monitoring and evaluation for the pilot projects supported by SCF UK through NGOs and GOs and worked towards scaling up for best practice by supporting change, especially, in Government policy.

As a professor of social work at Huachiew Chalermprakiet University, she has developed the curricula on Medical Social Work and Industrial Social Work. In addition, she has involved in the preparation of a standard for elderly care for Ministry of Human Development and Social Security. She has worked with Faculty of Social Work, University of Sydney on various tasks and occasions.

With Plan International, Thailand office, she supported partner organizations to set up the child protection system at community level, as well as, in the cyberspace. she has the opportunity to support the advocacy on the Right to Identity, learn without fear, gender equality and for Thailand  to be the first country to become Party to the Optional Protocol to the UNCRC on a communications procedure.

She has been involved in the trainnings and curricula development for youth groups, university students, GOs and NGOs, INGOs including,  the youth without legal identity at the border areas in the Northern region of Thailand and the Morgan, Sea gypsy in the Southern region of Thailand, on the issues of child rights, child protection, gender equality, strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation.

Samnang comes from the social development sector in Cambodia and has a wealth of experience working with rural communities. Samnang has a Master Degree in Rural Development and Project management and seven years’ experience in social research and field management. She has worked with BMRS Asia, and before that she worked with CWPD, providing support to female sex workers such as education on HIV prevention, family planning, gender-based violence etc. She also facilitated quantitative data collection on outputs and outcome indicators and conducted FGDs and key informant interview (KII). As field coordinator, she also has provided training and orientation to field staff. Through her work, she has developed considerable experience in liaising with local communities, including government and NGO and other stakeholder groups. Concerning participatory research, she has also been directly involved with making logistical arrangements for meetings and workshops, conduct training, workshops and other activities. Some of the specific work include:

Action research on expired ARV drug among people living with HIV, March 2013; final project evaluation on “Promoting Youth in Decentralization Process” for Khmer Youth Association (KYA), December 2012-January 2013; conduct situation and response analysis (SRA) and develop National strategic plan 2013-2018 for National OVC Taskforce (NOVCTF), December 2012-January 2013; final project evaluation on Control and Prevention on Malaria of Media One for University Research Co., (URC), December 2012;  develop strategic plan 2013-2016 for PDP Center, November – December 2012; final Project evaluation on Improving local governance through public dialogue on -air project for Cambodia Center for Independent Media (CCIM), November 2012; and final project evaluation on Civic Engagement for Climate Change Adaptation Project for People Center for Development and Peace (PDP), November 2012; baseline survey of “Oh Men’s Radio program – strengthening culture of respect of rights and law for harmonisation in community” for Women Media Center of Cambodia (WMC-FM 102), August 2012; unique survey on the National High School Exam “Turning A Blind Eye”, July 2012; baseline survey on Young Leader for Social Accountability project for Youth Resource Development Program (YRDP), June 2012; final Program Evaluation on HIV/AIDS prevention intervention among Most At-Risk Population (MARPs) for Cooperation for Social Service and Development (CSSD), June – July 2012.

With 25 years of development experience, including 16 years providing consultancy services in Indonesia and Asia, Dati is a seasoned professional in the field. Her expertise lies in the intersection of GEDSI (Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion) and development, specifically focusing on disaster risks and climate change, gender-based violence, livelihood and women’s economic empowerment, trade, green economy, natural resource management, and peacebuilding.

Throughout her career, Dati has collaborated with numerous esteemed organizations. She has worked with prominent development organizations such as DFAT, UN Agencies (UNDP, UNWomen), NGOs (Oxfam, Cordaid, Plan International Indonesia, CARE, Pusat Rehabilitasi Yakkum), government agencies (Komnas Perempuan, Bappenas, MoWE-CP, Ministry of Forestry, and Ministry of Trade), as well as the business sector (Trade Facilitation Office (TFO) Canada and Mondelez). Her diverse experience across these sectors has given her a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities in achieving sustainable development and gender equality.

In addition to her consultancy work, Dati has excelled in project evaluation and organizational development for development organizations. She has contributed her expertise in gender equality, disability and social inclusion, women’s rights and leadership, green economy, disaster and climate change, and natural resource management. Her skills extend to using participatory approaches with communities and facilitating training and workshops with various stakeholders, including the business sector. Dati is also well-versed in conducting online training sessions, leveraging technology to deliver impactful learning experiences.

One of Dati’s notable strengths is her proficiency in designing and conducting qualitative research. Her research outputs include publications such as a book and book articles covering topics related to various issues. These publications highlight her commitment to advancing knowledge and informing evidence-based interventions in her expertise.

Dati has been recognized for her outstanding contributions to the field. The Rockefeller Foundation in Italy awarded her the Bellagio Residency Program during August-September 2012. This prestigious residency aimed to support her project on gender and disaster risk reduction in Indonesia, further affirming her dedication to addressing critical issues and making a lasting impact.

David has been living and working in Thailand for 7 years as a freelance photojournalist but was born in California U.S.A. into an entertainment and production family. His mother was a gifted artist and performer, his father a successful producer of television and stage productions. David is also the eldest grandson of singer Peggy Lee.

David has worked for numerous News, television and production houses all over the world over his career span.

For last 13 years David been the owner and chief videographer for Jaiyen Digital Media, a U.S.A/Thailand based freelance news and television production facility that provides local and foreign media agencies with Bangkok based videographers and photographers and live broadcast services.

Senior Professor David Steel is Director of the National Institute for Applied Statistics Research Australia (NIASRA) at the University of Wollongong, which includes the Centre for Sample Survey Methodology. He leads a team focusing on statistical methodologies for official and survey statistics, sample survey design and analysis methods for complex social, health and economic surveys. He has extensive experience in developing sample design and estimation procedures for a wide range of sample surveys. Prior to joining the University of Wollongong he was a senior methodologist at the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), where, as Director of Sampling Section, he was involved in developing the sample design and estimation methods for ABS’s households surveys and was also the head of the branch responsible for major economic indicators.

Prof Steel has undertaken statistical consultancies with a number of national and international agencies, which includes projects with ABS, Statistics New Zealand, NSW Ministry of Health and NZ Ministry of Health, on methodological issues associated with their survey programme. These issues include sampling methods for household, employer and business surveys, including optimal cluster sizes and within household sampling, complex variance estimation and analysis of design effects, dual frame methods and weighting, and combining data from different sources. He has published papers on these topics in international referred journals and provided training courses and workshops on them to agencies in Australia and internationally. He has undertaken consultancies on sample design and estimation for a number of government agencies, such as the Australian Institute for Family Studies, and the National Centre for Vocational Education Research. He undertook a major methodological review of options for a monthly labour force survey for the UK Office for National Statistics. He was a foundation member of the ABS’s Methodological Advisory Committee. He is an Accredited Statistician with the Statistical Society of Australia, an elected member of the International Statistical Institute and was formerly a member of the Executive Committee of the International Association of Survey Statisticians. He has a Bachelor (Hons), Masters and PhD degrees in Statistics from the University of Adelaide, Australian National University and University of Southampton, respectively.

David has been living and working in Thailand for nearly six years. Originally from the United States, he moved to Nakhon Ratchasima to teach English, language arts, and history in 2013 after graduating from Brandeis University with a Master’s degree in international and global studies.

Since 2015, he has been working as a consultant for UNESCO Bangkok, where he develops and manages leaderships programs and trainings for youth in Southeast Asia that are focused on enhancing their media literacy/advocacy, policy development, and research skills. Most recently, he organized and facilitated a training on understanding and combating “fake news” at Thammasat University.

In addition to his programmatic work, David supports other development organizations (such as UNICEF, SEAMEO, and FAO) in reporting work. He also is an amateur writer/journalist who has contributed several op-eds on youth issues in Southeast Asia to various newspapers in Thailand, as well as produced various videos on similar topics.

David’s main areas of interests are youth development (particularly vulnerable and marginalized youth in Southeast Asia) and news literacy.

Dawn Herdman has 14 years experience in qualitative research across Asia, Australia and Europe, working with some of the top global agencies including Millward Brown Australia, Synovate UK and Research International Thailand. She is a dynamic and strategically insightful professional.

Dawn is passionate about Qualitative research and a skilled moderator. She is highly experienced across the qualitative spectrum from exploratory to NPD, concept development, testing and programme evaluation.

Dawn has worked with many NGOs and governmental organizations. Clients and projects include ActionAid brand messaging research across UK, Greece and India; British Council programmes evaluation across 10 developing markets in Asia and Africa, PSNI (Police Service Northern Ireland) and DPPs (District Policing Partnerships) investigating Human Rights and local policing in Northern Ireland; Concept development and product testing for water purification devices in Thailand and Vietnam.

Denise Erber holds a degree of Master of Science with a major in Global Studies and a focus on migration studies from the University of Gothenburg as well as a Bachelor´s degree in European Administrative Management from the Harz University of Applied Sciences.

She has experience in conducting qualitative and quantitative research as well as ethnographic fieldwork and is versed with evaluation programs such as MAXQDA. Her research interest lies in cultural, gender and migration studies. Her thesis project investigated how female expatriates living in Thailand impact young Thai women´s perception of Self and their position in society in context with societal gender norms and wider socio-economic inequalities.

Denise speaks English and German fluently and has a working knowledge of Spanish. She has extensive international experience, gathered through various semesters and internships abroad. She is proficient in conducting online research, writing up articles and reports as well as social media and blog content.

Denise currently resides in Germany and is aiming to obtain a PhD in social sciences / cultural anthropology.

Dewi is a highly experienced advocate for gender and human rights, with a career spanning over three decades. Her passion for these issues led her to work with various NGOs and human rights organizations in Indonesia. Throughout her career, Dewi has focused on community development, human rights, oral history, and gender issues, particularly women’s and children’s development. Dewi co-founded one local NGO in Jogjakarta and helping raised issues of gender equality and girl child in 1995. She actively engaged in grassroots projects. One notable endeavour involved establishing a women’s cooperative for handicrafts in rural villages in Java. These initiatives aimed to empower women economically and provide them a platform for self-expression. She also co-founded Mitra Wacana, a women’s resource centre in Yogyakarta, in 1996.

In 2008, Dewi relocated to Bangkok, Thailand, where she expanded her scope of work to the Southeast Asia region. Her primary focus was building the capacities of NGOs and human rights defenders in Asia. Dewi dedicated herself to supporting and strengthening the effectiveness of regional human rights mechanisms to promote greater respect for human rights and advance regional social justice.

Based in Bangkok, Dewi has been an international consultant with Rapid Asia since 2010. Her role as a Senior Gender and Human Rights Adviser allows her to contribute her vast knowledge and experience to various projects and initiatives in migration, forced labour, worker’s rights, human trafficking, child rights and youth engagement, women’s empowerment, and disaster risk management. The projects were conducted in ASEAN countries, Africa, and the Middle East. Her technical expertise includes designing and conducting quantitative surveys, qualitative research using participatory approaches, project evaluations, report writing, project management, and facilitating workshops and training.

Dewi holds a Master’s degree in Human Rights and Democratization from the University of Sydney, where she was awarded a scholarship in 2011. Before that, she earned a Bachelor of Arts Honors in History and Politics from UOW in Australia. Dewi also holds a Diploma Certificate in Administration Development from the Faculty of Economics at Gadjah Mada University in Indonesia.

An astute & result oriented professional with over two decades of extensive techno-commercial experience in different countries of Asia & Africa for Aquaculture Development & Fisheries Resource Management with in-depth experience in aquaculture nutrition & value chain. He is a keen strategist with expertise in managing entire operations with key focus on top & bottom line profitability by ensuring optimal utilization of resources & use of recent technologies.

Throughout his professional career, he has contributed tremendously in building aquaculture business base for top multinational companies particular to diversification of cultivable species, standardizing aquaculture methodologies & nutritional optimization for varied fish species of commercial importance, new project set-up for beneficiaries along with technical support to stakeholders for profitable business growth, post-harvest & seafood processing operations with internationally recognized quality standards, sales & distribution channels, etc.

As a consulting role, he has worked for UNDP sponsored sustainable aquaculture development projects in Baluchistan province of Islamic Republic of Iran with successful outcome for long-term employment generation of local communities & financial gain for stakeholders.

