The GCE Board

Refat is a Palestinian educator and human rights advocate, and the Founder and Director General of the Teacher Creativity Center in Palestine. He is also the General Secretary of the Arab Campaign for Education (ACEA), and President of the Arab Network for Human Rights and Citizenship Education (ANHRE). Refat brings decades of experience in education, civic engagement, and social justice, and serves on the UNESCO 2030 Steering Committee for Education and the High-Level Steering Committee of Education Cannot Wait.

Refat is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Education in Tunis. A former Arabic and social sciences teacher and Editor-in-Chief of Al-Gharbal and Ibdaa magazine, he remains a tireless advocate for education as a tool for dignity, liberation, and human rights across the Arab world and beyond.

Nelsy is Colombian and Ecuadorian. She holds a degree in Philosophy and Literature, a postgraduate degree in Political Science and International Relations, and a PhD in Complex Thought. She currently serves as General Coordinator of CLADE, the Latin America regional education coalition.

Her professional trajectory spans popular, formal, and non-formal education, as well as popular communication, with a particular focus on community radio. She has worked as a consultant in the areas of gender, human rights, and the rights of children and adolescents. She is also an active member and volunteer of Pressenza, the International News Agency for Peace and Nonviolence.

Paul is a committed civil society leader working to advance the right to education. He is Chair of the African Network Campaign on Education for All (ANCEFA) and the Ivorian Network for the Promotion of Education for All (RIP-EPT).

A teacher by profession and a trained trade unionist, Paul has many years of experience in advocacy, education sector governance, and strengthening civil society organisations. He regularly contributes to national, regional, and international forums on education financing, democratic governance, and citizen participation.

Chris Weavers is Head of Campaigns and Communications at the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) – The Teachers’ Union, where he leads the campaigns team and manages strategic relationships with partners in the UK and internationally. He chaired Send My Friend to School, the UK coalition of the Global Campaign for Education, for almost a decade, helping to deliver youth-led campaigns that mobilise young people and civil society expertise to influence education policy and secure meaningful change.

Previously, Chris worked as a policy adviser in local government and served as Vice President of the UK National Union of Students, where he led on education policy. He specialises in advocacy and governance and serves as a trustee and board member for several civil society organisations and public bodies.

Grant Kasowanjete is the Global Coordinator of the Global Campaign for Education (GCE). With extensive experience across the agriculture, health, education, and democracy sectors, he brings a multidisciplinary perspective to his leadership role.

Grant holds a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Business Leadership. He is deeply committed to strengthening civil society organisations at national, regional, and global levels, empowering them to engage effectively in key advocacy spaces and influence education policy for lasting impact.

Antonia is Director of Research, Policy and Advocacy at Education International (EI), the world federation of teacher unions. EI represents more than 32 million teachers and education support personnel in 178 countries.

Antonia’s work at EI covers a broad range of policy areas related to quality education and the status and rights of education workers. She represents the teaching profession on the SDG4 Education 2030 High-level Steering Committee Sherpa group. Antonia is also the editor of Grading Goal Four – Tensions, Threats and Opportunities in the Sustainable Development Goal on Quality Education.

Ester is a Namibian education activist and former student leader with extensive experience in advocacy, public policy, and youth engagement. She served as Secretary General of the Southern African Students Union, representing student unions across all 16 Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states, and was the 17th and first female President of the Namibian National Students Organization. She founded Joyrise Private Academy, sat on the All-African Students Union Constitutional Review Committee, and served as the youngest Presidential Advisor on the High-Level Panel on the Namibian Economy.

Ester holds degrees in English and Literature, Communication, and a Master’s in Leadership and Change Management. She has been recognised with an Honorary Doctorate from HEIM Weldios University (Benin), and has received  the African Youth Awards’ 100 Most Influential Young Africans (2018) award and the All-African Students Union SheGameAwards Citation of Honour (2020).

Tamara is a Steering Committee Member of the Global Student Forum (GSF) and a PhD candidate in Environmental Sciences at Babeș-Bolyai University, Romania. With a strong background in education policy and the student movement, she has previously served as a national-level student representative.

