Building Inclusive Migration Systems Together

Sector: Public Policy & Migration

LinkedIn: Angie Larocque | LinkedIn  

Website: www.igc.ch  

Angie Larocque is a Programme Manager at the Inter-Governmental Consultations on Migration, Asylum and Refugees (IGC). The IGC is a state-led, multidisciplinary, interregional, consultative process. It fosters informal information exchange, policy debate, and cooperation among Participating States on recent trends in international migration, asylum and refugee movements, and emerging policy and operational challenges across the migration continuum. As a Programme Manager, Angie spearheads dialogue among Participating States on legal migration pathways, settlement and integration as well as migration related issues impacting children and youth. Angie is a career public servant, working for the Government of Canada’s Immigration and Employment Departments for over 24 years. As a Senior Policy Analyst at Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada, Angie spearheaded key reforms to Canada’s federal economic immigration programmes. In addition, she spent several years at Canada’s foreign credential recognition programme, working with a wide variety of stakeholders across the country on the development and implementation of labour market integration policies and programmes for newcomers. With over 24 years of extensive experience in strategic policy analysis and development in relation to immigration and integration, Angie brings a significant amount of expertise and knowledge to the role.   

Sector: Media &Human Rights

LinkedIn: Anna Alboth | LinkedIn

Website: https://minorityrights.org/

Anna is a Polish journalist, blogger and political activist. She gained international attention as the initiator of the Civil March for Aleppo—a peace march on foot from Berlin to Aleppo from December 2016 to August 2017, for which she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018. In the summer of 2021, Alboth co-initiated Grupa Granica—a group of Polish human rights organizations that care for refugees on the Belarusian–Polish border. She currently lives with her family in Berlin.

Sector: Corporate Retail and Supply Chain 

LinkedIn: Catalina Matei | LinkedIn 

Website: https://www.inter.ikea.com/

Highly experienced, enthusiastic, dedicated and business driven professional with broad experience in Logistics, Planning and Purchasing for retail and manufacturing, in cosmetics, soft beverages & FMCG companies.

Positive, self-motivated, problem solving and result oriented person, with good communication and negotiation skills, always ready to face new challenges.

Sector: Social Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Design

LinkedIn: David Scicluna | LinkedIn 

Website: http://innovationfoundation.net/

David is in charge of stakeholder management for the Innovation Foundation, establishing and executing the end-to-end infrastructure.

David’s areas of expertise lie in human-centric product and process design, innovation development, project management, strategic planning, and problem-solving. He has demonstrated these skills during a 4-year tenure at The Adecco Group, working primarily on developing products and services within the Career Transition & Mobility sector where he oversaw product roadmaps and driving efficient development cycles.

David also has extensive experience in the social impact sector, previously working at AIESEC, the world’s largest youth-led NGO, where he served as the Head of Organizational Development for Malta & Switzerland before being elected as the Country Manager for Switzerland.

Sector: INGO- Humanitarian Training and Development

LinkedIn: Piotr Kolodziej | LinkedIn

Website: https://www.humanitarianleadershipacademy.org/

Piotr has over 13 years of experience in humanitarian and development organizations. He is passionate about connecting people and approaches to create lasting solutions for communities affected by humanitarian crises. Piotr has worked with organizations such as Ashoka, the International Rescue Committee, the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership, Tech to the Rescue, and Polish Humanitarian Action. 

Currently, Piotr serves as the Regional Lead for Eastern Europe at the Humanitarian Leadership Academy, a global learning initiative of Save the Children. 

Piotr is a graduate of the Leadership Academy for Poland, one of Europe's top leadership development programs. He holds certifications from Harvard Business School Online (Power and Influence for Social Impact) and the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism, where he learned how to lead teams in humanitarian emergencies.

Sector: Social Entrepreneurship, Education and Refugee Integration

LinkedIn: Ivana Senitkova| LinkedIn 

Website: https://www.eduzmena.cz/

Ivka has worked in various companies as project manager and also organizing TEDxYouth@Prague for 10 years voluntarily. Some years ago, they invited Mehmed to be one of the speakers. Nice, young, quiet guy, refugee from Syria, first contact ever with somebody, who had to flee away from his own country. She remembers like today, when he was saying on the stage, that his dream is to go back home.

