The team

Nicola has been campaigning to prevent and protect people in crises for more than 15 years and associated with Crisis Action since 2006, when she joined as a board member.

At that time, she was the first Head of Oxfam International’s New York office, leading Oxfam International’s advocacy on conflict and humanitarian action across the world. Nicola’s prior roles included being a policy adviser on the Great Lakes for Oxfam GB, and one of Oxfam International’s representatives in their Washington DC advocacy office. Nicola also had periods as a consultant for the UN in Rwanda and a fellow at the Overseas Development Institute’s Humanitarian Policy Group in London. From 2008–2010, she was the Director of Advocacy at the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect and in 2011 was an adviser to online campaigning organisation Avaaz.

nicola.reindorp@crisisaction.org

+ 44 7539 44 23 11

Janah Ncube has been the Deputy CEO since 2021, serving as the Global Campaigns Director for 5 years prior to this. Before joining Crisis Action, she was Pan Africa Director for Oxfam. Her work in the last 10 years has had particular focus on Africa’s regional integration with a particular focus on African institutions such as the African Union, the African Development Banks and Regional Economic Communities; working on civil society development and engagement with other non state actors on the continent. Her career spans over 20 years working on human rights with a particular focus on women’s rights; conflict reduction and peace building; reducing poverty and injustice with organisations such as the SADC Secretariat, the Centre for Citizens’ Participation on the African Union, Women in Politics Support Unit amongst others. In 2005 the University of Bradford presented her with the Hilary Rose Award for her contribution to issues of diversity and inclusion; 2006, she was nominated as a Archbishop Desmond Tutu Fellow of the Africa Leadership Institute (Afli). In 2011, Janah was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons in Zimbabwe by the Junior Chamber International.

janah.ncube@crisisaction.org

@janahncube

vijay.patel@crisisaction.org

Sacha is with Crisis Action since 2012. Before being appointed as Strategic Engagements Director he has held several positions within the organisation, including as Germany Director and EU Director.  Before joining Crisis Action Sacha worked as a consultant advising companies on political and regulatory frameworks for investments in new markets. Previously, Sacha worked for a Berlin-based communications agency where he worked with various political institutions, think tanks and NGOs focusing on strategic positioning and communications strategies. Sacha holds a Bachelor’s degree in Modern European Studies from the University College London, a Master’s degree in Contemporary European Studies from the University of Bath and Humboldt University Berlin as well as a PhD in Political Science.

sacha.dewijs@crisisaction.org

Divya is an experienced strategist, changemaker, and storyteller, with nearly two decades of demonstrated leadership and impact in journalism, human rights, strategic campaigning, and advocacy for change. She joined Crisis Action in January 2022 as our inaugural Director of Emergency Response, Learning and Innovation (DERLI).

Before joining Crisis Action, she was with Amnesty International for nine years, holding several leadership positions including Senior Adviser, Asia Pacific, Senior Research and Policy Adviser, and Director of Research. She is specialised in leading from the frontlines and working with marginalized and vulnerable communities, with a particular focus on structural inequality, criminal justice, women’s rights, justice and accountability issues. In the last decade, she has led and advised on impactful, innovative, and fearless human rights campaigns and advocacy; provided strategic leadership and training on human rights investigations and complex and multidisciplinary strategies for change; and built and mentored diverse, multi-cultural, and globally dispersed teams.

Passionate about gender rights, equality, and justice, she is a strong believer of harnessing the power of people, evidence, and storytelling to pilot solutions and advocate for change.

Prior to joining the human rights sector, Divya was an award-winning, bi-lingual broadcast journalist for a decade, reporting across leading national and international media networks in India. She holds a Master’s in Journalism from Symbiosis University in India, and in Human Rights Law from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in the UK.

divya.iyer@crisisaction.org

Sylvia has over 15 years of experience in fundraising. Before joining Crisis Action, she was Managing Director at Philanthropy and Fundraising International where she advised non-profits around the world on growth strategy and change management. She was previously CEO of the UK based charity Bread and Water for Africa UK, and also headed the development of innovative non-profits and social enterprises in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Fluent in French, English and Italian, Sylvia holds a Masters’ from the Institut de Traducteurs, d’Interprètes et de Relations Internationales (ITI-RI) of Strasbourg and a Certificate in Fundraising from the Association Française des Fundraisers and the ESSEC Business School in Paris.

sylvia.costantini@crisisaction.org

With over a decade’s experience working for INGOs in a variety of senior fundraising, project management and strategic roles, Laura Whitby joined Crisis Action in 2016 as Senior Development Manager. The last ten years have seen Laura working in a diverse array of contexts including Sierra Leone, Arctic Alaska, Qatar and Aberdeen and she has particular expertise in environments impacted by oil and gas development. Laura has most recently worked at Living Earth, an international NGO that works on environmental and development issues from Nigeria and Mali to Russia and Iran.