He holds a Master’s degree in Fisheries Resource Management & Aquaculture Nutrition from Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai & Bachelor’s degree in Fisheries Science. He was awarded with Dr. Hiralal Chaudhuri Gold Medal for securing first position in both the programmes. He has few international research papers in Fish Nutrition & Biochemistry with a focus on fish feed formulation. He has done his Diploma in Business Management from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Mumbai.

Dino has worked in market research industry since 2005. She started her career with Synovate Indonesia, an international market research company where she worked as quantitative research executive, she then diversified her skills with the sensory research with  International Flavor and Fragrance (IFF) Indonesia as consumer insight specialist, and later joined FMCG business with Nestle Indonesia as consumer insight, where she was the consultant for the brand team, Sales & Channel team and R&D team, supporting the team with the understanding of market and consumer insights, particularly for food and beverages industry.

She is very familiar with most of quantitative studies namely usage and attitude study, communication (TVC) test, product test, packaging test, shopper study, pre-post study, concept test, segmentation study, brand relaunch, brand health, retail audit and consumer panel.

Dino holds a Master of Business Administration from SP Jain School of Global Management Singapore, and a bachelor’s degree in Agroindustrial Technology from IPB University (Institut Pertanian Bogor). Currently she is based in Bangkok – Thailand.

Diogo Veríssimo, is a behavior change specialist with 15 years of experience in the fields of social marketing and community-based conservation. Diogo is a global leader in the design and evaluation of interventions to change environmentally relevant human behaviors, having authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters.

Diogo holds a PhD in Biodiversity Management, from the University of Kent, UK and is a David H. Smith Conservation Research Fellow, a distinction given to recognize research leadership in the field of conservation science. In 2016, Diogo was recognized by the IUCN Commission of Education & Communication with their Young Professional Award and in 2017 by the Society for Conservation Biology, with their Early Career Conservationist Award. He is also a founding member of the European Social Marketing Association and of the Conservation Marketing Working Group of the Society for Conservation Biology.

Elphie Galland has extensive experience in human rights research and project management.  Her areas of expertise include international criminal law, child protection, transitional justice, conflict management and peace building and human trafficking. She has worked for a number of NGOs worldwide and has also undertaken human rights research and advocacy projects in India, Cameroon and Thailand.

She has also been involved in the work of many international Tribunals such as the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

She holds a master in Human Rights Law and Project Management from the University of Aix-en-Provence, France. During her Master’s degree, she studied in Australia and passed a Certificate in Comparative Law from the University of Western Australia in Perth. She is currently based in France.

Emily is an experienced policy analyst and monitoring and evaluation professional with a strong background in gender-based violence policy, social development and community engagement.

Emily has held senior policy roles in the Australian public sector, leading gender-based violence policy development and program implementation. Most recently, Emily led policy reform to improve access to crisis housing for women escaping domestic violence. Demonstrating her interest in community-driven outcomes, Emily has significant experience engaging with First Nations communities in Australia to design and deliver effective social policy.

Emily holds a Masters of Evaluation from The University of Melbourne and has led monitoring and evaluation projects in gender-based violence prevention and Aboriginal self-determination. She has prepared several key reports for government, including a 10-year policy framework, and M&E plan, to support First Nations community-led initiatives to prevent gender-based violence.

Fadi has a background in political science and communication science, specializing in issues pertaining to citizenship, digital media and intercultural relations, particularly among young people. He also specializes in quantitative and qualitative research methodology, with a special interest in mixed method approaches and innovative techniques, including Qualitative Comparative Analysis, digital research methods and Big Data.

After receiving his PhD, in 2010, Fadi worked as a lecturer and researcher at the University of Amsterdam and Utrecht University (in the Netherlands), and completed a visiting scholarship at the London School of Economics and Political Science (in the UK). He currently works as a methodology lecturer at Erasmus University Rotterdam (in the Netherlands).

Fadi has regularly provided consultancy to various public and private organizations outside academia, ranging from major development and aid agencies to magazines and local initiatives. Fadi also has extensive experience in editorial work (reviewing and authoring) for academic, policy and journalistic outlets.

Francesca is a Child Labour and International Labour Standards specialist with over 13 years experience in international development in Africa and Asia.

Currently based in Bangkok, she started her career in the development sector in Geneva, working with the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour of the International Labour Organization (ILO). She has a solid background in international law, with work experience on legal and comparative analyses of ILO Conventions and national legal frameworks.

Over the past ten years, she has built a portfolio of work in the field of Youth Employment and Child Labour, with a focus on Occupational and Safety and Health (OSH) in agriculture sector as well as on Decent Work and Forced Labour in supply chains.

She has worked with a wide range of organizations such as ILO, UNICEF, The Eliminating Child Labour in Tobacco Growing Foundation, International Cocoa Initiative Foundation, USAID and Save the Children.

Working with ILO, Francesca has led the establishment and operationalization of a number of monitoring systems. Extensive experience in managing and conducting social research, including linking research to policy, practice and training. She has also been involved in supporting governments in the development of legal frameworks and policies that comply with international standards and conducted policy, social and legal analyses, human rights based policy development, for the UN, government agencies, INGOs, NGOs, CBOs, workers’ and employers’ organisations in selected social sectors. She is a strong advocate of participatory planning, research and monitoring.

Francesca is an experienced facilitator and has designed training programs in Monitoring and Evaluation, Policies and Legislation on Child Protection, Child trafficking and Child Labour.

Fred Levitan is a results-oriented, hands on professional with over three decades of private sector development trade facilitation/business enabling experience in many countries within Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America.  He has worked in a variety of roles with the private sector, government, and in international development.  He has done extensive agriculture and aquaculture value chains/SME development work with a focus on creating and sustaining effective B2B linkages which are based on solid data analysis, business models, and strategies.  He has provided actionable analyses and recommendations that guided decision making, strategic directions, and formation of partnerships for large companies, MSMEs, and government departments engaged in regional and global value chains

He has enjoyed substantial success with building the capacity of diverse teams of local staff, consultants, and stakeholders.  He builds trust by using participatory approaches which fosters inclusiveness and transparency.  He has strong project management expertise which is tied to careful analysis.  He has a strong knowledge of monitoring and evaluation frameworks, reporting, and communications.

He holds a Master’s degree in International Studies from De Paul University in Chicago and a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from George Washington University.  He has certifications in areas such as Digital Transformation, Green Business Strategies, Circular Economy, Social Innovation, Cluster Development/Management/Innovation, and monitoring and evaluation.  He uses the knowledge from these specialties to create unique solutions to project assignments.

Gabriel is an expert on civil society in China, Chinese politics and society, human rights and international development. He has well-honed writing skills, extensive knowledge of social issues across Asia, and a diverse set work experiences bridging academia and NGO practice.

Gabriel has lived in China for over a decade, and can speak, read and write in Chinese. After receiving his BA from the University of East Anglia, Gabriel moved to Beijing to pursue a master’s degree (MSC) in Rural Development on a Chinese government scholarship, after which he spent a year studying Chinese at Tsinghua University.

Working as the chief editor of China Development Brief since 2015, Gabriel has made a name for himself through his analysis and reporting on Chinese laws and policies related to civil society. Since the passing of China’s controversial new law on Overseas NGOs in 2017, he has provided consultations for numerous international NGOs, helping them to understand how to navigate the new regulatory landscape. He has also been involved in the organization of numerous forums and workshops for international and local NGOs in China. Prior to this experience, Gabriel worked in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences as an editor and researcher, and also conducted research on environmental economics, co-authoring a couple of research papers with Chinese academics.

Gill Schierhout is a motivated and insightful international consultant and health services researcher with over 10 years’ experience applying qualitative and quantitative research and evaluation methods to inform program development and demonstrate impact.  She is passionate about working to increase the use and relevance of robust evidence to enhance effectiveness of large scale initiatives targeting health and social inequities.

Clients and areas of work include DFAT (Australia), team-leading assignments related to health research and evaluation in the Asia Pacific region; Australian Government of Health, evaluating large-scale initiatives to strengthen primary health care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities;  Boston Consulting Group, developing tools and processes for efficient management of public sector proposals; Soul City Institute for Health and Development Communication, providing analytic and writing support for the country-teams participating in impact evaluations of the Southern Africa regional program; and a wide range of work in a previous role as a founder-member and Director of Health and Development Africa, with clients including EU, USAID (through PEPFAR), DIFID and major contracting agencies.

Areas of professional competence include HIV and AIDS behaviour change communication and impacts, health systems research, ‘research to practice’, and impact evaluation, including propensity score analysis.

Gill holds a PhD in public health from the University of Cape Town, with a specialisation in epidemiology.

Giulia is a development professional with extensive experience in financial inclusion, women’s economic empowerment, gender equality and sustainable development, acquired by working for UN Agencies and International Organizations, such as the UN Capital Development Fund, the UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme and the European External Action Service, among others.

She supported the management of financial inclusion and women’s economic empowerment programmes in Myanmar, including: assisting financial service providers in how to better serve the women markets and enhance women’s participation within their workforce and providing technical assistance to Government officials and relevant stakeholders for the implementation of the National Strategic Plan for the Advancement of Women. In Myanmar, Giulia also conducted researches, key informative interviews and surveys to assess the status of women’ financial inclusion and facilitated women and girls-targeted focus groups to map the barriers that rural women and girls are facing while accessing financial services.

Giulia has also experience in organization and coordination of large capacity building activities and training programmes, economic and social analysis, report writing, and community outreach.

Prior to move to South East Asia, she worked for various UN bodies and international organizations in New York, where was involved in high profile negotiations for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Financing for Development Agenda.

Hansen is an emergency management specialist with more than 2 decades of experience in disaster risk reduction, animal welfare, environment conservation, and international humanitarian standards. He has experience working with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), World Animal Protection, Spanish Red Cross, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

He is an internationally accredited trainer on Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards (LEGS) and developed technical guide for the “livestock-based emergency preparedness, response and recovery” specifically focusing on floods and tropical storms. Hansen has been instrumental in developing the “Multi-sector coordination handbook for management of animals in disasters and emergencies”.

Currently as a consultant with FAO, he supports countries on the Progressive Pathway for Emergency Preparedness (PPEP) tool for self-assessing the agri-food emergencies (animal health, plant health, aquatic health, environment health and all hazards). He also helps strengthen the capacities of vulnerable countries by developing improvement plans.

Hansen can be a resource in multiple ways including:

• Legal and policy review and planning
• Developing technical guidelines and training tools
• Training on Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards (LEGS)
• Designing participatory techniques, table-top and simulation exercises
• Risk communication review and planning

Harriet is a Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist with a background of over 10 years’ experience in the NGO sector spanning different functions (mainly M&E but also fundraising, communications, programming), across various contexts (South East Asia, Kenya, Ecuador, the UK) and types of organisation (start-up NGOs, INGO, private sector SMEs and grassroots CSO). Her breadth experience gives her a natural systems approach and solid experience dealing with operational challenges from different perspectives. This lends her naturally to consultative and research/reporting roles for purpose-driven organisations.

With an avid interest in system improvement and maximising positive social, she is a member of the Thought Leadership Group on Social Value for Development and Humanitarian Assistance (SVDHA), and a member of the Institute of Risk Management Special Interest Group on Environmental Social and Governance performance (ESG SIG).

Harriet has worked with mostly child rights humanitarian and development agencies including Save the Children (UK and International) developing stronger accountability and sustainability systems including conducting baseline and impact studies, and writing content for published Accountability and Annual reports for 3 years running. She has also developed programme and M&E systems, and supported fundraising for child rights agencies in Kenya and Ecuador. She is currently based in Thailand, where she has been working in child rights, migrant labourer rights, trafficking in persons and humanitarian relief for 3.5 years in research, M&E and reporting functions. This has included supervising the gathering and analysing of data, and writing published reports and advocacy materials. She is now working part-time developing a strategic programme management cycle to support sustainable and localised programming, for an organisation focussed on child rights and humanitarian relief, with a regional focus including Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. Harriet specialises in facilitating organisations to build social impact with a focus on developing systems for M&E, evaluating and reporting on data to a variety of stakeholders.

