MEET THE TEAM
Our Management & Board
We are all of us.
We are a collective that aims to inspire and harness change where it is most needed.
Changes for Humanity identifies local projects that result in an immediate impact on the lives and livelihoods of communities they are meant to serve. As a global initiative, CFH provides funding for local projects that bring together three elements – transformation, sustainability and impact.
DIRECTORS
Paula Cristina Roque
Founder / Director
Paula Cristina Roque spent 20 years working on conflict analysis and human security in Africa. In 2020 she decided to change course and dedicate the next 20 years working on hope. She set about bringing together a group pf diplomats, doctors, activists and many more to believe in the power of the outlier ideas and their transformative capacity for change at the local level. After years dealing with policy-makers, Paula understood the need to go directly to the community level where to people-to-people initiatives become the most powerful tool for empowerment and change.
From 2016-19 she was an Advisor for Sub-Saharan Africa with the Crisis Management Initiative, a peace-making organization of former President Martti Ahtisaari. She is a Senior External Advisor, and co-founder of the South Sudan Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies in Juba. She was previously the senior analyst for Southern Africa (covering Angola and Mozambique) with the International Crisis Group. From 2008–2010 she was the Horn of Africa senior researcher for the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria. Prior to that she had worked as the China in Africa Research Coordinator for the South African Institute for International Affairs. She has a doctorate in Development Studies from the University of Oxford. She also holds a masters in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and a BA in Social Anthropology from ISCTE in Lisbon. Her first book Governing in the Shadows: Angola’s Securitized State was published by Hurst October 2021. Her forthcoming book Insurgent Nations: Rebel rule in Angola and South Sudan, also by Hurst, will be out in 2023.
Moretlo Molefi
Director
Moretlo Molefi is a medical doctor who says that she has always had an entrepreneurial mind. Born in Soweto, she grew up in Lesotho before obtaining a BSc degree in biology and chemistry. She then moved on to read for her Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, at the Medical University of Southern Africa, where she qualified as a medical doctor. In addition to working for a number of major pharmaceutical companies, Moretlo practiced as a community doctor before giving in to her entrepreneurial inclinations. With time, marrying her expertise as a medical doctor with her business sense, she became involved in telemedicine.
Her interest in telemedicine was cemented while serving as director for telemedicine research at the Medical Research Council (MRC) of South Africa for seven years. Its Telemedicine Unit was established as a joint project of the Department of Health and the MRC, and has gone a long way in delivering a solution to the severe problems of inadequate services and geographical challenges that face the South African health system. Moretlo was also the project leader in the development of the Telemedicine Workstation for developing countries.
Moretlo has pioneered ICT-based systems that support all levels of healthcare, including primary and tertiary healthcare. One example is a successful rural connectivity project on telemedicine in Limpopo. This project has now been extended to 14 regional hospitals covering the entire province. She is working on a telehealth assessment project for telesurveillance in 14 Southern African countries, a project funded by the African Development Bank. She also coordinates international telemedicine training in China for at least 20 participants from developing countries, funded by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.
Her company, Telemedicine Africa, is pioneering a variety of telemedicine technologies supplied by Chinese company Yunnan Sunpa Image into Africa.
Michele Ruiters
Director
Michele Ruiters has a long career working on policy and academic related approaches to development in Africa. She is a faculty member of the Gordon Institute for Business Science of the University of Pretoria, and previously lectured in several universities. Her interest is in human and organisational behaviour, diversity and inclusion, and, inclusive and justice-based leadership. She is focused on building and growing the capacity of humans (especially women) to deal with self, others and institutions.
Michele has worked in the financial/development finance sector for most of her working career but still uses her NGO lens to understand why, where and how development should happen. She spent 12 years with the Development Bank of Southern Africa where she worked on regional integration, BRICS, South-South cooperation, gender mainstreaming and research in energy, transport, ICT and water and sanitation. She was the contact point for the SADC Regional Infrastructure Strategic Development Master Plan (RISDMP) and the G-8’s Infrastructure Consortium for Africa’s (ICA) Africa Infrastructure Trends report. She also collaborated with other DFIs in the International Development Finance Club (IDFC).