Laura holds an MA in Cultural Heritage Studies from University College London, where she focused on Indigenous people’s rights, and has since taken every opportunity to further brush up on her international knowledge with additional study at Birkbeck University.

laura.whitby@crisisaction.org

+44 207 269 9450

Laura has 10 year experience of engaging with donors for NGO projects in the Middle East and in Africa, both for development and humanitarian projects.

Prior to joining CA, she worked with MSF in Paris on developing MSF portfolio for restricted funding, in particular for humanitarian programmes in Uganda and Gaza. Previously she worked as programme partnership manager with Oxfam (Oxford) and was in charge of business development for Oxfam’s global youth programme She also worked between 2011 and 2015 as funding coordinator with Oxfam in Niger, Liberia and the West Bank.

Laura holds a Master in International Humanitarian Action of the NOHA (Bilbao, 2007), an MA in mass Communication (University of Leicester, 2012). She also holds a diploma of Arabic of INALCO.

laura.couderc@crisisaction.org

Alexandra joined Crisis Action in 2023 from JUSTICE, a UK-based human rights organisation working to reform the UK justice system. As a development administrator, her work straddled fundraising, events, memberships and communications. She was previously a Philanthropy intern at the International Crisis Group in London, where she assisted the Director of Philanthropy with prospect research, proposal writing and database management.

Alexandra has an MA in International Peace and Security from Kings College London, where she focused on conflict-related sexual violence in the DRC and the protection of women from violence, as well as completing a BA in Geography.

alexandra.howard@crisisaction.org

Pam is an experienced Human Resources (HR) business partner and Organizational Development (OD) practitioner. Her work experience is drawn from private, public, and civil society sectors. She has worked at local, regional, and international levels in HR-OD.

Prior to her appointment at Crisis Action, she worked as an independent contractor for Global People and Culture at BDO Worldwide Services (Brussels). Her consultancy projects over the last 5 years include working with teams at ActionAid International, WaterAid Zambia and Rwanda, SoS Children’s Villages International (Addis Ababa), the Royal College of Anesthesiology (Ottawa), the International Parliamentary Union (Geneva), CIVICUS and the National School of Government (SA). Her work includes HR-OD policy and strategy development, board inductions, leadership development, learning curation, DEI, team development, staff engagement and wellbeing. Pam is passionate about restorative HR and the safeguarding of staff and organizations alike.

Pam has a BA Social Science degree from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal. She lives in Johannesburg with her daughter, Perusha and their dog Taco.

pam.gounder@crisisaction.org

Michelle has 10 years’ experience in Information Systems. Prior to joining Crisis Action, Michelle worked as a Senior Systems Analyst at KenGen PLC where she was responsible for customization, support, maintenance and development of the HR System.

She is passionate about  Digital HR Transformation  and Analytics to boost the efficiency and quality of HR Services and drive better people decisions.

She holds a Bachelor of  Business and Information Technology from Strathmore University and a Master of Business Administration- Operations Management from the University of Nairobi.

michelle.oduor@crisisaction.org

Peter Duffy is a media and communications strategist with Crisis Action. He previously spent five years with AIDS-Free World, an international advocacy organization dedicated to tackling the inequalities that allow HIV to flourish. He has worked in newspaper and magazine journalism and published four books of narrative nonfiction. His freelance journalism has appeared in The New York Times, Politico, The New Republic, Slate, The Atlantic, and other publications.

peter.duffy@crisisaction.org

Maya El Ammar joined Crisis Action in October 2018 as a media campaigns manager. She is a feminist activist, journalist, and campaigner from Lebanon who worked on supporting local civil society organisations in their communications and media actions, and gave several training and awareness raising sessions on issues related to gender, feminism, and the media based on handbooks she produced.