Harry Ellis is an economist with several years of experience working on development, governance, and policy in Southeast Asia. He has built a robust portfolio in conducting economic research and implementing projects that forge innovative policies for inclusive development, with proficiency in statistical and data analysis including econometrics. His expertise encompasses topics such as macroeconomic policy, trade and investment, labour markets, migration, and financial inclusion.

Harry has worked with a range of organisations and clients, including bilateral donors, the UNDP, UNCTAD, the World Bank, and several NGOs. His varied project experience includes analysing large surveys, developing policy, conducting economic analyses, and performing needs assessments and evaluations in remote and conflict-affected areas of Myanmar. He authored the UNDP report on the needs and challenges facing Myanmar migrants in Thailand, outlining the available policy options, and contributed a chapter focusing on investment facilitation policy analysis to the 2022 UNCTAD ASEAN Investment Report.

Academically, Harry holds a Master’s degree in Development Economics and Policy from the University of Manchester and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and History from the University of Leeds.

Hemantha is an independent international consultant and has over 42 years of International experience in Senior Management positions spanning industries such as Financial Services (Financial Inclusion, Microfinance and Mainstream finance), Livelihoods, CSR, Agro-Products, FMCG and OE Industrial Products.

Presently, he is working in the areas of development such as assessments, evaluations conducting studies and surveys, capacity building, mentoring with a larger focus on to the domains of CSR and financial inclusion (Mainstream and Micro Finance, Entrepreneurship, Livelihoods etc.) in Africa and Asia, especially in South East Asia.

As a qualified trainer, he has been training and mentoring since 2002 across innumerable programmes. He had travelled wide in India, as also in several countries across the globe. His hands-on experience in India, South East Asian (SEA) countries, in the Mekong / Indo-China Region, especially in Laos & Cambodia afforded him national / international presence and visibility in the development services.

Based out of Chennai, India, Hemantha was earlier the Managing Director of Hand in Hand Micro Finance Private Limited, an associate organisation of Hand in Hand India, an international NGO. Apart from paying a crucial role in acquiring a Non Banking Finance Company (NBFC), he was directly involved in the successful execution of the Microfinance assignment in Brazil and was a key player in finalising partnership arrangements in Cambodia and Myanmar, for Hand in Hand. He was also involved with GIZ in Laos PDR for their Access to Finance Programme, as a Microfinance Adviser. He also worked with organisations like Godrej Soaps and Apple Credit in India.

He is an experienced public speaker and was a TED X speaker on ‘Social Entrepreneurship’ as well as being an avid blogger, writing under ‘Hemantha Kalam’. Below are some of his published work:

(I) a Study to “Assess the Results (Outcomes) and Immediate Impacts of Project Mission SoS (Sanitation of Schools) in Nagapattinam District, Tamil Nadu, India” for CII Foundation of Confederation of Indian Industry, India (This was a SCR assessment),

(II) leading a Macroeconomic Study of “Implication of Small Scale Farmers’ investment in the four Lower Mekong River Basin Countries (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam)” as a sub-contracted consultant for OXFAM, Cambodia,

(III) a Report on “Monitoring, Evaluating and Learning (MEL) study assignment in Laos PDR, for a project funded by European Union, as a consultant of SRI-LMB Project of Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) Thailand”. The study was undertaken across 38 villages of 12 districts in 3 provinces of Khammouane, Savannakhet and Vientiane of Laos PDR.

(IV) a Techno-Legal document on “National Voluntary Savings Schemes in India” for Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, National Savings Institute, & UNDP India,

(V) editing and compiling “Policy Practice Atlas on Microfinance” for UNDP India,

(VI) a study on “Business/Banking Correspondents in Tamil Nadu” for CARE India,

(VII) a World Bank Programme of “Review various Microfinance and Village Funds applied in Khammouane Province” at Laos PDR,

(VIII) a Background paper on “Mainstreaming Financial Inclusion for Urban Poor – A Community Consultation and Dialogue with Policy Makers” for NIDAN & UNDP India,

(IX) a reference-report on “Financial Literacy as a Tool for Financial Inclusion and Client Protection” for UNDP India.

Hendi Yogi Prabowo obtained his Masters and PhD in forensic accounting from the University of Wollongong Australia. He also holds a bachelor degree in accounting from the Islamic University of Indonesia Yogyakarta. He is among the first few academics in Indonesia formally educated in forensic accounting at both Masters and PhD levels. Hendi’s area of expertise are governance, accountability, transparency and anti-fraud. He is a recipient of the 2005 Endeavour Asia Award, the 2007 Australian Leadership Award and the 2015 Endeavour Research Fellowship Award from the Australian Government.  In 2012 Hendi also received the Sumitro Fellowship Award from the United States – Indonesia Society (USINDO). Additionally, Hendi has also been a recipient of multiple grants from the Indonesian government for his studies on anti-corruption. Hendi’s passion is to develop transparency and accountability as part of organizational culture within public and private institutions.

Hendi’s knowledge in accounting, finance, organizational behavior and criminology has earned him a unique reputation as a “financial criminologist”. With over a decade of experience as a lecturer and internal auditor at a major private university in Indonesia Hendi balances his academic knowledge and teaching experience together with practical experience of internal auditing.

Additionally, under the Endeavour Research Fellowship programme, Hendi was a research fellow at the University of Wollongong Australia in early 2015 for one semester. As the founder and director of a Yogyakarta based centre dedicated to develop forensic accounting in Indonesia Hendi has been involved in numerous capacity building activities for public and private institutions in the country. He has been giving trainings and workshops in fraud prevention and investigation to professionals from various organizations such as banks, NGOs, service companies, manufacturing companies and universities.

Hendi has also been invited to speak about governance, accountability, anti-fraud and transparency at multiple local, national and international events. To spread his knowledge he regularly writes in reputable academic journals as well as national and international newspapers.

Dr. Henri Sitorus is an experienced researcher and expert consultant specialized on sustainable development. He has more than 15 years experienced both as development practitioner, academics, researcher and project evaluation consultants.  His development experiences covers wide ranging areas of sustainable development including livelihoods and economic empowerment, environmental governance and conservation, agriculture and rural development, disaster resilience and community empowerment.

He finished his PhD in Sociology from the Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute at the Australian National University (2015). His study focuses on environmental governance and political ecology of coastal livelihoods in Indonesia.  He completed Msc. in Poverty Reduction and development Management from International development Department at the University of Birmingham in 2000. He is also lecturer at Department of Sociology at the University of North Sumatera. During his PhD study at the ANU, he involved in teaching the subject of Anthropology of Development (part of Master of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development Program).  He has strong expertise in using in mixed-methods (qualitative and quantitative) in social research and  familiar with STATA/SPSS, NVIVO, QDA.

He has extensive experiences as team leader in development program implementation, monitoring and evaluations in Indonesia. In 2004 to 2010, he was Country Director for Heifer International in Indonesia, worked on sustainable livelihoods. He led program team implemented  program/projects on  micro-credit, women empowerment, civil society capacity building and disaster rehabilitation. Prior to this, he also involved with ILO Jakarta. He has been team leaders for various research and project evaluations mainly in the aras of sustainable development in Indonesia and Timor Leste. He led various evaluations such as Oxfam’s project on coastal livelihoods in South Sulawesi, Food Security Project of HIVOS and EC in Timor Leste, and Disaster Resilience with various agencies. He also involved in various research including on social protection.

Itthirit has been actively engaged in community development endeavors across GMS countries for more than a decade, gaining experience with a variety of organizations including local and international NGOs, UN agencies, and social enterprises. He earned a B.A. in English from Khon Kaen University, Thailand, and an M.S. in Community Development from the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB).

In 2008, he began his career in community development with NET Foundation, a local NGO in Surin province. During 2012-2015, he was awarded a scholarship from the Asia Pacific Scholarship Consortium (APSC), supported by the Open Society Foundation (OSF), enabling him to pursue a master’s degree at UPLB.

Following his graduation, he served as a capacity development consultant for an INGO in Lao PDR and then worked with a micro-finance institution (MFI) in Thailand. Notably, his experience with the MFI involved fundraising through online crowdfunding platforms to aid women and local entrepreneurs in the Northeastern region of Thailand. Subsequently, he joined Save the Children International (SCI) as a Proposal Development Manager, based in Vientiane, Lao PDR.

His areas of expertise and passion encompass inclusive development, sustainable microfinance, social impact assessment, and social research.

Israr is a specialist in the field of Communication for Sustainable Development with various professional experience spanning for some 30 years. Starting his career as a TV programme host as well as its editorial team when he was an undergraduate student, he then became a journalist with a national newspaper in Indonesia. After enjoying his professional experience as a journalist, he became a communication specialist for a national office of an international conservation organisation in Indonesia. With his colleagues, he developed conservation communication and campaign strategies. He was also responsible to produce high-quality publications and reports. In the last two years of his full-time work with the organisation, he also coordinated audio visual media development for the organisation to help build greater constituencies for conservation cause In Indonesia.

In the 2010s, he moved to become a community engagement manager (and advisor) for a national NGO dedicated to promoting wider access for quality basic education in Indonesia. He then continued to support various initiatives in the fields of conservation, education, as well as sustainable development in his various professional roles.

Israr earned his MSc in Environment, Science and Society from University College London (UCL) in 2006 under the British Chevening Scholarship. He also holds two bachelor’s degrees: BSc in Forestry from Indonesia’s Universitas Gadjah Mada and Bachelor in Communication Studies from Indonesia’s Universitas Terbuka.

Jacob Bogart is a lawyer trained in human rights law, international law, transitional justice, and international organizations. He has extensive experience conducting human rights research, legal analysis, and report writing. Jacob has worked for a variety of human rights organizations, including Fortify Rights, where he was a legal fellow and consultant. While at Fortify Rights, he researched and wrote the report “Our Demands are for All Students: Violations of Students’ Rights in Mandalay, Myanmar,” in addition to editing and contributing research to a number of publications. Jacob has also worked for the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Watch’s United Nations Advocacy Division, a legal clinic in Lagos, Nigeria, and the Open Society Justice Initiative. While attending Columbia Law School, Jacob contributed to a war crimes investigation in the Central African Republic, conducted research for a member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee, founded a human rights initiative for first-year law students, and led a spring break pro bono caravan to Bosnia to volunteer with a legal aid clinic. Prior to law school, Jacob worked for the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand as a Luce Scholar.

A strong communicator and empathetic researcher, Jacob graduated from Columbia Law School in 2018 where he received a Commendation in Human Rights, and was named a Public Interest Fellow, a James Kent Scholar, a Phi Kappa Phi Yeakel Endowed Fellow, and a Global Public Interest Fellow. Jacob graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in International Studies and French from The Ohio State University in 2014.

James is a human rights researcher with a focus on labour exploitation, human trafficking and migration. In Bangkok, he has worked for ECPAT International, with a focus on protecting children from sexual exploitation in travel and tourism and working closely with the private sector on child protection and voluntarism. He is also a fellow of the esteemed Hilton Coalition Prize for Humanitarian leaders for his work at ECPAT.

He continues to be based in Bangkok, working for UN Action for Cooperation Against Trafficking in Persons (UN-ACT), a UNDP team that facilitates cooperation in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region to prevent human trafficking and provide assistance to victims. He has been closely involved in research on labour exploitation, victim assistance and trans-national referral mechanisms.

He holds a master’s degree from the European Inter-University Centre in Human Rights and Democratisation, where he wrote his thesis on the phenomenon of pollution protesting in China and its potential to give rise to a rights consciousness in Chinese society. Before his master’s he spent three years teaching English in China, where he also become proficient in Mandarin Chinese

Jason McKnight is currently a research fellow at the CDC Center for Global Health, Malaria Branch.  As a reviewer of previous studies done in low-income countries, he is completing an evaluation on the performance of healthcare intervention strategies.

Jason holds a Master of Science degree in epidemiology from McGill University in Montreal and a PhD in tropical infectious disease epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.  His dissertation work was a longitudinal study on the clinical epidemiology of leprosy in Uttar Pradesh, North India.