Her passion is for women and development issues, which she indulged in as the gender focal person at the DBSA. She has expert knowledge of infrastructure development in Africa and about the strategic interests of Africa's development partners from around the world. She has a vast experience in public private relations and continues to have links with government partners.
She was a Fulbright Scholar and has a PhD from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in political Science, and a Master’s degree in International Relations from Rhodes University. In 2018, she completed a Master’s degree in Commerce (Development Finance) at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Cape Town.
Michele has held several board positions on the continent including with Development Bank of Zambia (2015 - 2021), the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (2012 – 2015) and the Zimbabwean Women’s Research and Network Centre (ZWRCN), (2006 – 2016). She is currently an Advisory Board member for the African Women in Energy and Power network (AWEaP) and is the President of Convocation for Rhodes University.
Sarasvathee (Patty) Naidoo
Director
An enterprising Finance Professional with vast and diverse experience in both the private and public sectors, engaging in key roles focused on Change management. Acquiring associated finance degrees to augment her career within the organisations as an adept Snr Key Account Specialist with the main KPI to establish and develop a solid sustainable client base and relationship management which flourished as this complimented her people-person attributes.
Additional to her academic accomplishments, Patty is also NLP and Life Coach Practitioner – as a freelancer to corporate clients in creating work-life balance. This has also translated into becoming Cancer Advocate with affiliation to Reach for Recovery a global female support group for breast cancer survivors, providing prosthesis, educational material & moral support to fellow disadvantaged patients.
A fervent campaigner of change, believing in positive transformation through collaboration, improving lives through empathy, business acumen, determination to uplift and empower the world starting with our own community.
ADVISORY BOARD
Carolina Sá
Carolina Sá is a Portuguese-Brazilian journalist living and working between Paris and Rio de Janeiro. After completing a BA in History & Portuguese African studies at Kings College (London), she worked as a magazine editor in Lisbon. She went on to do a Master’s Degree in Creative Documentary in Barcelona. Working alongside a number of renowned directors, she then gained strong experience in cinema as a first and second assistant director. In 2011 Carolina returned to journalism and since 2013 she has been working as a senior producer for the Paris-based international news channel France 24. She juggles her time between news bulletins, breaking news and fact-checking. She is also currently working on her first documentary film.
Faten Aggad
Faten Aggad is the Senior Advisor on Climate Diplomacy and Geopolitics at the African Climate Foundation (ACF). Prior to joining the ACF in February 2022, Faten served as the Senior Advisor to the African Union High Representative on future relations with the European Union. She served in different capacities including as an advisor to the Africa Forum, Business Associate at the Maendeleo Group and a consultant for multiple bilateral and United Nations Agencies. She also worked for several think tanks in South Africa and Europe. Faten also teaches annually at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) in Geneva.
Divya Nambiar
Divya Nambiar is Senior Consultant at Oxford Policy Management’s (OPM’s) education portfolio, with 15 years of experience in the development sector. She leads OPM’s global work in the areas of skills development, technical vocational education and training (TVET), and livelihoods. At OPM, Divya has built a new strand of work on the theme of skills development, which applies a multidimensional skills framework to address development challenges in diverse areas. This includes: early childhood development, adolescent development, training of frontline health workers, child labour, youth employability, and livelihoods. She leads and manages several international projects focused on skills, labour and youth, both within the education portfolio, and across global portfolios including health, public sector governance, and climate change and energy.
Prior to joining OPM, Divya was Senior Consultant at the Office of the Union Secretary, in the Government of India’s newly established Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) for three years. At the Ministry, she was tasked with providing evidence-based policy advisory support to the Ministry’s Union Secretary; formulating and designing national policy and programme initiatives on skills development (including India’s National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, 2015 and the National Skill Development Mission, 2015); managing the Indian government’s bilateral and multilateral skill development partnerships; designing and coordinating key strategic partnerships across government ministries and industry established Sector Skills Councils.
Divya has previously consulted for the World Bank, international think-tanks, development research centres, and the private sector, on themes including poverty reduction, livelihoods, gender and collective action, and skills development. She has also taught politics and area studies at Oxford University.