Motivated by a deep commitment to students’ rights, Tamara has taken on several international leadership roles, including serving on the Executive Committee of the European Students’ Union (ESU). She continues to champion transformative education as a GCE Board Member, a Steering Committee Member of GSF, and an Executive Committee Member of the UNESCO SDG4 Youth & Student Network.

Mercedes Mayol Lassalle is an expert in early childhood education and care, public policy, and human rights. She served as World President of OMEP – World Organization for Early Childhood Education from 2020 to 2025 and now sits on its World Executive Committee as Past President. She is a member of the UNESCO CCNGO-Education 2030 Coordination Group and Technical Advisory Group for the Tashkent Declaration on early childhood care and education.

Mercedes holds a degree in Educational Sciences and is Professor of Public Policies for Early Childhood in the Master’s Programme in Early Childhood Education at the University of Buenos Aires, and has taught widely as a teacher educator across Latin America.

Ashina is a human rights lawyer and advocacy professional working to ensure equitable, high-quality education for all. She is the Coordinator of the TaxEd Alliance at ActionAid, where she brings together education organisations, teacher unions, and human rights, feminist and tax justice groups to advocate for fair and sustainable public funding for education.

Before joining ActionAid, Ashina worked with the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR), where she examined how privatisation affects access to education and healthcare. Her work emphasises strengthening public systems so they better serve those who are most often left behind. Ashina is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, with an LL.B from the University of Nairobi and LL.M from the University of Pretoria.

Helen is the Secretary-General of the Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE). She is a lawyer and registered social worker in the Philippines with more than 20 years of experience in transnational advocacy, capacity-building, grant management, institutional building and networking in the fields of human rights, migration, and education.

Helen has contributed in bringing the voices and concerns of civil society constituencies to regional and global platforms including as a former representative of Southern civil society in the Board of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), the global SDG4 High Level Steering Committee (HLSC) Sherpa Group, the Advisory Committee of the 2022 Transforming Education Summit (TES), and the Consultative Committee for the Seventh International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VII).

Ram is the National Coordinator of the National Campaign for Education Nepal (NCE Nepal), a coalition of 508 organisations working to secure the constitutional right to inclusive, quality education. He has over 15 years’ experience in research, policy advocacy, campaigning, and community mobilisation, including supporting the localisation of SDG 4 and contributing to policy papers and peer‑reviewed articles on education governance and reform.

Ram represents education civil society in key national forums, such as the Local Education Group, School Sector Development Plan thematic committees, and the national SDG Forum, and engages in SDG review processes at national, regional, and global levels. His advocacy focuses on the right to education for marginalised communities, strengthening public education systems, and regulating private actors in education. He is currently a PhD scholar at Kathmandu University School of Education.

Elsy is the General Secretary of the Arab House for Adult Education and Development (AHAED). Her career spans more than two decades of leadership in adult learning and education, popular education, peace-building, and human rights education. She is also a board member of the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE) and is a founding member and current National Coordinator of the Lebanese Education Coalition (Arab Network for Popular Education – ANPE).

Elsy’s work focuses on advancing inclusive, gender-responsive education in fragile and conflict-affected contexts and on strengthening civil society engagement in education policy dialogue and advocacy at national, regional, and global levels.

William is the Executive Director of the national education coalition “Regroupement Education Pour Toutes et pour Tous” (REPT) in Haiti. He is a popular educator specialising in education, development and the human right to education.

William holds a Bachelor’s degree in philosophy and is pursuing a Master’s degree in Development Studies and a Master’s degree in Education Policy.

Crispin is a seasoned political influencer and advocacy specialist with more than 20 years’ experience in key political arenas including Westminster, Brussels (the EU) and Geneva (the UN). He began his career in embassies, multilateral organisations and the UK Houses of Parliament, and has since applied this expertise to shaping policy across multiple sectors. He currently works in the education aid sector as Senior Adviser for Policy and Stakeholder Engagement at Right To Play, and holds an MSc in Political Theory from the London School of Economics.

Gevork is a lawyer and human rights and peace education specialist. He is the founding President of the Armenian Constitutional Right-Protective Centre (ACRPC), a civil society organisation working to advance the rule of law, civic space, and education rights. Gevork has been serving as the Coordinator of the GCE Armenian Coalition since 2003, supporting advocacy and coalition-building for the right to education and inclusive, quality public education.