In past experience, he has consulted on an economic analysis considering the cost of treating tuberculosis in Haiti compared to countries where Haitians immigrate. He has been a disease control specialist in the Hawaii Department of Health, developing emergency response plans for bioterrorism and vector control (West Nile Virus) emergencies.

His particular interests are on neglected tropical disease epidemiology, medical geography, and health ecology.

Jen Steele is an education in emergencies specialist. Jen has 15 years of experience in international development and humanitarian response, with 13 of those focused on the design, implementation, and monitoring of rights-based education in crisis-affected and low-income contexts. During that time she has worked with agencies such as the IRC, Plan International, Save the Children and UNICEF on both global programmes as well as projects in contexts such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Palestine, Sierra Leone, Syria, and Uganda.

Jen has experience with pre-primary, primary, and secondary level education programs for children and youth living in crisis-affected and low-income contexts. She has directed, managed, designed, or provided technical advisement to education programmes in 18 countries. Jen’s key skills include: rapid needs and assets assessments, project conceptualization and design, implementation planning and execution, monitoring, strategic planning, mentoring and coaching, training and facilitation, remote management, and knowledge management. Jen has focused her technical work on teacher training and professional development with a focus on teacher mentoring and peer learning, social and emotional learning and wellbeing for teachers and students, and community-based education. She has also increasingly focused on demand side programmatic interventions to help address education access constraints for children and their caregivers.

Jen also has extensive experience leading education strategic and evidence-based education policy work for agencies such as the IRC, Save the Children, and War Child Canada. Topics have included reviews of Japanese aid in Ethiopia with respect to Paris Declaration principles, global education in emergencies strategies, and refugee education best practice. Jen has been an active member of INEE since 2005, has been a trainer in the INEE Minimum Standards on two occasions, and has also been a trainer in Education Cluster Coordination. While in Afghanistan and supporting the education response in Syria, she was an active education cluster member and cluster lead, respectively.

Jen has been peer-review published on two occasions, first with Yo, sí Puedo: South-South Educational Collaboration in Practice in the Society for International Education Journal in 2008 the topic of education policy borrowing and lending for adult literacy in Latin America. More recently in 2017, she contributed “Pathway of Hope: A Learning Certification Solution for Internally Displaced Children in Northern Syria” to Children and Forced Migration: Durable Solutions During Transient Years on the topic of certifying learning for children on the move. Jen holds an MA in International Educational Development from Columbia University.

Jenn is a peacebuilding professional with over 12 years’ experience working on capacity building programs in Thailand.  Her areas of specialty include facilitation and training design and delivery, reflective practice, current issues of Thailand and Southeast Asia, cultural competency, concepts of peace and conflict resolution, conflict sensitive program design, conflict analysis/assessment, creativity and peacebuilding, and other peace and conflict studies issues.  Currently, Jenn is the founder and managing director/CEO of Space Bangkok, a Bangkok based organization that blends reflective practice with facilitation, skills training, peacebuilding, and an accompaniment approach to grow human potential to do more, better.

Jenn has worked on various training, facilitation, and peacebuilding consultancies with such organizations as the ILO, Design for Social Innovation and Leadership (DSIL), Mahidol University, and others.  She also spent ten years working to build the Rotary Peace Center at Chulalongkorn University, the last seven of those years as the Deputy Director facilitating, training in, and overseeing all aspects of the Center’s peace and conflict resolution professional capacity building program.

Jenn is fluent in Thai and holds a master’s degree in Cultural and Applied Anthropology with a concentration in Southeast Asian Studies and a bachelor’s degree in Southeast Asian Studies focusing on Thailand and Indonesia from Northern Illinois University.

Jocelyn, aka Rosarin, has over 25 years of market research experience across Asia and has worked in some of the top global companies. Her research career involved Ad testing and media tracking at Ogilvy & Mather, NPD research programs and market research support for regional rollouts at Unilever, qualitative research and ethnography at Cram International, design and management of multi-country project with Slingshot Asia and custom-tailored projects at Synovate.

After more than two decades in market research, Jocelyn has come full circle with unequalled perspective – starting out as a market research buyer, followed by an advertiser to become a provider of market research services and finally today, as a consultant.

She is very competent on both qualitative and quantitative research approaches and has implemented projects in more than 10 countries in Asia and Indochina. She is keen to help Rapid Asia’s clients to better understand their stakeholders and provide insight into their programs with her eclectic mix of perspectives in market research.

Jocelyn is a founding member of the Thailand Market Research Society (TMRS) and has presented several ESOMAR papers on research and market insight.

Josh Stride is a writer, researcher and campaigner for better human rights and labour conditions in global supply chains. His work has focused primarily on the global seafood industry, having written extensively on all aspects of the Thai seafood sector, as well as the fishing industries of Indonesia, the UK, Ireland and the global tuna fleet. Josh has worked closely with a broad range of stakeholders, including the private sector, civil society and government agencies. He has undertaken research and writing project on behalf of Humanity United/Freedom Fund, ITF, Oxfam and Greenpeace, among others.

Karen Emmons is an American journalist who has lived and worked in Asia for the past 28 years, after working as a staff reporter with LIFE magazine in New York City. Her reporting and editing work for newspapers, magazines and United Nations agencies have covered child labour, forced labour, human trafficking, migrant abuse as well as domestic worker abuse, among many other issues. Her work has appeared in the Far Eastern Economic Review, Time, People, Who, Reader’s Digest, Development Asia, The South China Morning Post, San Francisco Examiner, International Herald Tribune and London Sunday Times. She contributed to The Meaning of Life books produced by the editors of LIFE magazine.

She and photographer Steve McCurry collaborated on a documentary photo project, No One Should Work This Way, on the physical abuse of domestic workers from four Asian countries at the hands of their employers. She and Steve McCurry also collaborated on a documentary project for The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, called Access to Life, on the difference that access to antiretroviral drugs makes in the lives of people living with HIV.

Katie Saentaweesook is PhD candidate in development economics and political economy. Her fields of expertise include rural development, poverty reduction, agricultural policy, and human development. Her research focuses on the impact of agricultural policies on small commercial farmers in Thailand and Ethiopia, focusing on drivers of sustainable change such as rural development policy and the internal and external influences to state development policy. Previous research led Katie to Indonesia, where she studied the impact of community-based environmental management in coastal villages. She has practical experience in both quantitative and qualitative comparative policy analysis, specializing in data mining and editing.

She also works as an advocate for PhD rights, collaborating with various academic stakeholders to ensure sustained communication and positive outcomes.

Katie holds a bachelors in South East Asian Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, a Master’s in South East Asian Economics and Politics from Leiden University, The Netherlands. She is a bilingual native speaker of Thai and English and comfortable working in Dutch. She is currently based in the Netherlands.

Ilhan is an Economics expert who graduated from Bachelor, master’s, and PhD programs in the field of Economics. He is qualified in data analysis with Stata, Eviews, QGIS, NodeXL , GAMS and Geoda software packages about Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Finance, Behavioral Economics, Renewable Energy and more economics relations. Currently, he is completing his second PhD at Thammasat University Economics Faculty. His dissertation is about “The Effect of Migration Inflows on Native Wages” which will be investigated with the CGE Model.

He also has an interest in investigating the effects of corruption on the economy and has written two articles, two theses and one book about the subject. He has also published several articles and academic research about various topics related to economics. His latest research is on the Structural Decomposition Analysis of the Turkish economy to examine the quality of the economic growth from 1997 to 2018 with IO Tables.

Ilhan works as a freelance data analyst and tutor in economics. He has carried out numerous lectures to graduate students and firms for more than 7 years and is well accomplished in subjects related to data analysis, modelling, interpreting, and concluding economic theories and assumptions. He is up-to-date with the most recent studies on global and structural issues and relationships and has become one of the best-known academic data analysts in Turkey.

Khiev Bunroeub is a dedicated professional and has served as a key member of the National Committee of Democratic Development Secretariat (NCDDS) under Cambodia’s Ministry of Interior (MoI) for for 30 years up to 31 December 2020 and currently with Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries – MAFF, Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology – MOWRAM and Ministry of Rural Development – MRD as the national social development and gender specialist as the intermittend consultant 2021 up to now.

With academic credentials including a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and a Bachelor of Human Resources (BHR) from the University of Economic Management (UME), coupled with completing English language programs at the Australian Centre of Education (ACE) and Gwynedd-Mercy College, USA, Bunroeub has a solid educational foundation. Her fluency in English enhances her ability to communicate and collaborate effectively on a global scale.

With over 30 years of experience, Bunroeub has demonstrated expertise in capacity development and capacity building, project management, project feasibility studies, research development, surveying, assessment, field monitoring, and evaluation. She specializes in community development, particularly with vulnerable groups affected by climate change and disasters. Her initiatives include forming women livelihood improvement groups (LIGs), saving groups (SG), farmer water user committees (FWUC), and water user groups (WUG) and Agriculture Coorperatives – ACs, Agri-bussiness and and women farmers networks.

Bunroeub is involved in designing projects within the Cambodia Climate Change Strategic Plan, Gender Mainstreaming and Stretegic Plans, Local Planning formulation as of Developmnet Plans and Investment Plans for the sub-national levels, reviewing guidelines for mainstreaming climate change adaptation, liaising with relevant ministries for vulnerability assessments, and developing capacity-building programs for SNAs. She also assists in implementing gender strategies, monitoring social and gender impacts, and advising on institutional development and governance.

Kittithat Sumalnop is a freelance Thai translator, interpreter, and volunteer democracy activist. He graduated from Chulalongkorn University with a Bachelor of Engineering (BE) degree in Computer Engineering and a Master of Arts (MA) degree in English Translation. He has broad multidisciplinary knowledge in arts and sciences, such as engineering, computer, humanities, and politics.

He has been doing extensive translation, interpretation, proofreading, and editing work. He helped proofread and edit “Time is On Our Side: A Book for Joshua Wong’s 21st Birthday,” published in 2017. His first translated book “The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge” was published in 2022. He also worked as a simultaneous English-Thai interpreter for the international online seminar “Socialism 2021: Overcoming Multiple Crises of Capitalism”, and a consecutive English-Thai/Thai-English interpreter for the special online lecture “A Critique of Multiculturalism” in 2022.

Kittithat always has a strong conviction in democracy, justice, and human rights. He volunteers as the coordinator for the People’s Party for Freedom, a Thai pro-democracy non-governmental organization, hosting and co-hosting more than 30 seminars and activities on democracy, rights and liberties, welfare, justice, politics, religion, constitution, and history. He also works as the party’s treasurer, Facebook page administrator, and communication officer, dealing with the party’s finances, communication, and publicity.

Additionally, he worked as a freelance notetaker and translator for the Foundation for AIDS Rights (FAR), a non-governmental organization protecting the rights of people living with HIV, migrant workers, and drug users in Thailand, recording and transcribing seminars and workshops, creating minutes and executive summaries, and translating documents. He also worked as a freelance notetaker for the Thailand Management Association (TMA), a globally recognized non-governmental organization established as a professional body of leaders and managers in 1964, creating conference summaries for further publication.

Kittithat still does computing work from time to time. He has experience working as a freelance contractor for Upwork Enterprise Services, working on a Data Curation and/or Localization managed service project. He is currently working as a part-time AI trainer for Scale AI, using both his computing and language skills to train generative artificial intelligence models to become better Thai language writers.

Leo is an independent consultant based in Bangkok, Thailand. He has consulted for several civil society organizations and UN agencies, including the ILO and UN Women; and has worked on issues including gender equality, women’s empowerment, migration, LGBTIQ+ rights, and HIV/AIDS. Leo has provided communications support to regional migration projects focusing on women migrant workers, and has written articles on sex work and migration in Thailand.

Leo graduated from Chulalongkorn University with a Master’s degree in International Development Studies. He wrote his thesis comparing the lived realities of transgender sex workers and entertainers in Thailand through the conceptual lens of homonormativity.

Leo is passionate in advocating for gender equality, especially LGBTIQ+ inclusion in mainstream gender discussions. He also takes special interest in the nexus of gender, labour rights, and migration.

