Amalia is the Programme Associate who supports UNGEI’s administrative work.  With a background in administrative support and operations, Amalia has worked in UNICEF, UNDP and UNFPA.  Amalia holds a BA in French literature and culture.

Simon Api Doung Yini Ziba is the project manager for the Gender at the Centre Initiative with the UNGEI Secretariat.  Prior to joining UNGEI, Simon served as Stromme Foundation's Country Coordinator where he supported the development and management of grants from the Islamic Development Bank, Educate A Child, Global Affairs Canada and Norad in Burkina Faso. Previously, he worked for Stromme Foundation in Mali as a Regional Program Manager in the permanent Secretariat of the Speed School Strategy; in this position, he contributed to the process of transferring this strategy to the Ministries of Education of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.

Simon holds a master's degree in Cultural and Educational Policy Studies from Loyola University Chicago, another master’s degree in Project Management from Institut Africain de Professionalisation en Management of Ouagadougou and a bachelor’s degree in « lettres et Civilisations Etrangères » of the University of Ouagadougou. 

Zeynep is a development and humanitarian professional with more than 15 years of experience in EU pre-accession, protracted crisis and conflict contexts. Passionate for gender equality, women’s rights and empowerment of women and girls, she has managed programmes and projects in the fields of social policy, employment, anti-discrimination, inclusive education, vocational education and training, refugee response, women, peace and security, ending violence against women and girls and civil society capacity development. Zeynep has also steered and involved in policy dialogue, coalition building and UN Coordination on these fields. Prior to joining UNGEI, Zeynep worked at the European Union, UN Women Turkey and Ukraine Country Offices at with civil society organizations. At UNGEI Zeynep leads the Gender Transformative Education programmes and contributes to advocacy, knowledge management, resource mobilization, networking and partnership building. Zeynep holds a degree on political science and international relations from Bosphorus University and a postgraduate degree on EU policy making from LSE.

Jeyda is a digital communications specialist who supports UNGEI’s digital advocacy and communications work. With a background in graphic design, digital marketing and web development focused on social impact work, Jeyda has worked with organizations in Europe and South East Asia which support projects and activities to achieve social goals and help promote positive change.

Jeyda holds a BA in Digital Media Art from London South Bank University.

Antara recently joined UNGEI as the Head of the Secretariat. Before joining UNGEI, she led on gender equality for UNICEF India where she supported state governments to empower girls and support positive masculinity for boys with a focus on gender socialization in schools and prevention of gender-based violence.
 
Antara served as the Deputy Representative for UN Women in Bangladesh and before that, supported the Programme Director’s oversight and management of 80 country and regional offices around the world. Prior to joining the UN, she led management consulting teams at Dalberg Global Advisors and Booz Allen Hamilton for the Executive Directors of UNFPA and UN Women, Ministries of Finance, Health, Social Welfare and Human Development in countries in Central Asia and Eastern and Southern Africa, USAID, GIZ,  the World Bank and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
 
Antara started her career as a teacher in a municipal school in Pune, India that served children of sex-workers. A novelist and a TedX speaker, she has written for publications like The Atlantic Monthly and Stanford Social Innovation Review.
 
Antara holds a M.A. in International Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a B.A. in English Literate and Developmental Psychology from Amherst College. She tweets at @antaraganguli.

Natasha is UNGEI’s youth engagement adviser. She works to shift the power dynamics for youth to fully participate in all processes in achieving gender equality in and through education. She is a facilitator, mobilizer and organizer. She believes in the power of partnership.

Natasha has previously worked with organizations such as Plan International, Plan International Canada and CODE. She is a young feminist activist and works to build a global sisterhood of solidarity. She is the co-founder of @Catcallsofottawa part of the global Chalk Back movement, which fights street harassment through street art. Natasha has experience in young feminist movement building, campaigning and policy advocacy.

She holds a BA in International Development with a minor in Gender Studies at the University of Ottawa.

Christabel is responsible for providing technical, professional and administrative support in the effective and efficient functioning of the UNGEI secretariat including implementation of work plans, the advancement of the partnership’s strategic directions and supporting the overall functioning of UNGEI’s governance structures. 

Prior to joining the UNGEI Secretariat, Christabel worked with UNICEF, Room to Read, Camfed and ChildFund, providing technical guidance and support to education programmes with a focus on improving learning outcomes, system strengthening, Girls' Education, literacy enhancement and Early Childhood Education. She has extensive experience supporting education programmes in sub-Saharan Africa and holds a Master of Education in Sociology of Education from the University of Zambia.

As a Community Development Officer, Abdoul travels through countries to assist communities at a grassroots level. In particular, refugees, internally displaced persons and indigenous populations. Focusing on community resilience, women empowerment and more recently on youth employability and assistance through self-employment in the Timbuktu region.

Motivated that a better world is possible by focusing on children's education, Abdoul joined Unicef as a consultant in charge of the permanent secretariat of the education dialogue group of technical financial partners before joining the UNGEI team through the Priority Gender Equality Alliance.

Eline leads the Gender at the Center Initiative (GCI), a multi-stakeholder initiative to promote gender equality in and through education in eight countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to joining UNGEI, Eline worked as an education and gender specialist in West and Central Africa. She served as Regional Education Coordinator for Save The Children. In that role she co-led the Regional Gender and Inclusion in Education Working Group (GENIE), a partnership of education stakeholders to promote gender equality in education. She has also worked in the DRC with Médecins sans Frontières, as National Training Coordinator. Before working in international cooperation, Eline was an academic researcher. She holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Antwerp and conducted ethnographic research on multilingualism and social identity among youth in Senegal. Eline lives and works in Dakar (Senegal) and loves writing and singing.