Maya also contributes to different Arab media outlets as a journalist, writer, and translator. She holds a BA in journalism and an MA in communications studies. She previously managed the media and communications activities in KAFA organisation (Arabic word for “Enough”), where she worked for seven years and coordinated nationwide feminist media campaigns.

maya.elammar@crisisaction.org

@mayaammar

Georges has a decade of international experience in Information Technology solutions, service delivery and management. He worked in delivering complex IT infrastructure solutions for a range of customers in the Telecom, Governmental and Banking sectors mainly in Middle Africa and the Persian Gulf. Georges holds a Bachelor in Computer and Telecommunication Engineering from Holy-Spirit of Kaslik University and is fluent in Arabic, French and English.

georges.zailah@crisisaction.org

Ahmad is a seasoned information technology professional with 7 years of experience in the non-profit sector, both locally and internationally. He firmly believes in the transformative power of effective information management in achieving organizational objectives. In his most recent role as an ICT Officer at the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Ahmad collaborated closely with the organization’s head office in Norway and its regional office in Jordan to enhance service quality through the development and refinement of IT protocols, standards, and guidelines. Additionally, he played a pivotal role in ensuring data and system security, as well as compliance with the stringent data privacy regulations outlined in the EU’s GDPR framework.

ahmad.aliahmad@crisisaction.org

Mildreat is an experienced Development Finance Practitioner with several years of experience of working in the NGO, private and faith-based sectors. Prior to joining Crisis Action, she worked as the Operations Manager at Uhai African Solutions. Her core competencies include operations and project management, communication and report writing. She holds a Master’s degree in Development Finance from the University of Cape town Graduate School of Business. Mildreat is driven by a passion to fight poverty using innovative, interdisciplinary, and inclusive approaches. She is driven by a mission to positively impact the lives of the marginalised.

Her research interests and project experience include analysing the profitability of savings groups in South Africa as a method of financial inclusion; youth inclusion in fighting gender-based violence; as well as research on climate change in with a focus on Just Transition and an investigation of climate finance financial instruments in South Africa.

Elvis started working as the Senior Management Team Administrator at Crisis Action in April 2024. Prior to this, he had worked at Crisis Action in the roles of Campaign and Research Assistant and Executive Assistant Consultant. He has over five years of experience in executive support, research, campaigns, and organizational development. He worked with Oxfam International and Amnesty International Kenya prior to rejoining Crisis Action. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Public Administration

elvis.salano@crisisaction.org

Sarah has campaigned at multiple human rights and international development NGOs in the UK – including the UK Committee for UNICEF, Save the Children, and ActionAid. At the global level, she was Plan International’s Head of Youth, Movements, and Campaigns. Her focus has been women’s and girls’ rights (in all their diversity), along with youth voice and participation.

Sarah has an MSc in Political Theory from the London School of Economics, and an MA in Art Psychotherapy from Goldsmiths. She is a proud Trustee for the Donmar Warehouse theatre, as a champion for their young people’s program. And she currently volunteers with young women who’ve survived sexual violence at the grassroots Women and Girls Network. She is a committed intersectional, anti-racist feminist.

Mohamed M Diatta is a Policy, Political Science, and International Relations analyst. His work in and on Africa has focused primarily on issues of governance, peace and security, and regional organisations. Prior to joining Crisis Action, he was at the Addis Ababa office of the Institute for Security Studies, working on human security questions confronting Africa and how to improve continental and regional responses to these challenges.

Mohamed taught Political Science and International Relations from 2016 and has been an adjunct lecturer since 2020 at Sciences Po Paris (France).

He is a graduate of the University of Cape Town and the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. Mohamed holds a PhD in Political Science and International Relations from Sciences Po Paris (France).