Liam is a climate change adaptation specialist with a specialism in participatory vulnerability assessment. He holds a Master degree in International Political Economy and Development from the University of Leeds. Since graduation, he first worked as a management advisor for a small NGO in Cambodia, writing project proposals, advising on technical issues and overseeing monitoring and evaluation. He subsequently worked in the Bradford Centre for International Development, which offers training consultancy services, in addition to being an academic department in the University of Bradford. Here, he managed smaller projects and provided management support on large contracts to major multi-laterals and bi-laterals, such as the African Development Bank and UK Department for International Development (DFID).

After leaving Bradford he took up consultancy positions with UNDP and, more recently, UN-HABITAT, supporting their work on climate change adaptation. In particular, he developed and implemented community climate change vulnerability assessments. These are multi-purpose participatory assessments, which can be used as baseline measurements and M&E. Liam has several publications, including “How does it make a difference? Towards accreditation of volunteer tourism” (with Anna Mdee) in A.M. Benson (eds), 2010 Volunteer Tourism, Theoretical Frameworks and Practical Applications, and Vulnerability Reduction Assessment: A Practical Guide for Practitioners (with Navirak Ngin, forthcoming).

Lorenza is an international development consultant with solid experience in research, report writing, economic and social analysis. She collaborated with the ILO regional office for Asia and the Pacific, the European Commission, NGOs and the private sector. As part of this, she co-authored several publications on decent work in global supply chains and labour market integration of refugees. She also supported the development of projects on social and economic development, which include: technology and workers’ voice in South-East Asia; responsible shoe manufacturing in Ethiopia; single mothers’ social inclusion and economic empowerment through entrepreneurship; market access for smallholders in Southern Tunisia. More recently, she has focused her work on migration and human trafficking.

Lorenza holds a dual Master’s Degree in International Affairs and International Political Economy from Sciences Po Paris and the London School of Economics and Political Science (with Distinction). She also obtained a Bachelor’s degree in economics from Bocconi University.

Lotta Adelstal has over 20 years’ experience of international development in South and South-East Asia, Africa and Central America. She now lives in Bangkok but has also worked in Tanzania and Sri Lanka for 5 years, respectively, and 2 years in Guatemala. She holds a Masters in Development Economics and has also studied Social Psychology, Social Anthropology, and Strategic Communication at the university. She is committed to life-long learning and for the past years, she has focused on sharpening her process and facilitation skills, which includes quality management, Human-Centred Design, Art of Hosting, Liberating Structures, Non-violent communication and Mindfulness. 

She has worked as a consultant for over 14 years, providing services in the areas of capacity development, including organisational development, training and skills development, and advocacy and social and behaviour change communication. She has held long-term positions with government aid agencies, and UN bodies and CSOs, including Senior Policy Specialist and Behaviour Change Communication and Advocacy (Sida) and Expert in Communication and Behaviour Change (WHO and UNICEF). Lotta often supports organisations in improving performance, supporting in areas such as strategic planning, organisational assessments, knowledge sharing, evaluation and crafting frameworks such as Theory of Change. She is often engaged as a facilitator, and uses various approaches and tools to engage people in conversations and co-creation, and to strengthen partnerships and communities. She has outstanding social skills which allow her to easily connect with people from all walks of life and at all levels of an organisation. She is always on the lookout to connect people and to share her knowledge and experiences. 

Her sectoral experience cuts across water, sanitation, hygiene, child protection and youth, social protection, agriculture and value-chain development, and gender equality and environment as cross-cutting issues. She has also worked in disaster and emergency contexts. During her 5 years in Sri Lanka, she worked, among other things, with UNICEF’s emergency and disaster response after the 2004 tsunami, chairing the donor-collaborative group on hygiene, developing communication and behaviour change strategies and support materials for different sectors. She also worked with outbreaks such as dengue and Avian Influenza. In Tanzania, Lotta worked with Femina HIP, a Tanzanian multimedia platform that supports youth empowerment in the areas of entrepreneurship, SRHR and citizen engagement, applying approaches such as active learning, peer education, life-skills and behaviour change. Since 2014, Lotta works in a long-term capacity development initiative in the East African region that supports government stakeholders in enhancing their ability to consider the social and environmental effects in strategic decision-making (policy, long-term plans and programmes). In the Programme, she has mentored 50 government staff in brining change to their organisations, and she is also responsible for the learning components on organisational development, change management, strategic communication, project design and management.

Mr. Mallik A-As-Saqui, a national of Bangladesh,  is an International Consultant in agriculture, irrigated farming systems, agribusiness, climate resilient farming, rural development and worked for over 40 years with international  donor funded projects in  Pakistan, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Liberia, The Gambia and Italy.

He obtained his B.Sc (Agric) and M.Sc (Agric) major in Agronomy degrees from the Bangladesh Agriculture University, Mymensingh in 1968 and 1970 respectively. During 1972 he was awarded a scholarship by the Italian Government to pursue Post-graduate Specialization (equivalent to M.S) from the International Center for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies, Bari, Italy. In 2008 DANIDA offered Mr. Saqui a fellowship to undergo an international training on Agribusiness Development in Copenhagen, Denmark. He also received specialized training on Crop Production Technologies offered by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Nigeria in 1986.

Professionally Mr. Saqui worked nationally and internationally for over 40 years in diverse areas of agriculture, irrigated farming systems, agribusiness, climate resilient farming and rural development in the countries mentioned above with several donor agencies like USAID, CIDA, SIDA, FAO, ADB, IITA, CIP, JICA, WB. He worked in collaboration with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Nigeria and showed significant achievements in agriculture program in Liberia and The Gambia.

Mr Saqui published 27 scientific publications in English, Italian and Portuguese languages and participated in 48 international seminars and workshops and travelled in 61 countries.

He is a member of various professional organizations in Bangladesh and overseas.

Dr. Markus Bell is an anthropologist and researcher with over 10 years’ experience in forced migration, internal displacement, social inclusion, and educational reform. He holds a PhD in anthropology from the Australian National University and a Masters degree (by research) in anthropology from Seoul National University.

Markus has worked for the UNDP, the European Commission, the Toyota Foundation, the Australian National University, and the University of Sheffield as a researcher, evaluator, trainer, and facilitator. He is experienced in designing, managing and implementing social inclusion programs for governments and development agencies, and in leading research programs on forced migration, ethnic minorities, and livelihood development.

Markus has published extensively on migration, social mobility and inclusion, human rights, international relations, and refugee aid in policy briefs, newspaper Op-Eds, and academic journals. He also regularly contributes articles for The Guardian, The Diplomat, Foreign Policy in Focus, the Lowy Institute, and The Conversation. See here for a full list of his publications.

As an expert consultant and policy advisor, Markus has advised both the British and Australian Militaries on regional security in Asia, and the British House of Lords and the Dutch Council on Refugees on refugee movement and resettlement. He has also served as the keynote speaker at public events at the Royal Geographic Society, Oxford University, and the University of London.

Markus is currently finalising his book manuscript, ‘Searching for Home: Displacement and Social Inclusion in East Asia’ (under contract with Berghahn Books), due out in 2020.

Michelle Abou-Raad has worked in both the public and private sectors with a focus on social impact, international development, and forced migration. She began her career implementing a social impact bond vocational program for immigrants and refugees in Boston, USA. She then managed multi-million-dollar governance programming in the Middle East with Creative Associates International from the Washington, DC, office with frequent trips to the field. After two years with Creative, she shifted to management consulting at Strategy& (part of the PwC network) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, advising high-profile clients across industries and developing comprehensive strategies. To combine her experience in international development and consulting, she completed a Luce year in Bangkok, Thailand, working with an incubator for social enterprise and learning about different social entrepreneurship models.

Michelle studied International Relations and Middle East & North Africa Studies at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. She has conducted extensive research on the efficacy of vocational programming for refugee women, which included interviewing Syrian refugee women in Zaatari camp and in the urban areas of Amman, Jordan. She has also written articles and given talks to raise awareness about forced migration. In addition, she serves as a Co-Founder and Board Member of Urban Refuge, a phone application that helps urban refugees and vulnerable individuals locate and access aid and services. Michelle’s varied experience across regions has given her a well-rounded and unique perspective, which she applies to all of her projects.

Dr Michael Cole is a specialist in evaluation, performance measurement, and aid effectiveness.

Based in Bangkok for twelve years, Michael has worked throughout Asia on the design, implementation, management, and evaluation of international development programs including in agriculture, HIV, Illicit Drug Use, Pandemics, Foot and Mouth Disease, Malaria, Trafficking in Persons, Child Sex Tourism, Aid for Trade, Disaster Preparedness and many other areas.

He has worked for many development organizations, including AusAID, the Asia Development Bank, the United Nations, the World Bank, and many international non-government organizations.

Dr. Cole’s academic journey is a testament to his dedication to the field. He holds a PhD in Public Health Policy, a Master’s Degree in Evaluation, a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management, a Post-Graduate Certificate in Alcohol & Drugs Studies, and a Bachelor of Business, a Diploma in Community Services, and a Diploma in Mental Health Nursing.

He is on the Australasian Evaluation Society’s Committee for Learning and Professional Practice, on the editorial board of the Australian Evaluate Journal, and a member of the American Evaluation Association and the Thailand Evaluation Network.

Technical Areas include:

• Program evaluation
• Program planning, design, contracting, implementation and management
• Performance measurement
• Report writing, editing, and reviewing

Milan Dharel expertise on International Relations and Diplomacy, International Cooperation, Human Rights, Labor Rights and Child Protection System. He is currently a PhD candidate in Swiss School of Management has Masters Degree on Human Rights and Democratization from University of Sydney.

With experience of more than 23 years on the field of human rights and labor rights activism, Dharel has contributed several research and evaluation on modern day slavery, peoples’ participation, civic space and democracy, child protection and governance, peace and global order. Also, with an experience of leading National Apex Body on Child Rights in Nepal as Executive Director, Milan Dharel has a strong knowledge and understanding of political, social and human rights context of South Asian nations.

Muhammad Ikhsan is an accomplished Data Analyst with a wide range of experience in education, asset management, business valuation, and data analysis. He began his career in 2011 as a teacher in Sabah, Malaysia, focusing on educating children of Indonesian migrant workers (TKI) for four years. This invaluable experience honed his communication and socialization skills, particularly with students from diverse cultural backgrounds.

In 2018, Ikhsan pursued a master’s degree in Asset Management and Business Valuation from Gadjah Mada University. During his studies, he obtained certifications as a stockbroker representative and a business appraiser in Indonesia, further augmenting his expertise. These qualifications paved the way for his transition into business consulting, where he worked as a public appraisal services firm consultant.

As a business consultant, Ikhsan conducted extensive research, performed in-depth analysis, and assessed the value of businesses using financial data, market conditions, and industry factors. Over a span of two years, he successfully completed more than 18 business report projects, showcasing his profound expertise in analysis and evaluation.

Currently, Ikhsan works as a freelance data analyst, leveraging his analytical skills and actively engaging in courses related to data analysis. He has a strong command of programming languages such as SQL, PostgreSQL, and Python. Additionally, he shares his knowledge and experience by teaching online classes at an Indonesian Overseas School, catering to students who are passionate about the field.

With a solid educational foundation, diverse professional background, and a keen interest in data analysis, Muhammad Ikhsan continually strives for self-improvement. He is committed to contributing to the fields of education and business, driven by his curiosity, thirst for knowledge, and desire to make a positive impact in every endeavour he undertakes.

Nadine Spalburg comes from a private sector background spending most of her career working in management consulting with Deloitte in different countries. Applying her business experience, she contributes to improvement in strategy and programme design in the social development sector. Critical analysis is her key strength, she has a well-rounded methodological way of thinking combined with a strong competency in writing and strategic communication.

In addition to her academic foundation in Communication Science, Nadine has recently conducted academic research in Global Development studies with the University of Edinburgh. Her research portfolio focused on decent work (livelihoods) with a gendered perspective in the development context Other themes of interest are migration, labor and human rights and corporate social responsibility.

Her added value is her technical ability to synthesize different inputs and cross-cutting themes into an insightful report for different audiences. She is able to convert data and evidence in a presentation that is compelling and inspires action, leveraging her extensive experience in strategic communication.