Now she is working at Eduzměna (NGO striving for systemic change of the education system in Czechia). For the past 2 years she was leading the coordination group of donors in the field of education and integration of Ukrainian migrants in Czechia, connecting also with stakeholders across all the sectors.  Each and every kid, youngsters, anybody - should have the opportunity to develop their potential.

Sector: Academia and Social Sciences

LinkedIn: Leendert de Bell | LinkedIn 

Website: https://www.internationalhu.com/

Dr. Leendert de Bell is professor for sustainable labour participation of refugees at University of Applied Sciences Utrecht and assistant professor within the Entrepreneurship section at Utrecht University School of Economics. He obtained his PhD in international development studies, with a particular focus on Latin America, and has extensive international experience in research and training. His current research focuses on supporting social entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship ecosystems, with a particular focus on work-integration social enterprises (WISEs).

Hi objective is to find innovative ways to effectively overcome the numerous obstacles refugees face in finding appropriate employment in the Dutch labour market, and allowing talents of refugees to flourish to the benefit of the individual, organisations and society.

Sector: Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Rights

LinkedIn: Frederic Pinglot | LinkedIn 

Website: https://www.se.com/

Frédéric Pinglot is currently the Vice President of Human Rights at Schneider Electric, where he is responsible for overseeing the company's commitment to upholding human rights across its global operations. He plays a key role in shaping Schneider Electric's policies related to sustainability, ethical conduct, and the protection of human rights in supply chains and corporate practices. His work ensures that Schneider Electric aligns with international human rights standards, while promoting diversity, equity, and sustainable development within the company.

Sector: Social Entrepreneurship & Social Development

LinkedIn: Gonzalo Fanjul | LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/gonzalo-fanjul/ 

Website: https://porcausa.org/ 

As director of research at PorCausa, a nonprofit dedicated to research on migration, Gonzalo Fanjul has created a new model of media influence in Europe, that improves media quality by providing outlets with diverse, research-based and representative content. Their goal is to encourage a more informed public debate by influencing media outlets and policymakers worldwide to cover social issues in a new way, fight destructive myths and to make public and private sectors accountable for their decisions. 

He is also Policy Director at the Institute of Global Health of Barcelona (ISGlobal), Research Fellow on migration at the Overseas Development Institute, author and co-editor of El País award-winning blog 3.500 Millones and a graduate of Harvard’s Kennedy School Masters in Public Administration.  

Two decades of work in the field of development and poverty. Wide experience in policy research and campaign strategy, having been a leading member of Oxfam International's campaign and research teams. 

Numerous publications on related matters, such as ODA, child poverty, international migration, food security, trade, agriculture. 

Sector: Corporate Diversity and Inclusion

LinkedIn: Hacinta Naidoo | LinkedIn 

Website: https://jobs.zalando.com/en

Hacinta Naidoo is currently the Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Zalando. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing and implementing strategies that promote an inclusive workplace. Her career in diversity and inclusion spans various roles, including positions at Ralph Lauren, where she led initiatives related to disability inclusion and broader diversity goals across the EMEA region. Naidoo's work is focused on creating systemic change within corporate environments to ensure that all employees, particularly underrepresented groups, are supported and empowered to succeed.

Specialties: Talent Acquisition, Direct Sourcing, Team Management, Networking, Stakeholder Management, Operational Excellence, Project Management, People Strategy, Customer Experience, Global Operations, Employment Law, Reserve and Consumer Goods.

Sector: Corporate Social Responsibility

LinkedIn: Judyta Rozmus | LinkedIn 

Website: https://www.inter.ikea.com/

Judyta Rozmus at IKEA Retail Poland is responsible for the strategic approach, creation, and coordination of projects aimed at changing narratives and improving the situation of refugee in Poland, including social and charitable activities in this area. She coordinates a project “Skills for Employment”. She collaborates with both the public and NGO sectors and has coordinated joint projects between IKEA and organizations like UNHCR and UNICEF. She is also a member of the IKEA Diversity Network and an ambassador for the IKEA Foundation.

Sector: INGO- Social Innovation and Migration

LinkedIn: Kenny Clewett |  LinkedIn 

Website: https://ashoka.org/  & https://helloworld.ashoka.org/ 

Kenny focuses on strategic development and re-vamping core processes to improve effectiveness of organizations. Highly skilled in Nonprofit Organizations, Marketing Strategy, Volunteer Management, Public Speaking, and Social Media, he is also a proven entrepreneur, and well-rounded professional with experience both in the non-profit sector as well as with religious institutions both in Spain and the United States. He holds a Licenciatura from Alcalá de Henares University and Durham University.