mohamed.diatta@crisisaction.org

Kinetibeb is human rights advocate whose present-day passion lies in prevention/ending of armed conflict, human suffering, and protection of civilians in Africa and elsewhere.  Kinetibeb joined Crisis Action as Campaigns and Advocacy Manager-African Union (AU) in March 2024. Priory, he served the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR)-East Africa Regional Office for over a decade. Among others, Kinetibeb contributed to the organization of high-level dialogues and technical consultations between the UN and AU, in collaboration with the latter’s political, peace and security departments in 2016-2020. Themes he worked on include protection of civilians in peace support operations, compliance frameworks, African Decade on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Addis Ababa Roadmap on AU-UN Special procedures cooperation, African Union Transitional Justice Framework, Early Warning/Response, African Continental Free Trade Area, etc.
In 2021, Kinetibeb served as an Investigator for the Joint OHCHR-Ethiopian Human Rights Commission’s investigation into alleged violations of human rights, refugee and humanitarian laws in the context of the armed conflict in the Tigray region, Ethiopia. He contributed to Ethiopia’s transitional justice policy design process (2022-2024). Kinetibeb provided technical support to UN Country Teams, government actors, CSOs, and the National Human Rights Institutions that enabled submission of reports to the UN Treaty Body Mechanisms, including under the Universal Periodic Review.
In a special leave arrangement, Kinetibeb was deployed to Mogadishu in 2015 and briefly served the African Union Mission in Somalia as Civilian Human Rights Expert.
In 2001-2003, Kinetibeb served the Ethiopian judiciary as an Assistant Judge/Legal Clerk, assisting presiding Judges by undertaking case analysis, and drafting judgements/orders. Subsequently he collaborated with colleagues and friends in setting up, operationalizing and serving full time a local NGO named “Organization for Social Justice in Ethiopia”, which later received extensive recognition for its integrity, impact and convening power to bring positive change in citizens’ advocacy. Kinetibeb holds LL.M in International Human Rights Law from the University of Lund (2017), and LL. B from Addis Ababa University (2001).

kinetibeb.kassa@crisisaction.org

Aditi joined Crisis Action as the Campaigns and Advocacy Manager in Johannesburg in February 2020 after having spent 8 years as a foreign policy analyst at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA). Prior to this, Aditi worked in political communications – first as a speechwriter for President Mbeki and then as the Media Liaison Officer at SAIIA. Aditi has published extensively on peace and conflict issues, including on themes like peace-building and conflict prevention in Africa – focusing on South African foreign policy. She’s conducted extensive fieldwork research in post-conflict and fragile contexts including the Bosnia, the DRC, Egypt, Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. Her Master’s thesis concentrated on grassroots peacebuilding and state formation in Somaliland. She holds an M.Litt in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of St Andrews (2011) and in 2010 was awarded the Chevening Scholarship.

aditi.lalbahadur@crisisaction.org

Hayley leads Crisis Action’s networks and partner advocacy in the UK. Before joining Crisis Action in 2015, she spent over a decade campaigning for fairer health, social care, welfare and education systems in the UK, most recently at Save the Children and Macmillan Cancer Support. Hayley is passionate about building partnerships for social change, and has led major coalitions including the Disability Benefits Consortium and the Richmond Group of leading health charities. Hayley holds a law degree from Cambridge University, with an Erasmus year studying international law and human rights at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. She sits on the board of trustees for NRC in UK.

hayley.davidson@crisisaction.org

+44 207 2699450

Joe Keyrouz is a political science and international affairs specialist, dedicated to the protection and promotion of human rights. He studied political science and international affairs and has an MA in Studies about Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism from UNIR in Spain.

Since June 2017, Joe is the elected chair of the Global Network of Domestic Election Monitors (GNDEM) which is a network of 250 election-monitoring organisations in 89 countries across the globe. Moreover, he is an elected member of the Board of Directors since June 2013 at the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections (LADE), which is a rights-based organisation that works to promote electoral rights in Lebanon and the MENA region. LADE has extensive experience in monitoring the Lebanese elections, awareness raising, legal research and in advocating and lobbying for electoral reform.

Moreover, Joe has been fully engaged in the promotion and protection of refugee rights in Lebanon and Jordan since June 2011. Among others, he led a team of more than 200 individuals (100 paralegal staff, 15 lawyers and 120 volunteers) to provide legal aid and support evidence-based advocacy across Jordan, as part of the Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) Syria response.

joe.keyrouz@crisisaction.org

Racha joins Crisis Action having served most recently as the Yemen Researcher with Amnesty International where she investigated human rights and international humanitarian law violations in Yemen, she notably authored a report on restriction to humanitarian access. Prior to that, she worked with Human Rights Watch in Beirut and Physicians for Human Rights in New York where she conducted research and related advocacy on a range of human rights abuses in Syria. Racha holds a master’s degree in Social Development and a BA in law from the Sorbonne University.

racha.mouawieh@crisisaction.org

Rouba Zouhairy joined Crisis Action in February 2023 as a Campaigns and Research Assistant and transitioned to becoming an Advocacy and Campaigns Associate in February 2024. Rouba graduated from the Lebanese American University with a degree in Political Science and International Affairs. Prior to joining Crisis Action, Rouba worked with feminist grassroots organizations and gained a deeper understanding of the intersections of gender, class, race, disability, and nationality. Rouba has a keen interest in foreign policy and how it affects the economic and political conditions of periphery countries. Rouba is passionate about human rights advocacy, economic and social equality, research, and elevating the voices of the most vulnerable in the world.

