Jacques Carstens

Member - British Council

Jacques Carstens has more than 20 years’ experience in the design, strategic leadership and implementation of large and complex international development programmes in the democratic governance, rule of law, human rights, and civil society sectors in post-conflict contexts across Asia and Africa, including various Commonwealth jurisdictions. He holds a master’s degree in public management and currently leads the supporting Effective Dispute Resolution (SEDR) project in Sri Lanka, implemented by British Council and funded by the European Union.

Maria Nannini

Researcher Health Equity Unit - ARCO Research Centre, PIN Foundation

Maria Nannini is a researcher in the Inclusive Development Unit at the ARCO Research Centre. Her work focuses on the intersection of public health and social inclusion. She holds a PhD in Development Economics and a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Health Cooperation from the University of Florence. She has contributed to numerous research and evaluation projects on health care accessibility, social protection, multidimensional wellbeing, and child poverty. Her experience also includes work on women’s empowerment, gender-based violence, and sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Getaneh Gobezie

Consultant- Masterkey Consult

Getaneh Gobezie has professional experience of more than three decades in rural (participatory) development planning and implementation, focus on access to finance to micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME), financing value chains, saving promotion, gender, economic empowerment (women youth), renewable energy, etc, and has published widely in the sector. He has worked with various international organizations, including: ILCUF, COWATER, NIRAS, DT-Global, CRS, CARE/USAID, ICCO-STARS, FRONTIERi, GENESIS-ANALYTICS, Nathan Associates, IFAD, SNV, DAI-First Consult, Oxfam-Novib, SIDA/ORGUT Consult, etc.

Gillian Cowel

Head Gender & Inclusion at the British Council

Gillian Cowell is Head Gender & Inclusion at the British Council. In this role she leads the strategy for the British Council’s work on gender equality and empowering women and girls.  This involves the design and delivery of programmes focused on women and girls and gender equality issues as well as providing support to gender mainstreaming on British Council programmes. In addition, she provides technical inputs and consultancy to funded projects including the EU and the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. She has also commissioned and input into research reports and learning from practice papers which support the British Council’s work to share knowledge and understanding on gender equality in the UK and worldwide. Gill has over 25 years’ experience of working in international development by taking various programme and project management roles with the British Council. She has worked in Romania, Turkey and the Middle East, leading British Council’s programmes focused on governance and social development. This has included designing and leading programmes focused on women’s leadership, addressing violence against women and girls (VAWG), and girls’ education. She has a Masters in Development Management.