Sector: Corporate Sustainability and Equality

LinkedIn: Lars-Erik Fridolfsson | LinkedIn 

Website: https://www.inter.ikea.com/

Lars-Erik Fridolfsson leads the fair & equal agenda at Inter IKEA Group (the IKEA franchisor) and the full IKEA value chain, covering range, supply, production and franchising.

With over two decades of work experience in people and culture, Lars-Erik has deep knowledge and passion for bringing the people and equality agenda to the heart of a business. In this role, he leads the shared strategic Fair & Equal initiative, which focuses on having a positive impact on people and society and is a part of the broader IKEA People & Planet Positive strategy set for 2030.

Lars-Erik works closely with a network of sustainability expertise, ranging from human rights and children's rights to diversity & inclusion to compensation and benefits. He is also an assignor for projects such as developing a performance framework for Fair & Equal as well as developing an approach of IKEAs work with a Just transition with a human centric view. He started working with IKEA in 2001 as an HR manager and has since then held various leadership positions across the IKEA value chain in Sweden, Vietnam and India. Lars-Erik is from Blekinge in Sweden and has a university degree in Behavioral Science from the University of Lund.

Sector: Academia and Migration Studies

LinkedIn: Meghann Ormond | LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghannormond/

Website: https://www.wur.nl/en.htm

Deeply invested in and concerned with how differently mobile people's roots, rights and vulnerabilities are recognised and included in the places they visit and in which they live, Dr Meghann Ormond focuses her work on how shifting visions and practices of citizenship and belonging impact transnational mobility, heritage, health and care relationships.

An associate professor in Cultural Geography at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) in the Netherlands, Meghann places great emphasis on transdisciplinary collaboration. She develops initiatives together with NGOs, policymakers and industry actors on issues related to migrant heritage, health equity and accessible tourism. The author of over 40 peer-reviewed publications as well as curator and co-founder of initiatives like Roots Guide and Migrantour Utrecht, Meghann also tries her best to bring about a more humane kind of university in which people of diverse backgrounds can learn from one another and thrive.

She is co-founder and co-coordinator of the CSPS Transformative Learning Hub at WUR, and co-creator of the Centre for Unusual Collaboration(CUCo)'s Spark interdisciplinary research training programme. She also develops, coordinates and teaches on courses in the philosophy of social science, sustainability and responsibility, and transformative and participatory qualitative research methods.

Sector: Social Entrepreneurship, Non-Profit Management and Refugee Support

LinkedIn: Myroslava Keryk | LinkedIn 

Website: https://naszwybor.org.pl/

Myra was born in the Soviet Union and grew up in a village 30km from Lviv. Social commitment and Ukrainianness were strongly present in her home and shaped her upbringing. Her father's family founded Prosvita (Ukrainian: просвіта, 'enlightenment'), a meeting place for cultivating Ukrainianness, but also for learning to read, which was operated in her father's family home. Her grandparents, father, and uncles were exiled to Siberia for leading this initiative. Myra's dad came back home after ten years in Siberia.

For this reason, the headmistress of her school, a true communist, disliked her family very much. Teachers were, therefore, unfairly harsh on Myra, so she was never confident about her performance in school. In addition, because of her skin disease, the children also bullied her. Despite the difficulties, Myra joined the Pioneers (Soviet scouts), where, among other things, she organized joint cleaning of houses and farms of the oldest inhabitants of their villages.

Myra’s mom encouraged her to continue her studies because she believed she would not find a husband due to her skin condition. She was wrong. But after studying history at a university in Lviv, Myra continued her education at the Central European University in Budapest until she moved to Warsaw for doctoral studies.

 In 2004 a revolution broke out during the protests after the rigged presidential elections in Ukraine. Myra joined a revolution and began to act in Poland, not only with people from Ukraine but also with friends from the University. When the protests died down, Myra decided to evolve the work to continue creating a positive impact for Ukrainians and other people on the move, first as an informal group and later as Our Choice Foundation, today known as Ukrainian House. Myra left academia because she felt she could not make a difference from that position. Myra then committed full-time to building common grounds for Poles and Ukrainians, sharing past, present, and future.