Joyce Waeni joined Crisis Action in August 2022 as a Campaigns and Research Assistant and transitioned to becoming a Campaigns and Research Associate in August 2023. Joyce is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya with a keen interest in social justice, international development and business and human rights in relation to conflict settings. Prior to joining Crisis Action, she worked at the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, Kaplan & Stratton Advocates, Human Rights Watch, Equality Now, among other organisations. Joyce is passionate about human rights advocacy, research, and campaigning to elevate the voices of the most vulnerable in the world.  Joyce holds a master’s degree (LLM) in International Trade and Investment Law in Africa (TILA) from the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, where she was also a Mastercard Foundation scholar. She also holds a Post-graduate Diploma in Law from the Kenya School of Law and Bachelor of Laws degree (LLB) First Class Honors from Kenyatta University in Kenya.

joyce.waeni@crisisaction.org

Gareth manages Crisis Action partner advocacy at the UN in NY. Gareth was formerly Global Advocacy Manager at Transparency International (TI), representative to the UN in New York and Geneva, Chief Editor of the Global Corruption Report and Head of the Corruption in Sport Initiative. He was previously Deputy Manager of the Human Rights Defenders Programme at the International Service for Human Rights (2006-2010) and Senior Legal Officer for the South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre (2003-2006). He has also consulted on governance challenges in global climate finance. He holds an MLitt (history) from University College Dublin and LLM (IHRL) from the National University of Ireland.

gareth.sweeney@crisisaction.org

Hannah joined Crisis Action full-time in 2022, having previously served as a consultant for the Washington and UN offices supporting the Yemen and Sahel campaigns. During the 2020 U.S. presidential elections, she worked as the Deputy Director of the Voter Protection Hotline for the DNC in Michigan to promote voting rights and ballot access across the state. Prior to that, she was a research fellow for the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) constitution-building team based in Tunisia, providing support to the UN Special Envoy to Yemen developing mediation strategies. From 2016-2017, Hannah was a Fulbright research scholar in Morocco where she completed a case study of the new Mohammed VI Contemporary and Modern Art Museum in Rabat, examining the institutional politics of artistic production and human rights.

Hannah holds a MA in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University and a BA in Art History and African Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also completed two-years of study at the Corcoran College of Art & Design in Washington D.C. with a concentration in Photojournalism and Museum Studies.

hannah.clager@crisisaction.org

Sylvain Biville brings twenty years of experience in strategic communications, advocacy and journalism to Crisis Action. Most recently, he has worked as senior advisor to the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, after having worked for World Summit Climate & Territories and The Climate Group. He was previously Media Manager at The Elders, where he worked with Martti Ahtisaari, Kofi Annan, Lakhdar Brahimi, Jimmy Carter, Mary Robinson and Desmond Tutu to promote peace, justice and human rights worldwide. Before that, Sylvain spent 15 years covering global news for Radio France Internationale. He also worked as a press officer for the United Nations in New York and the French Institute of South Africa in Johannesburg.

sylvain.biville@crisisaction.org

Sophie joined Crisis Action in 2020 as a consultant before becoming Advocacy and Campaigns Manager in 2021. Previously she has consulted on issues notably related to human rights, peace and conflicts and gender equality for several entities. She was formerly the head of the Advocacy Division of Reporters Without Borders. She also worked several years as a diplomat for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as for the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).

Sophie holds a lawyer’s certificate (CAPA – admitted to the Paris Bar), a master’s degree in international law from the Jean Monnet Faculty and the Sorbonne University (Paris) and a LLM from the Fordham University School of Law (New York).

sophiebusson@crisisaction.org

Carolyn joined Crisis Action in 2018 directly from Physicians for Human Rights, where she coordinated advocacy on war crimes accountability, sexual violence, torture, and medical neutrality.  Prior to that, she was responsible for research and analysis relating to protection of human rights defenders at Human Rights First; provided legal support for judges at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, the Superior Court of Massachusetts, and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY); and served as a paralegal specialist at the U.S. Department of Justice.  Carolyn holds a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and a B.A. in Political Science (magna cum laude) from Bates College, and is a member of the advisory board of the American Bar Association’s Atrocity Prevention and Response Project.

carolyn.greco@crisisaction.org