Divya holds Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) and Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degrees in Development Studies from Oxford University and a Master of Arts (MA) in Sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her doctoral thesis entitled ‘Skill Development and Youth Aspirations in India’, was based on 16 months of ethnographic research in south India. It examined the changing aspirations and skills requirements of youth - particularly young women, as they enter new industrial workplaces for the first time.
Killa Janda
Killa Janda is a highly accomplished and diplomatic political affairs analyst & advisor, with 10+ years of experience in understanding and evaluating political developments in assigned countries while training teams in political & crisis situations. Killa is a Political Affairs Officer at The United Nations Department of Political Affairs, and over the past few years, she has succeeded in maintaining an extensive network within government, political parties, civil society and academia for the purpose of information gathering and cross-analysis. She has provided valuable oversight and expertise in political analysis, report writing & communications, cross-cultural program management, monitoring & evaluating governance structures, and drafting memorandums & UN resolutions. Through vast political affairs acumen, Killa has analyzed cultural norms, behaviors, and political climate.
In her recent assignment, Killa provides political & strategic analysis and operational support to operations including substantive guidance on policy & issues. In a consultative role, she recommended resolutions to crisis situations, including the Boko Haram issue, and remained in constant communication with Security Council Experts. During her tenure with the Permanent Mission of the Republic of South Sudan, she has supported the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on the state of play in South Sudan as well as Abyei.
Most noteworthy is her ability to produce media briefs in critical issues regarding Egypt, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sudan, and other countries in East and South African region. She has strived to work closely with leadership to carry out organizational missions while coordinating objectives, strategies, and goals. She has consistently relied on fact-based information, and has led efforts to educate the public with regards to various procedures. Overall, she has performed cultural diplomacy, met political objectives, and formed consensus for diverse groups of people.
Rafael Marques
Rafael Marques de Morais is an Angolan journalist and human rights defender focused on investigating government corruption and human rights abuses.
Mr. Marques was imprisoned for his work in 1999, for calling President Dos Santos a dictator in an article titled The Lipstick of Dictatorship, and released after international advocacy efforts on his behalf. His case was eventually taken up by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, which delivered a precedent-setting ruling in 2005 according to which Angola had violated the journalist’s fundamental rights.
In 2000 he won the Percy Qoboza Award for Outstanding Courage from the National Association of Black Journalists (USA). In 2006, he received the Civil Courage Prize, from the Train Foundation (USA) for his human rights activities. In 2011, Human Rights Watch awarded him a Hellman/Hammett grant for his contribution to freedom of expression in Angola.
He has published various reports on human rights abuses in the diamond industry in Angola, including Blood Diamonds: Corruption and Torture in Angola (2011).
Mr. Marques holds an MSc in African Studies from the University of Oxford, and a BA Hons in Anthropology and Media from Goldsmiths, University of London. He was a visiting scholar at the African Studies Department of SAIS/ Johns Hopkins University (2012) and a Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy (2011), both in Washington, D.C. He is currently a board member of the Goree Institute, Senegal.
Dawn Nonceba Merle Mokhobo
Dawn is one of South Africa’s leading executives and businesswomen with a highly successful and pioneering career spanning the public, private and parastatal sectors.
Her talents and accomplishments were recognised in particular by her appointment as the first Black woman to the Management Board of Eskom as Executive Director in charge of Growth and Development In this position, Dawn played a pivotal role in aligning the
organisation with the demands of the changing national and international environments and positioning Eskom to be one of the role models amongst South African parastatal organisations at the time.
Prior to this, Dawn worked as a Senior Manager and Senior General Manager (Human Resources) for Eskom and as Senior Divisional Health Education Manager for the Anglo American Corporation. She has also served as Group Manager in charge of Community Development for
the then Bophuthatswana Agricultural Development Corporation, as a Medical Social Work Manager in Bophuthatswana, and as a Social Worker in the Orange Free State. For two years she successfully ran her own Public Relations and Development Consultancy.
In all these positions, Dawn earned a reputation for strategic thinking and vision, and for committed and innovative leadership, particularly in the areas of human resources development, diversity inclusion, and organisational change and development.