Sector: Social Entrepreneurship, Legal Advocacy and Technology

LinkedIn: Nelson Olanipekun | LinkedIn  

Website: https://citizensgavel.org/ & https://podus.org/

Nelson Olanipekun, Ashoka fellow, aims to create a world where access to justice is fast and easy; this motivated him to found Citizens’ Gavel; an organisation that accelerates justice delivery through access to justice, digital technology and citizens’ engagement.

Nelson believes that global justice delivery is slow and needs a fix. Originally from Nigeria, Nelson now runs citizens gavel from the United Kingdom across multiple countries. His Podus Ai, is transforming the experience of navigating legal needs for immigrants and natives by providing them with legal insights based on laws and judicial precedents.

Against the backdrop of the concept “Justice delayed is justice denied”, Nelson tackles this prominent human rights issue by providing immediate support for victims of justice needs. He uses a rapid response legal team of seven in-house lawyers, as well as a network of volunteer lawyers across twenty-four States in Nigeria to provide legal support to victims of human rights.

He is well known for his stance against police brutality, extortion and extrajudicial killings. As part of his advocacy movements, Nelson served as a legal consultant to EndSARS, a movement committed to eradicating SARS (Special Anti-Robbery Squad notorious for brutality and extra-judicial killings), Nelson was a crucial player in the coalition of stakeholders which secured the presidential directive to overhaul the said Squad and its eventual disbandment. On a global scale, he coordinates a team of professionals in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States to apply for legal sanctions against the perpetrators of police brutality during and after the nationwide endsars protest.

To ensure a better justice delivery and reduce human rights violations, Nelson had the privilege to make several appearances before the Senate Committees on Police Affairs and Judicial Matters to contribute to nation-building. His contributions during the draft of the police Act are now a solid fulcrum for holding police accountable in Nigeria. In conjunction with other impact leaders, Nelson's opposition to the anti-social media bill has helped to guarantee freedom of expression in Nigeria. He has also been a member of the administration of criminal justice in the Federal Capital Territory and in Oyo State, where he helps to build a better criminal justice administration.

Of technology and justice, Nelson leverages automation and digital technology to address social justice issues. In 2017 he was incubated by civic hive, a civic tech innovation hub that proffers solutions to civic issues. Afterwards, Nelson developed podus; a platform popularly referred to as the uber for justice that connects victims of police brutality with lawyers closest to them; he has also worked on Justice Clock - a case management tracking tool that has been deployed in Ogun State and in Lagos State, Nigeria. This case management tool, which has helped process over one thousand four hundred (1,400) pre-trial detainees in the two States, enables the government to ensure that no one is forgotten in the criminal justice pipeline, an occurrence common in Nigeria. Through his organisation, Citizens’ Gavel, Nelson has provided 7500 legal interventions.

Recognising his notable works and leadership in the impact space, he was invited to One Young World, London as a speaker and the Hague as a Netherlands Peace Scholar fellow. He has been profiled on wikipedia and interviewed by bloomberg, devex,  civic tech Africa,  Oxford University Africa Society while one of his digital tools was profiled as one of the five tech tools changing Nigeria civic space.

With experiences garnered from fixing Nigeria's social justice issues, Nelson recognises that the slow justice delivery challenge he is fixing is not only local, but a global issue and digital technology plays a huge path in solving the challenge. To prepare for his next phase, Nelson recently completed an advanced certification in digital transformation from Cambridge Judge Business School and Cybersecurity certification at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Sector: Corporate Human Resources and Operations

LinkedIn: Robert Granat | LinkedIn 

Website: https://www.electroluxgroup.com/en/

He is an experienced, bold, curious, forward thinking HR professional with extensive background from diverse industries/companies ranging from non-profit to hospitality, retail and production/supply chain. He loves to lead and to see both business and people grow together.

Sector: Social Entrepreneurship and Integration

LinkedIn: Rooh Savar | LinkedIn 

Website: https://singafrance.com/en/ & https://welcomeaccount.com/

Rooh Savar has co-founded Welcome Place, a community-driven neobank, that provides simple and inclusive financial solutions for newcomers. He is the President of SINGA, a global movement creating open societies for everyone, regardless of their background, to realize their full potential.

In Iran, Mr. Savar contributed to the creation of several cultural & social charities and co-founded a digital communication agency in 2007 with his artist and activist friends. When he arrived in France, he began working with the media, writing articles and reports on international issues, in particular focusing on the Middle East. Realizing the lack of first-hand information from local, direct sources but also European and American journalists’ lack of knowledge regarding the complexity of local contexts, he designed the Jahan.info platform.