Nguyen Quynh Phuong is currently a Phd candidate at Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand in Development Studies. She has been working in the fields of refugee, irregular migration and labour migration for 10 years as a practitioner and as a researcher. Her specialisations include labour migration, recruitment industry and gender. She has lived, worked and studied in Vietnam, UK and Thailand.

Previously, she worked for International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Vietnam and in the UK as operation officer. She has experience in field research and qualitative research method. Her latest publication reports various forms of exploitation by recruitment industry in the context of labour migration from Vietnam to Taiwan. She has published in journals such as International Migration and presented her work in conferences around the world.

She holds an MBA with Merit from the University of Northampton, UK and BA in Economics with Distinction from Foreign Trade University, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. Her doctoral research, Migration Experience of labour migrants from Vietnam to Taiwan, focuses on the exploitative practices in recruitment industry, women’s decision in their duration of migration and the linkages between international migration and internal migration of returned migrant workers.

She has done voluntary work for Oxfam in UK and as interpreter for IOM, Thailand.

Nishikah specializes in the field of strategic advisory for multinational corporations operating in the streaming services, short-term rental accommodation platforms, digital services, finance services, ride-hailing, and logistics sectors in Thailand and across the Asia-Pacific region.

Her areas of expertise covers broader government relations, public policy advocacy, assessment and mitigation of political and regulatory risks, stakeholder engagement facilitation, as well as the development of thought leadership campaigns and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

Additionally, she assists clients in their interactions with policymakers, regulatory bodies, elected representatives, and academic institutions to champion equitable policies and regulatory frameworks. Nishikah has previously been with the office of the Provincial Government, operating under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Interiors of the Kingdom of Thailand. In this role, she played a pivotal part in establishing a post-COVID-19 economic recovery roadmap, strengthening bilateral relations between Laos PDR and the Kingdom of Thailand, and contributing to policies aimed at enhancing border security to combat illegal border crossings. She has also supported the broader local community and delivered on fulfilment of basic necessities and rights.

Nishikah holds a master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Queensland.

Nick is a human rights and peace professional with research and policy specializations in armed conflict, displacement, insurgency, counter-insurgency, impunity crimes such as torture and enforced disappearances, and political settlements in the context of mediated intrastate peace processes. He has worked at the national governmental and intergovernmental spheres, respectively with the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines and the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights. He has conducted research with the Hugo Valentin Centrum and the Rotary Peace Center in Uppsala, Sweden, the Institute on Human Rights and Peace Studies in Salaya,Thailand and currently, with the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (NCPACS) in Dunedin, New Zealand. He is an external evaluation consultant for The Asia Foundation – Law and Human Rights Unit of the Manila field office, and is a consultant at the NCPACS Consultancy Group. He specializes in evaluation design, data collection and management, qualitative and quantitative analytics.

He is also a dedicated scholar in the fields of human rights and peace. He has obtained advanced degrees at the University of Sydney (MA Human Rights and Democratisation), Mahidol University (MA in Human Rights), and Uppsala University (MSc Peace and Conflict Research). He is a resident PhD fellow at the NCPACS in the University of Otago, New Zealand, working on the interaction, tensions and harmonization of consensus-based peace negotiations and nonconsensual democratic processes. He has earned full scholarships from the European Union for his degrees at Sydney and Mahidol, the Rotary Peace Fellowship for his tenure at Uppsala, and the Rei Foundation Fellowship for his PhD research at Otago. He is also a Global Peace Index 2016 Ambassador for the Institute for Economics and Peace and Rotary International.

Nick  graduated from the School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS), University of London, with a degree in economics and Thai language. He also studied as an exchange student at Thailand’s prestigious Thammasat University on the Southeast Asian Studies Programme. Through his studies, he has developed a strong knowledge in economics, trade policy and development issues, especially in Southeast Asia.

Nick has been based in Bangkok for over 11 years, and was previously a trade magazine writer and editor before moving into communications for the private sector. Nick was Communications Director for the Thai-European Business Association (TEBA), where he worked on building bridges between the private sector and the Thai government. Nick has experience in the legal, trade and complementary & preventative health and wellness sectors.

Nina Brask is an experienced zoologist and conservationist specializing in elephant biology and welfare practices, practical wild animal rescue and rehabilitation and wildlife ethics. Nina has worked and lived in Thailand and Lao PDR working as a project manager with WWF Thailand on human-elephant conflict mitigation and best elephant welfare practice consultant with the National Elephant Institute, Thailand. Latest she had a conservation manager and elephant welfare specialist role with Lao Elephant Initiative and Mandalao Elephant Conservation in Lao PDR focusing on the assessment of captive elephant activities and the implementation of humane, evidence- based elephant training initiatives, education of mahouts and engagements with local elephant communities. She has focused particularly on the welfare issues associated with wild animal capture, rehabilitation and monitoring after treatment to measure survival rates in different species once released back into the wild.

In past experience she has done extensive amphibian research in the West Indies with focus on adaptive reproductive strategies associated with climate change in fragile ecosystems(published). Nina is particularly interested in the challenges, such as wildlife trade, social and economic development, fragmentation and climate change, facing the greater Mekong areas wildlife and habitats.

Nina holds a Master degree in Zoology and Conservation from the University of Glasgow in Scotland and the University of Queensland ( department of evolution) in Australia and is a specialist in the fields of international wildlife conservation and captive animal welfare.

Nishandeny Ratnam has a strong background in the field of rule of law and good governance with contextualized work and research experience on the issues related to Sri Lanka. She carries extensive experience both in the government and international development sectors in Sri Lanka. She has been a prosecutor at the Attorney General’s Department of Sri Lanka, a Legal Advisor and later a Project Manager at the Legal Aid Commission of Sri Lanka, a Senior Legal and Enforcement Officer at the Consumer Affairs Authority, and a Senior Legal Analyst at the Office on Missing Persons. She was a Manager of the Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre of the Transparency International Sri Lanka. She was part of the technical experts of Chemonics International in implementing a rule of law reform project funded by USAID. She is also an external consultant to Marga Institute to undertake many projects/surveys/assessments related to Sustainable Development Goals 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions), language rights, alternative dispute resolution mechanisms(ADR), and hate speech. She has completed international internships at Asylum Access Thailand and the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney of Midland, Michigan in the United States. Currently, she is a Program Manager at Search for Common Ground on projects related to social cohesion and women empowerment.

She is trilingual in the local languages used in Sri Lanka and worked across different regions/districts of Sri Lanka. Ms. Ratnam has a bachelor’s degree in law (LL. B) from the University of Colombo and a master’s degree in law (LL.M) from Ohio Northern University. She was called to the Bar as an Attorney-at-Law in Sri Lanka in December 2011. She also holds a master’s degree in Human Rights and Democratization from the University of Sydney and a postgraduate diploma in International Relations from the Bandaranayake Centre for International Studies. She received the Excellence for the Future award in the study of Comparative Constitutional Law in 2015 at Ohio Northern University.

Her professional and academic interests vary in the areas of access to justice, reconciliation, good governance, rule of law reforms, human rights, anti-corruption, legal aid, conflict transformation, and sexual and gender-based rights.

Nonglak Kaeophokha had completed a Dual-Masters Degree dual-campus program called Asian Peace Builders Scholarship Programme (APS) which assisted by the Nippon Foundation. She has been working in International Development for over 15 years with NGOs, INGOs, and UN agencies in Thailand. She has a background in Migration and Refugee, Environmental, Development, and Peace. Currently, she works with SEM as a Programme Officer and supporting the program “Promoting a Culture of Peace and Sustainability in Myanmar”  as well as an Independent Consultant.

Pascal Tanguay is a Canadian based in Thailand since 2004. Pascal has worked and provided leadership in the field of HIV and harm reduction for the past 10 years, particularly in Asia and in Thailand where he first worked as Communications Manager for the Asian Harm Reduction Network (AHRN), as Program Director and Deputy Country Representative for Population Services International (PSI), as well as an independent consultant for UN and donor agencies, INGOs and local CSOs. Pascal is now the Deputy Director of the Law Enforcement and HIV Network.

At PSI Thailand, Pascal provided critical leadership in directly managing and overseeing all components of the national response to HIV among people who inject drugs under a large Global Fund grant valued at over $18 million. Under Pascal’s leadership, project partners were able to convince national authorities to develop and deploy a national harm reduction policy in February 2014. Under this project, Pascal was responsible for improving organizational duty of care towards project workers and clients and scaling-up comprehensive safety and security management plans that included considerations for illicit drugs, drug use and drug dependence.

Throughout his career, Pascal’s communication skills have been valued and appreciated – he has published extensively on a number of issues related to harm reduction and drug use, including results of a local research project conducted in Thailand. Pascal has a particular interest in drug policy reform, especially in regards to improving collaboration with law enforcement and reducing negative impacts of encounters with law enforcement. Other areas of focus include occupational safety and security as well as the development and evaluation of policies and procedures to support employment of people who use drugs.

Pascal currently sits on the oversight committee of the Ozone Foundation, a local Thai civil society organization founded by people who use drugs with a mission to improve the health and quality of life of people who use drugs. He is also an Associate with the International Drug Policy Consortium since 2011.

Technical Areas

• Strategic and program planning

• Program management and evaluation

• Organizational development

• Safety and security including risk assessment and mitigation planning

• Working with law enforcement and in closed settings (prisons, camps, etc)

• Harm reduction, HIV, hepatitis C, overdose and treatment for drug dependence

• Policy analysis and advocacy

• Strategic communication including proposal development and writing for publication

• Hiring and facilitating meaningful participation of affected communities

• Facilitation of partnerships and civil society mobilization

• GFATM processes and mechanisms

Ms. Patporn (Aor) Phoothong is a professional researcher with over ten years of working experience in the development field with a focus on social protection, youth employment, labour rights peacebuilding, and social development in Thailand. She has extensive experience designing studies, performing field work, and networking and collaborating with academic institutes, scholars, organizations and relevant organizations to promote outreach initiatives and civic education. Aor has provided consulting services for international organizations, NGOs, academic institutes and companies for over 10 years. She has a strong network of contacts in CSOs and academic institutes, especially in the area of migration, labour rights trafficking in person and the violence conflict in deep south of Thailand. Aor has performed research on youth employment and youth labour, human trafficking, labour laws, forced labour, migrant workers, work conditions, gender-based violence, child protection, adolescent education, social protection in Thailand.

Peter has been working for eight years as physician in a Hungarian county hospital and still practices medicine, while his main job is a senior research fellow and lecturer of Public Health at Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.

He holds Master of Science degree in public health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and PhD in medical sciences from the Semmelweis University.  His dissertation work was an overview of health related behavior, health status and prevention in vulnerable populations like Roma minority, sex workers and gay men. He has over forty professional publications to his credit and has made over fifty presentations at national and international conferences mostly connected to these topics. His particular interests is conducting action research in vulnerable populations in wide collaboration with governmental and non-governmental organizations, actors of academic and private sector and last but least with local communities. He is experienced in using a range of quantitative and qualitative methodology tools, skilled in using data analysis programs and writing reports.

Peter has built substantial experience in project design, monitoring and evaluation. He has consulted on a comprehensive public health project in Hungary financed from a Word Bank loan. Now he is leading consultant for the Social Renewal Operational Program in Hungary. He frequently evaluates scientific projects and proposals for the European Community.

Phil Robertson has 30 years of experience as a researcher, communicator and advocate on human rights, labor rights, human trafficking, migration management, supply chain monitoring and participatory development based in Bangkok. A fluent Thai and Lao speaker, he works with UN agencies, governments, NGOs, labor unions, regional migrant worker networks, and business and human rights organizations on myriad projects. Phil worked for 15 years as the Deputy Asia Director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), serving as their spokesman, advocate, research director and rights activist covering Southeast Asia and the Korean Peninsula.