Dawn's talents and achievements have been widely recognised and acclaimed both at home and abroad.
South African Businesswoman of the Year in 1993 and currently a member of the Business Woman’s Association (BWA)
In 1994 Dawn was honoured with the invitation to serve as one of the Independent Electoral Commissioners who supervised the Country's first democratic elections. In 1995 she was invited by the Minister of Safety and Security to serve as Chairperson of the high powered Promotions Committee for the South African Police Service.
In 1996, Dawn was nominated as the Chairperson of the UN Special Committee of Experts appointed to address the global issue of Women and Senior Economic Decision Making
Her current Board roles include:
• Chairman and member of the Audit & Risk Committee, Remuneration Committee and Social Ethics Committee of Wesizwe Platinum (Pty) Ltd.
• Independent Non Executive Director and Member of the Social and Ethics Committee of Ford Motor Company (Southern Africa)
• Independent Non Executive Director for A pex Educational Holdings (Pty) Ltd.
• Trustee for Apex Educational Trust
• Trustee for ELB Educational Trust For Black South Africans
• Independent Non Executive Director for Urban Kraal Capital
• Independent Non Executive Director for Urban Kraal Housing Foundation
• Independent Non Executive Director for Urban Kraal Properties (Pty) Ltd.
— LinkedIn
Miguel Stanley
Miguel Stanley is the founder and CEO of White Clinic, based in Lisbon, Portugal, and Adjunct Professor of Restorative and Preventive Dentistry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. He is the clinical director and responsible for a large team of dental specialists focused on complex cosmetic oral rehabilitation.
Dr Miguel Stanley has been practising since 1998, having graduated from ISCS-Egas Moniz and taken his post graduate training at the Branemark CEOSA center in Madrid in 1999, completing his training in cosmetic dentistry in 2000, at the same faculty. He then went on to train in functional aesthetics and occlusion in Chicago in 2005. He is continuously updating his education, with over 300 hours of ongoing education per year, and has a passion for new technologies in dentistry.
He is a board member of Digital Dentistry Society representing the Communi-cation Committee, responsible for its global expansion. He’s been an active member and expert provider for dental XP since 2006. He is licenced to practice in Portugal, in the U.K. and in Dubai. Dr Stanley was also invited by Professor Raman Bedi from King´s College of London to participate on the Global Child Dental Fund and become the global ambassador to stop IOM (Infant Oral Mutilation). Dr Stanley is the host of the first ever National Geographic documentary made about Dentistry and White Clinic was one of the locations where it was filmed.
Paul-Simon Handy
Paul-Simon Handy is a senior regional advisor for the Institute for Security Studies. He was previously the regional expert of the UN Security Council Panel of Experts on the Central African Republic; a position he has held since 2014. He was previously the Division Head for Conflict Prevention and Risk Analysis of the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria where he coordinated research in four regional offices across the continent. While at the ISS (since 2007) he also held the posts of Deputy Executive Director and Director of Research. He has been a Guest lecturer with Rhodes University since 2007 and between 2001-3 was a fellow at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Berlin.
He obtained his Ph.D. in Political Science and African Studies from the University of Leipzig in 2005 and has an M.A. in Political Science and German Studies from the Universities of Yaoundé and FU Berlin, 1992. He is an expert on Central and West Africa, and multilateral organisations with a special focus on the African Union and United Nations engagements’ in Africa.
He has published extensively on issues related to governance and state fragility in Africa as well as the AU peace and security architecture and more recently on the foreign policies of selected African countries. He is on the editorial board of the African Security Review, and a deputy director of l’Observatoire de l’Afrique.
Piers Pigou
Piers Pigou has lived and worked in South Africa since 1992 for a range of organisations; his work focused on the documentation and remedy of human rights violations, in particular issues of torture, assassination and political violence. This included several non-governmental organisations, as well the South African and East Timorese truth commissions in their investigation units.
He has also worked on transitional justice issues in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Liberia, Northern Ireland, Canada amongst others. In 2006. Piers became the director of the South African History Archive, an archive dedicated to documenting and archiving past and contemporary struggles for justice in South Africa, the promotion of access to information and enhancing public access to records through materials production and outreach. Between June 2009 and October 2010, Piers was Senior Associate for the International Center for Transitional Justice with responsibility for Southern Africa, and Zimbabwe in particular.
