SPEAKERS

• 

  Ahmad Alhendawi

  UN Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth

  Ahmad Alhendawi of Jordan is the first-ever United Nations Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth. He assumed office in February 2013. A strong youth advocate at the national, regional and international levels, Mr. Alhendawi is described by the UN Secretary-General as “the youngest senior official at the United Nations". He previously worked as the Youth Policy Advisor in the League of Arab States. Prior to this, he served as a Team Leader for the National Youth Policy Project in Iraq, a Youth Programme Associate at the Iraq office of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and as the Emergency Programme Officer at the non-governmental organization Save the Children.
• 

  Mario Marcel Cullell

  Senior Director, World Bank Governance Global Practice

  Prior to his role at the World Bank Group, Mario served as the Deputy Director for Public Governance and Territorial Development at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). He also previously worked at the Inter-American Development Bank where he was Executive Director for Chile and Ecuador and Manager of the Institutional Capacity and Finance Sector. Mario began his career in academia, where he held several teaching and research positions across universities in Chile and the United Kingdom. For 12 years he worked for the Government of Chile, holding senior positions at the Ministry of Finance including Executive Secretary for the Inter-Ministerial Committee for the Modernization of Public Administration, Chair of the Internal Audit Committee, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Pension Reform, and Director General of Budget for six years. In the early 2000's he led innovative work in the design of a structural budget fiscal rule in Chile in parallel with Sweden and Switzerland, which was later expanded to more than 30 countries. He holds an M.Phil. in Economics from the University of Cambridge, and a BA in Economics and in Commercial Engineering from the Universidad de Chile. Connect with him on Twitter: @mariomarcel22
• 

  Nicholas Bian

  Nicholas Bian is a Knowledge and Learning Analyst in the Europe & Central Asia (ECA) region and is part of the Junior Professional Associate program at the World Bank Group. Mr. Bian’s background in corruption prevention and public sector integrity is utilized by supporting projects in Moldova and Azerbaijan on social accountability and information transparency. Prior to joining the Bank, Mr. Bian worked as a junior policy analyst at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) where he was a contributing author on several publications on lobbying reform, whistleblower protection and conflicts of interest. Mr. Bian holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs specializing in Governance and Public Policy from the American University in Paris, and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Westmont College
• 

  Nigel Chapman

  Chief Executive Officer, Plan International

  Nigel Chapman joined Plan International as Chief Executive Officer in April 2009 following a career in news and current affairs broadcasting with the BBC spanning more than 30 years and also a long association with Plan, as Chair of the Plan UK Board. Nigel was Director of the BBC World Service from 2004 to 2009, having overall editorial leadership and management of the world's leading international radio broadcaster. He directed the launch of BBC Arabic TV in 2008 and Persian TV in 2009. He also oversaw a big increase in the World Service’s radio audience to over 180 million listeners a week. In addition, Nigel was also Chair of the BBC World Service Trust (now called Media Action).
• 

  Nur Laiq

  Nur Laiq is the author of Talking to Arab Youth: Revolution and Counter-revolution in Egypt and Tunisia (International Peace Institute, 2013) and co-editor of The Search for Peace in the Arab-Israeli Conflict (Oxford University Press, 2014). Nur was the social media chief content officer for the Indian National Congress Party in the 2014 general election campaign. Prior to this, she was a senior policy analyst at the International Peace Institute in New York. Here, she headed the Arab Youth Project, which engaged with youth activists and politicians in the MENA region. The project provided recommendations to the UN and member states on the political and socio-economic inclusion of youth. Nur has also also worked on foreign policy at the European Commission in Brussels and with a Labour Member of Parliament in London. Nur has given talks on youth empowerment and good governance in the Middle East and South Asia at the United Nations, Columbia University, London School of Economics, National University of Singapore and Oxford University among others. Nur is from India and grew up between New Delhi and London. She has also lived in Brussels, Damascus, New York and Tehran. She has written articles for Caravan, The Guardian, The Indian Express and The New Statesman. While living in New Delhi she worked as a volunteer with Afghan refugees during the late 1990s. She received her MPhil in Modern Middle Eastern Studies from Oxford University in 2005.
• 

  Raphael Obonyo

  Raphael Obonyo is a youth advocate at the national, regional and international levels. Mr Obonyo is the external adviser, UN Habitat’s Youth Advisory Board, and Africa’s representative in the World Bank’s Global Coordination Board on Youth and Anti-Corruption. He is the co-founder and a member of the Advisory council of the Youth Congress, a premier youth-led organization in Kenya. He has extensive knowledge and experience in public policy, international development, political economy, governance and human rights. In 2013, the Global Diplomatic Forum named Mr. Obonyo as one of the Global Young Diplomats. He is 2014 Crans Montana’s New Leader of Tomorrow. He holds a Masters in Public Policy from Duke University. He is a Ford Foundation Fellow. Email: raphojuma@hotmail.com
• 

  Sandra Moscoso

  Program Lead, Global Media Development Programme, World Bank Group

  By day, Sandra is the deputy program lead of the World Bank’s Global Media Development Programme, a partnership-driven initiative which focuses on information and media as drivers of social accountability and good governance. Sandra also launched and managed the World Bank’s Open Finances program (https://finances.worldbank.org), where she worked to open financial data, make it digestible, and supported the use of open data in development. She has worked on open data efforts in Kenya, Moldova, Afghanistan, Nigeria, and across Latin America. By night, Sandra works on local community efforts related to schools (https://chpspo.org) and education (http://greatergreatereducation.org/), active transportation, and open government (http://codefordc.org/). For this work, the Sunlight Foundation recognized Sandra as an Open Gov Champion. Prior to the World Bank, Sandra worked as a change management consultant for enterprise systems implementations. A graduate of James Madison University, Sandra lives in Washington, DC with her husband, two children, and the 'village' that makes every-day life possible.
• 

  Santosh Acharya

  Santosh Acharya is a young activist who has been working on youth issues in Nepal for eight years. He is a member of the Global Youth Anti-Corruption Network (GYAC) and supported the design and implementation of several youth focused transparency and accountability programs. In 2013, he led Restless Development’s national youth consultations on Post-2015, mentored facilitators and participated in the coordination of several regional and local consultations. Santosh is the president of Youth Initiative and currently representing the Association of Youth Organisations in Nepal.
• 

  Sara Moore

  Sara Moore began working with Plan international USA in 2004 when she was just eleven years old participating in the Youth United for Global Action’s summer camps and development education programmes. In 2012 was selected to join Plan’s Global Youth Advisory Panel where she continues to play an integral role to ensure children and young people’s voices are heard in Plan’s governance and decision making. Sara also represents the Global Panel at Plan’s highest decision making body, the Members Assembly.