Before joining HRW, Phil worked as the Program Manager of the UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (UNIAP), leading efforts to coordinate anti-trafficking response in the sub-region, and catalyzing and carrying to fruition the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking (COMMIT) process. He also served as the Mainland Southeast Asia Representative of the Solidarity Center, AFL-CIO, working on labor, political reform and human rights issues, focused primarily on Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Laos. Phil started his career at the House Foreign Affairs Committee of the US Congress, working for Chairperson Rep. Stephen J. Solarz. He earned his M.A. in Social Change & Development, and International Economics, from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Pim Savetmalanond comes to Rapid Asia with a wide range of experience in multilateral development organizations, nonprofits, and the private sector. Living in Bangkok since 2014, Pim has been a freelance communications consultant, working with Remote Year and JUMP! Foundation. Before relocating to Bangkok, she helped to build and grow the Inter-American Development Bank’s social media presence in English and Spanish, launch and oversee its subject-matter blogs, and develop the MapAmericas project. Prior to her work at IDB in Washington, she conducted prospect research and developed campaign communications at the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York City.  She also worked as a legal assistant for many years in her home state of New Jersey.

She completed her graduate studies at Seton Hall University, earning a Master of Arts in Diplomacy and International Relations, as well as a Master of Public Administration with a focus on nonprofit management. While a graduate student, she served on the editorial board of the academic journal, including a year as Editor in Chief. She also completed a graduate certificate in conservation biology at Columbia University. At Rutgers University, she earned a Bachelor of Science in international environmental policy. She can speak English, Thai, and Spanish fluently.

Ratchadaporn has significant humanitarian project management working experience with numerous international humanitarian aid agencies and non-governmental organizations. Her development work has focused primarily on facilitating activities implementation, monitoring livelihoods and recovery projects by means of reports, as well as coordinating among institutions. Ratchadaporn has in-depth knowledge and understanding of humanitarian assistance and operational management in response to disaster management, emergency response, recovery, and sustainable development. She has specific technical expertise in areas of logical framework analysis, participatory methods techniques and tools for community-based, and hazard vulnerability capacity assessment.

In her recent capacity of working in the Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction (DIDRR) with CBM Central East Asia Regional Office, Ratchadaporn has been involved in facilitating the implementation of DRR project activities and supporting consultant in documenting the lessons learned (evidence-based practice) of this pilot project. She also worked for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent as Liaison Representative, where she was responsible for fostering the collaboration of a cross-functional team to implement Thailand Tsunami Recovery Program. As a Project Coordinator at Heifer International Thailand, she has taken a leadership role in overseeing project implementation, managing project budget and organizing capacity building training.

Ratchadaporn obtained a Bachelor degree of Science (Agriculture) from Khon Kaen University. She earned a Professional Master of Disaster Preparedness, Mitigation and Management Program with the School of Engineering and Technology, and School of Environment, Resources and Development from  Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand.

Reena Arora is a U.S. trained lawyer, with a post-graduate law degree (Juris Doctor) from the top-ranked New York University School of Law, a background in international human rights law and practice expertise in labor and migration. Reena has conducted work in Southeast Asia since 2005, assisting affected migrant workers in southern Thailand after the tsunami, and then working for the grassroots non-governmental organization, MAP Foundation (Migrant Assistance Program) for three years with migrant workers along the Thai-Myanmar border. During her time with MAP, she authored a shadow report for the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) analyzing violations of international human rights laws by the Thai government in their treatment of Myanmar migrant women. The report focused on themes of violence against women, employment restrictions, labor exploitation, access to justice, and access to health. In 2017, Reena published a scholarly article analyzing how the rights of female Myanmar migrants in the domestic work and sex work industries in Thailand are affected by exclusions from national labor law protections, the influence of international law, and local organizing movements. “Female Migration and Labor in Thailand: When Law and Society Continue to Exclude You,” UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs, 21 UCLA J. Int’l L. & For. Aff. 70 (February 2017).

Reena spent over seven years as an active litigator in the U.S., primarily representing low-wage immigrant workers recover unpaid wages and regularly conducting legal research and drafting persuasive briefs for court.  Since returning to Asia, she has been working on reports for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Mekong Migration Network (MMN), conducting background research, legal analysis, drafting narrative and recommendations as well as editing drafts to finalize for publication.

As a veteran of advertising agencies in New York in the U.S., The Coca-Cola Company and start-up and rapid-growth companies in addition to having longevity as an independent consultant, Rich brings 35 years of strategic planning, marketing planning, brand positioning and communications campaign development experience to wildlife conservation and social issues.

He has true passion for behavior change and demand reduction to address the root cause of wildlife trafficking but is also eager to help organizations and initiatives advancing wildlife causes with their marketing and communications needs.

Rich can be a resource in multiple ways including:
– organizational and initiative strategic planning
– consumer research and impact measurement
– brand positioning
– communications campaign planning
– creative development across the marketing mix (traditional media, digital & social)

Richard holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs from Boston University where he specialized in international security and transnational crime. Richard was the 2013 recipient of the Prize for Excellence in International Affairs awarded by the Boston University Department of International Relations. With experience in the academic, non-profit, intergovernmental, and private sectors Richard brings a multifaceted point of view and varied skillset to Rapid Asia.

Most recently, as Operations Manager of an insurance brokerage firm in his native Caracas, Venezuela, Richard worked on the development of political risk and instability mitigation portfolios for a wide range of private sector stakeholders.

Prior to his experience in Caracas, Richard worked at the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED). At CTED Richard was active in developing counter-terrorism capacity building programs with a focus on human rights, education, migration, and illicit arms trading. Richard was also involved in the drafting and editing of assessment reports and drafting a comprehensive and integrated counter-terrorism strategy. Through other experiences and volunteer activities, Richard has also participated in the development of early childhood education programs across Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

Richard Friend is a senior development professional with expertise in just and equitable approaches to climate change, systemic risk and resilience; water resource governance; urbanisation and social-environmental change; food systems and food security; sustainable livelihoods and poverty reduction; climate change vulnerability and adaptation; decentralisation and community-based approaches; participatory processes and knowledge co-production.

He has thirty years’ international professional experience in team leadership; technical assistance, applied research and policy analysis; programme management; monitoring and evaluation; business development; capacity building; advocacy and facilitation of high-level policy dialogue; storytelling and documentary photography.

Dr. Robert Mather has more than 30 years of experience in designing, fund-raising for, managing implementing, and evaluating conservation, natural resource management, and climate change adaptation projects in Southeast Asia. From March 2022 until now he is working as the International Protected Areas Management Adviser to the 6-year World Bank/GEF Lao Landscapes and Livelihoods Project supporting 8 Protected Areas in Lao PDR, as well as being the Lead Writer for a number of GEF8 ProDocs in Southeast Asia and conducting other short-term consultancies. Between August 2018-June 2023 he was the Team Leader for the EU-funded Biodiversity Conservation and Management of Protected Areas in ASEAN Project based at the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity in the Philippines, focusing on designation and management of ASEAN Heritage Parks; Sustainable Financing and Business Planning for PAs; Biodiversity Mainstreaming in Development Sectors; and Organizational Development of ACB.

In 2017 he was the Chief of Party for USAID Wildlife Asia, a counter-wildlife trafficking project and before that in 2016 he was the ICEM Team Leader on a Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment for Mainstreaming Ecosystem-based Adaptation Project of GIZ in Quang Binh and Ha Tinh Provinces, Vietnam. Dr. Mather previously spent 8 years with IUCN, where he was the Head of IUCN’s Southeast Asia Group, and was intimately involved in technical and operational oversight of numerous projects for protected areas management, biodiversity conservation, water resources and wetlands management as well as climate change adaption. Prior to joining IUCN, Dr. Mather was the first WWF Thailand Country Representative where he designed and led many projects related to different aspects of protected areas management, species conservation and the wildlife trade before taking up a regional position leading WWF’s Living Mekong Program from Vientiane, Lao PDR.

Dr. Mather has an extensive professional network and experience in the region and close working relations with a range of regional organisations. He also has significant experience in organisational development, having not only established WWF in Thailand from scratch but also having helped establish national foundations in Thailand – The Elephant Reintroduction Foundation, and the Loei Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development, as well as supporting and advising the Mai Khao Marine Turtle Foundation in its initial period. He also has a strong record of developing successful partnerships between conservation agencies and private sector businesses – including establishing the WWF Corporate Club in Thailand; working with Coca-Cola Thailand and Vietnam in the Living Mekong Programme; and establishing an agreement between Marriott Hotels in Thailand and IUCN. Finally, he has also worked on a number of project and programme evaluations, including an evaluation of FAO’s Country Programme in Myanmar, DFAT’s Water Resources Programme in the Mekong Region, and UNODC’s Counter Wildlife Trafficking Project in South and South-east Asia.

Sabri is a nutritionist and epidemiologist experienced in working in diverse low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to collect and analyze population data on diet, nutrition status, health outcomes, and sociodemographic, behavioral, and environmental correlates of nutrition and health. He has used these data to identify priority groups for nutrition programs and policies, understand disease etiology, and design and evaluate evidence-based strategies for improving public health.

Sabri is currently based in Bangkok as a U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) Fogarty Global Health Fellow at Mahidol University and is also a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Global Health and Populations at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He recently obtained funding from The Rockefeller Foundation to coordinate research between Mahidol, Harvard, and FHI Solutions to build capacity for standardized measurement of diet quality and key nutritional biomarkers in population surveys in LMICs.

Sabri’s primary academic interests are in development, application, and analysis of methods for assessing diet and nutrition status in LMICs, and integration of methods into platforms for nutritional surveillance, epidemiology, and behavior change. His research has involved broad-based knowledge acquisition including links between nutrition and micronutrient deficiencies, growth, pregnancy outcomes, cardiometabolic risks, infections (such as tuberculosis, COVID-19, and other respiratory illnesses), and environmental exposures (arsenic, aflatoxin, methylmercury), with a focus on statistical modelling and programming (R, SAS, STATA, Excel).

Sabri received a BA in Chemistry from New York University, MPH in International Health / Epidemiology from the University of Michigan, Doctor of Science in Nutrition from Harvard University funded by an NIH National Research Service Award, and postdoctoral training at Harvard funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. As a doctoral student, Sabri trained hundreds of students to assess diet across Mongolia and advocated for expansion of the country’s food fortification law. As a postdoc, he directed a two-year international project that produced the Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS). Sabri was nominated for full membership in Sigma Xi in 2021.

Publications: https://scholar.harvard.edu/sabri/publications.

S Satapathy is a seasoned development consultant with over 20 years of experience in managing and evaluating multi-country programs focused on biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, public health, governance, and gender equity. His expertise spans across South East Asia, where he has conducted comprehensive research and policy analysis in 13 countries, including Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, particularly focusing on land laws, resource management, and sustainable livelihood approaches. Satapathy’s work integrates socio-ecological perspectives into policy reforms that foster community-based conservation and poverty reduction. He has consulted for prominent international organizations, including the World Bank, UN agencies, USAID, producing evidence-based reports that inform policy and program development. His adaptive management strategies address the evolving needs of both local ecosystems and communities, incorporating innovative Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEAL) methodologies such as outcome harvesting.

As the Executive Director of AF Development Care, he has led so far 24 multi-country evaluations, contributing to key policy reforms on sustainable development. His work on biodiversity conservation includes best practices such as community-based conservation, protected area management, and collaborative governance. Notably, he has evaluated the Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) model in Vietnam and supported the Prey Lang Forest Community Network in Cambodia, which combats illegal logging. His recent projects include a regional land-use and biodiversity evaluation in Myanmar, Nepal, and Laos, where his findings underscored the need for stronger enforcement and better alignment of land-use policies with biodiversity goals. His expertise in theory of change, log frame development, capacity building tools, large scale data collection and analysis tool and approaches has been instrumental in mapping pathways toward long-term biodiversity conservation and ecosystem resilience. His ability to engage diverse stakeholders and synthesize complex socio-ecological data ensures that his contributions are both impactful and sustainable.

Sam has over twelve years’ experience working in Southeast Asia with local civil society and international humanitarian and development organizations. Much of his work has been in Myanmar, predominantly with people from ethnic minority and conflict-affected areas. Sam is a skilled researcher and report writer, with experience in proposal development and grant management.

Sam holds a Masters of Arts in Political Economy from Carleton University and a Master of Science in Electronic Business Technologies from the University of Ottawa. In addition to his own Masters level research and writing experience, Sam has edited multiple Masters and PhD theses.

