Meet the Associates' Executive Committee Members
Leadership Team | AEC Members | Sr Associates | Associates
Andrew Azzopardi
is a seasoned senior manager with 15 years experience working with victims, survivors and perpetrators of abuse in NGOs, iNGOs, faith-based and sport settings. He specialises in safeguarding investigations and prevention in organisations and received his MA in International Politics & Human Rights from City University in London. Professional, creative and service-oriented, Andrew is currently the Coordinator of the Catholic Church Safeguarding Taskforce and Head of Safeguarding Commission. He speaks Maltese and English with native fluency, and is also fluent in Italian.
Asha Gervan
Asha has been working in the non-profit sector for over 20 years, holding leadership positions in the health care, education and child protection sectors. Throughout her career, Asha has led teams and designed projects in many of the most challenging humanitarian contexts around the world, including Uganda, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan and Haiti. In her home country of Canada, Asha served as Deputy Director of Médecins Sans Frontiѐres/Doctors Without Borders, and led the International Development Institute at Humber College, where she was also a part-time faculty member. Asha holds an MSc in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics.
Bethel Lulie
is a Master of Public Health graduate with focus on Global Health, health promotion, gender inequities, and community-based research and is currently based in Ethiopia. Her native tongue is Amharic, and she speaks English fluently.
Kirsten Pontalti
is a researcher, policy advisor and mother with over 15 years of experience on issues related to children, youth and social change in conflict-affected, low-income contexts. Kirsten earned her doctorate from the University of Oxford for her dissertation on how childhood and children's transitions to adulthood have been changing in Rwanda and how children influence social change processes across generations, from colonialism to the present. She also has thematic expertise on governance and conflict, complex emergencies and development. Her recent clients include UNICEF, ECPAT International, UK DfID, Oxfam International, Girl Effect Rwanda, Grand Challenges Canada and the Rwanda Ministry of Justice.
Dr. Laurene Graziani
holds a Ph.D. in Law, a Master of Advanced Studies in Children’s Rights and a Post Grad in Humanitarian action. She has 15 years of experience leading projects, conducting research and designing training programs in development and humanitarian context. Laurene is particularly interested in interdisciplinary approaches to children’s rights and well-being, gender, youth participation, as well as emerging issues such as media, corporate social responsibility or climate change. Author of dozen articles and book chapters, Laurene has 8 years of experience teaching at the university.
Nidhi Kapur
is a child protection, gender, and inclusion specialist with over 12 years of field-based experience. She is motivated by an interest in the programming complexities in conflict and post-conflict zones. Nidhi has worked for international organisations on various issues with, and on behalf of, children and their families. She completed her Masters in International Relations at the London School of Economics. Nidhi is a native English speaker with professional proficiency in French. She was based in East Africa from 2008-2021, having lived and worked globally. Nidhi now lives full-time in Canada.
Susan Kreston
has 30 years’ experience in the criminal justice field, as both a prosecutor and academic, focusing on crimes against women and children. She also has 10 years’ experience as an independent consultant on legal and human rights issues. She is a two-time recipient of Fulbright Professorships in Psychology and Law, focusing on issues of human trafficking and violence against women and children in South Africa. She has published numerous peer-reviewed and accredited articles and provided training on violence against women and children to over 10,000 members of the allied criminal justice community throughout the world.