In April 2011, Piers joined the International Crisis Group as Project Director for Southern Africa. Since November 2015, he has been a senior consultant for Southern Africa at Crisis Group, an adviser to the Elders and a part-time investigator for the International Truth and Justice Project focusing on violations perpetrated by Sri Lanka’s security and political establishment. In 2020, Piers also joined the team from the Armed Conflict Location and Events Data (ACLED’s) “Cabo Ligado” Project that produces weekly and monthly incident reports and analysis about the insurrection in northern Mozambique.
Caty Clément
Caty Clément has worked extensively in Africa focusing on conflict and fragile states on RBM, peacebuilding and DDR/SSR. She is currently a member of the Board of the Prize Henry Dunant Foundation, Interpeace’s International Advisory Team, and an Associate Fellow of the GCSP. Dr Clement worked and lived in the Sahel, the Great Lakes, and East Africa working both as a practitioner and an academic.
As a practitioner, Dr Clément has been an expert at the UN Security Council Group of Experts on DRC Arms Embargo, lead multiple conflict sensitive processes in the Sahel for the Small Arms Survey, Interpeace, MINUSMA and the PBF, directed the Great Lakes Project for the International Crisis Group, and was team leader for the World Bank on DDR. As an academic, Dr Clement was a fellow at the Harvard University Kennedy School and taught both at the University of Geneva and Louvain.
Dr Clément also led the peacebuilding and mediation activities, was a Founding and Management Board member of the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform, and directed numerous courses such as the Masters in International Security or the Senior Leaders Peacebuilding Course at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP). Caty Clément holds a PhD International Relations and Comparative Politics. She has lectured, spoken and published extensively on peacebuilding, SSR, and fragile states.
FINANCIAL BOARD
José Pedro Trindade
José Pedro Trindade is in several board of directors of the Rentipar Group companies, as an executive member, operating in the leisure, tobacco industry, real estate and holding companies which had investments in the financial and insurance activities.
As responsible for the treasury management of the group, keeps constant contacts with all the major local banks, in order to manage the current cash pooling, the negotiation of bank loans, bond loans. José Pedro was also involved in several financing restructuring negotiations. On the leisure and real estate activities, he was directly involved as an executive member on several projects, for the construction of two new hotels, Madeira and Azores, as well as several housing buildings in Lisbon, including the management of those projects, mainly contacts with the architects, contractors, banks and supervision of all the construction process. Responsible for all the coordination and preparation of the operational reporting, management reports and financial statements of the Rentipar Group, of the auditors regular annual reviews, as well as the tax planning of the group, performed together with the assistance of independent consultants.
Since 2012, he was directly involved on the selling process of relevant financial investments of the Rentipar Group, mainly the Savoy Group of hotels in Madeira, in the last quarter of 2015 and Açoreana Seguros, an insurance company, process that started in March 2015 and was closed in August 2016.
Prior to his position at Rentipar Group, José Pedro worked for Arthur Andersen & Co performing business consultancy and financial audits in Portugal, Azores and Madeira islands.
José Pedro holds a Management degree from Universidade Católica Portuguesa.
Luís de Sousa Carvalho Gomes de Abreu
Luís is a senior Team Manager with a wide range of experience in Wealth management for high and Ultra high-end clients. Able to work on own initiative and as part of a team. Proven leadership skills involving managing, developing and motivating teams to achieve their objectives. First-class analytical, and problem-solving skills. Dedicated to maintaining good relationships with clients and delivering high quality service.
He is Managing Director, Market head Iberia (Rothschild & Co Bank Switzerland) and is responsible for setting up the Iberian desk, hire several qualified bankers, develop an applicable product & service offering, growing and consolidating assets under management. Luís manages his own book of UHNW Portuguese and Spanish clients. As a Member of Rothschild in the community, Luís pursues the community investment mission to make a meaningful difference to children and young people whose opportunities in life are restricted through disadvantage.