In the non-profit sector Sam has designed and implemented numerous research initiatives using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. He has experience conducting key informant interviews and surveys; managing data collection in cooperation with multi-national teams; and writing and editing engaging data-driven advocacy materials including reports, policy briefs, PowerPoint presentations, video scripts and blog posts. He has experience bringing publications to print; including proofreading, fact-checking, formatting citations, designing data visualizations and lay-out. Sam has a keen sense of what makes a powerful story and how to effectively tailor research findings, policy solutions and advocacy messages to gain the interest of government, private sector, media, and other stakeholders.

Sakphea holds an MBA from Build Bright University in Cambodia. She is Cambodian National and speaks fluent Khmer and English, and has worked for the past 13 years on data collection, analysis and interpretation in the context of gender and women empowerment.

Her experiences include research development, projects management, monitoring and evaluation, having worked for USAID, European Union, and the ADB supporting projects through International and Local NGOs. In this work she has had direct contact with beneficiaries, striking a balance between providing and receiving information on gender issues in Cambodia.

She has also supported Cambodian Ministries such as the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation, Ministry of Planning, and Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in designing tools for quantitative and qualitative data collection and oversaw the process to protect vulnerable groups including women. She conducted research focused on identification of poor households (ID Poor) optimization, women engagement in local political leadership, empowerment for women at risk, human trafficking, and HIV prevention.

Past work has included desk research, preparation of the data collection tools and FGD guides, with special emphasis on gender and inclusion. Together with other national experts, she has conducted many FGDs, conduct training and supervision of enumerators during data collection and data entry. She is a strong team player and believes in collaboration when doing data analysis, consolidating findings, preparing recommendations, writing technical reports and research brief, and conducting presentations to relevant stakeholders to include their comments in the final report and research brief.

Sanjay is a social justice and advocacy & development practitioner with more than 16+ years of experience, and has worked with and engaged NGOs, Corporate Sector, INGOs, IGOs, Govt. Institutions, Election Commissions, Donors and Media in the Asia Pacific region.

He has sound working knowledge of regional groupings like ASEAN+, SAARC+, and Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), regional integration on business, democracy, people and human rights framework. His experience ranges from working on Development & Regional Integration, Development & ESC rights, Conflict & HR Violations, Business/Extractive Industries and HR Violations, Forced Migration, Contemporary Forms of Slavery, Election Observations & Political Reforms for Inclusive Representation and Governance, and Organisational Strategic Development and Management.

He specialises in interlinking multi-thematic issues, advocacy development & implementation, media engagement, networking & partnership development, stakeholder relationship & collaboration building, customised integrated capacity building programs, project strategy planning & management, and fundraising. Sanjay has strong analytical, strategic planning, research and writing skills. He has extensive experiences facilitating workshops, trainings and various capacity-building activities. He completed his PG Diploma in Human Resource Management & Information Technology from Amity University, India and M.A. in International Human Rights from Mahidol University, Thailand.

Sara Salam is a seasoned development professional with over 7 years of M&E, program planning and implementation experience in top US and European funded international organizations working on programs in Governance as well as Family Planning, Countering Violent Extremism and Technical & Vocational Education.

She has a BSc (Hon’s) in Mathematics with a minor in Social Sciences from the Lahore University of Management Sciences, ranked one of the top 100 institutes in Asia, and a Masters in International Relations with a thesis focused on Governance of Global Health Regime Flows, analyzing causal links between external funding and health metrics in developing countries.

She has worked comprehensively in establishing M&E frameworks for different programs including results-based monitoring and reporting, developing results model and designing baseline on various quantitative and qualitative tools coupled with field experience in difficult areas, having travelled to remote parts of Pakistan in 3 provinces. In her last role, she led the M&E function at a national scale in Pakistan for an international organization in a management function.

In Governance, she played a vital role in planning and implementation of various program phases aimed at strengthening local governance, revenue generation & state-citizen dialogue in Pakistan while also designing M&E tools for Taxation, Local Government and Prevention of Violence against Women.

Shawn is an international development expert based in Bangkok with more than 20 years of experience working in journalism, the United Nations and strategic consulting in Southeast Asia. Shawn recently worked for six years with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Bangkok, as the Research Analyst producing reports and social media content on illicit drugs and transnational crime. He also helped to strengthen and manage networks of governments in Asia to generate and disseminate data and to advocate for human rights-based policy responses to drug-related issues.

Shawn has consulted with other UN agencies and leading INGOs such as the WWF and IUCN as well as private companies on a broad range of human rights and public policy issues including corporate social responsibility, labor rights, water governance and risk analysis. As a Research Fellow with the Mekong Project on Water, Environment and Resilience and the Chulalongkorn University Social Research Institute, Shawn published studies on hydropower development and energy policy in Thailand and Myanmar with special emphasis on regulatory frameworks, sustainability and human security.

Shawn worked with the Irrawaddy newsmagazine for eight years including four years as the Deputy Editor, managing the publication’s daily online and monthly print news services and supervising a staff of reporters and interns from Myanmar and Southeast Asia. He presented regularly as a guest commentator on BBC World and Radio Free Asia and his work has appeared in the New York Times and Asia Times Online.

He has a Master’s of Arts in Political Science and Graduate Certificate in Southeast Asian Studies from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, with a focus on political economy in the Mekong region. He is also a Graduate of the Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies.

Technical areas:

• Illicit economies and counter-trafficking
• Data analysis, report writing and editing
• Program planning, implementation and management
• Building and facilitating research and advocacy networks
• Human rights and pubic policy
• Media management

Sri is an advocate of evidence-based, people-centric and technology-inclusive design. Leveraging her inter-disciplinary academic and professional experience she collaborates with start-ups to mature organisations and governments to address the locally and globally prevalent myriad of behavioural challenges in social development. She uses behavioural science, design, systems thinking and circular economy approaches for this purpose. Based on the project scope she works at different capacities from an advisor, design researcher, project coordinator to a strategist and a solution designer.

Suchada draws more than 10 years of program implementation and evaluation experience in education, health and nutrition, human tracking, gender, community and school based disaster risk reduction. Consulting practice areas cover, evaluation and learning, training and capacity building. Suchada has extensive expertise on social science research on qualitative and quantitative approaches. This includes need assessment, knowledge, attitude, practice (KAP) survey, the baseline, midline and endline survey.
Suchada has worked with international development and humanitarian agencies, implementing partners, government at national and local level, communities and schools. She has built capacity of program staff and implementing partners on monitoring and evaluation through technical assistance and mixed methods research, focus group facilitation, data quality assessment and data analysis.

Suchada holds a Master of Journalism and Mass Communication with major in Mass Communication Research. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and Marketing from Thammasat University, Thailand.

Supattra is a curious and fearless applied anthropologist who helps her team dive deep into the lives of research participants to see insight into what others may see as mundane.

She is a people person who quickly establishes report with research participants in any context and is a keen observer during on-the-ground field work. She is always willing and eager to volunteer.

She is also a highly skilled moderator and facilitator whether it be immersions, participatory research, in-depth interviews, intercept interviews, co-creation or ideation sessions, both in-person or remote.

Surya Deuja is Human Rights Expert. Mr. Deuja has extensive experience in human rights, gender, education and social research, international business consulting and project management. He has in-depth expertise on National Human Rights Institutions(NHRIs) having lived, worked, and studied at various continents including Asia, Africa, North America, and Pacific. During his career he has held a number of senior positions in human rights, education, development and project management with the National Human Rights Institutions, the United Nations, and Non-Governmental Organizations

Mr. Deuja has already completed number of significant assignments including in UN OHCHR under the Gender and Youth Promotion Initiatives (GYPI) in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville Buka Office. Mr. Deuja has served in the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) as Transitional Justice Advisor in 2016. Mr. Deuja has already served the National Human Rights Commission of Nepal for more than one and half decade before retirement as Regional Director in 2017 AD. Similarly, he worked as South Asia Department Manager for two years in the Asian Forum for Human Rights and  Development (FORUM-ASIA) based in Bangkok. Mr. Deuja has expertise on human rights education, human rights monitoring and investigations, transitional justice, election and human rights, migrant rights and collective rights. Mr. Deuja is also an Advocate from Nepal Bar Association and he holds an LLM  Degree from University of Hong Kong along with Master of Education (M.Ed.) and MA in English from Tribhuvan University of Nepal. Mr. Deuja has published and edited number of books and article on human rights.

Thomas is an educator, researcher, and writer specializing in education and migration with 14 years’ experience in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Thomas spent 4 years working on national teacher education and curriculum reform projects in Myanmar and has been involved in research, advocacy, and education programming on the Thai-Myanmar border.

Holding a MSc in Violence, Conflict and Development from SOAS, Thomas has specialist interest in the political economy of education and inclusive education policy. He has completed research and report writing consultancies for international NGOs and public sector agencies including UNICEF, Save the Children and The British Council and has collaborated on independent research projects on these subjects in Thailand and Myanmar.

His technical expertise and skills include:

• research design and data analysis (qual and quant)
• report writing and editing
• education program design and strategy
• policy and stakeholder analysis
• monitoring and evaluation
• materials writing (curricula, training materials, assessment design)

His thematic areas of expertise include:

• education in challenging environments
• education in emergencies
• inclusive education
• migrant and refugee education
• teacher education
• education law and policy
• education technology
• mother-tongue based multilingual education (MTB-MLE)

Tim has 13 years direct experience in development of governance and economic development using his knowledge in quantitative and qualitative analysis across a range of fields including value chain and trade development, humanitarian access, ethics/anti-corruption, and governance. He has worked mostly in the Middle East (Palestine, Israel, Jordan) but also has experience in Thailand, Nigeria, USA, US Virgin Islands, Sri Lanka, and New Zealand. Tim has extensive practice in working with communities, private sector and local humanitarian and development agencies on the ground and also at a high level with governments, diplomats, and donor organizations on analysis, project management, and implementation of complex change.

Tim has additional skills in interpersonal and group relations, group process and facilitation, critical rigor in data gathering, analysis and formal reporting and presentation of strategic planning and evaluation conclusions.   He has skills and experience consultation, negotiation and mediation.

Tutiya  Buabuttra has 25-year experiences in project management and implementation in the development field in Thailand.  She has extensive experience in portfolio development, fundraising, stakeholder engagement, implementation, capacity building, fundraising, creating donor relationships, compliance, and reporting.

Kate has provided consulting services for international non-profit organizations on portfolio development, proposal writing, donor reporting, research and providing policy recommendations, developing communication materials, technical translation and interpretation in the areas of fisheries, sustainable agriculture, climate change, social enterprise, forestry, HIV/AIDs, education, and psychology.  Since she worked in these sectors, she has a strong network of contacts with academic institutes, UN agencies, international organizations, civil society, and government officials in these sectors.

Kate holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) from Assumption University in Thailand.

Yvonne holds a Ph.D. in Disaster Science and Management with a focus on community disaster management assets and has also worked in international disaster management for over 15 years. She has extensive work experience in civil conflicts, natural disasters and post-disaster reconstruction, mainly with the UN and the OSCE. Her assignments have included management as well as senior advisory positions at the UN Secretariat and in numerous emergency response operations around the world. Her professional forte is strategy development, partnership building, and trouble-shooting operational bottlenecks.

Having moved into the private sector to support climate-smart initiatives and the rehabilitation of the plant environment, Yvonne currently focuses on ensuring that public policies and cutting-edge science work hand-in-hand in partnerships between civil society, the private sector and government. She helps clients develop sound, sustainable and meaningful projects, carries out organization-internal assessments geared towards adopting climate-smart practices, and assists with partnership building and resource mobilization.

In addition to a Ph.D. awarded by the University of Delaware, she also holds an LL.B. Joint Honors Law/Politics from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and an LL.M. with a focus on comparative international human rights law from the College of William and Mary, Virginia, USA. As a published researcher, she has worked on disaster research projects in the US, Japan and Romania. Her research interests cover: (1) the identification and activation of community disaster management assets; (2) governance structures and linkages between institutional emergency management, civil society and the private sector; as well as (3) the conceptual and operational nexus between disaster management and climate change.