Petra Heusser
Executive Director
The Secretariat
The Association for the Geneva Global Hub for Education in Emergencies‘ Secretariat was created in September, 2022 by decision of the EiE Hub Steering Group.
As an association under Swiss law, based in Geneva, the Secretariat supports the EiE Hub in operationalizing its mandate. It works towards the realisation of the right to education for crisis-affected and displaced children and youth, and supports the EiE Hub through technical support and strategic advice. It thereby contributes to the operationalisation of the strategic objectives and activities set out in the 2022–2025 EiE Hub strategy.
Petra Heusser
Executive Director
Petra Heusser has worked for the past 17 years in the international humanitarian field for the protection and education of children, refugees and migrants. Since its establishment in late 2020, Petra heads the Geneva Global Hub for Education in Emergencies Secretariat and strategically steers collective objectives. Petra worked previously for the UNICEF-led Global Child Protection Area of Responsibility and has extensive field experience spanning Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, collaborating with Governments, UN agencies and civil society organisations.
Nicole Riedle
Senior Policy and Partnerships Advisor
Nicole Riedle
Senior Policy and Partnerships Advisor
Nicole Riedle joined the EiE Hub with 15 years’ experience in the legal and international humanitarian sectors. A trained lawyer, Nicole worked several years with the ICRC in Afghanistan, Central African Republic, DRC and Colombia where she assumed various roles in the protection and assistance of victims of conflict, including coordination positions. Earlier in her career, she also worked for an NGO dedicated to the defense and rehabilitation of children living on the street in Latin America, contributing to the implementation of its educational activities.
Etienne Lacombe-Kishibe
Communications Specialist
Etienne Lacombe-Kishibe
Communications Specialist
Etienne Lacombe-Kishibe is an experienced communications professional who has been working in the non-profit sector since 2006. He moved to Switzerland in 2009, and over the past decade has worked with NGOs focused on a range of topics including education, environment and humanitarian action. Over that time, he has gained a broad understanding and appreciation of Geneva’s unique network of international and civil society organisations.
Anne-Laure Jollivet
Finance and Administration Manager (40%)
Anne-Laure Jollivet
Finance and Administration Manager (40%)
Anne-Laure Jollivet is a finance and administration manager with over 20 years’ experience. Anne-Laure’s ample and relevant expertise has been gained through roles including her work at the GAAMAC Support Office (Global Action Against Mass atrocity Crimes), an association based in Geneva that she has supported for the last five years. Prior to this, Anne-Laure also worked for the American Red Cross, on Haiti and Tsunami programmes, and for health assistance companies in Europe and in the United States.
Martin Szoke
Programme and Policy Officer
Martin Szoke
Programme and Policy Officer
Martin Szoke joins the EiE Hub Secretariat with over two years of experience working for NGOs, UN agencies, and think tanks, including on project management, research, and communications and outreach. He previously also worked as a teaching instructor at the University of Cambridge (UK) and so brings some experience in teaching with him. Martin has a particular interest in the nexus between Education in Emergencies, climate change, and other key development and humanitarian issues.
Adriana Medina Meier
Project Officer
Adriana Medina Meier
Project Officer
Adriana Medina recently joined the EiE Hub to deepen her knowledge in international cooperation. She brings a rich multidisciplinary and multicultural background, having worked in the healthcare sector in Venezuela. She holds a degree in political science from the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and completed an Erasmus program at La Sapienza in Rome.
In Switzerland, she obtained a Master’s in Innovation and Society from the University of Neuchâtel, during which she successfully led significant societal projects in collaboration with political, academic, and economic stakeholders. More recently, she launched her start-up, Senses Connect, supported by InnoSuisse, aiming to promote the inclusion of children in primary school through cultural mediation. She also teaches aerial dance to children at a studio in Neuchâtel and co-created the association Nuances Aériennes, dedicated to multidisciplinary artistic collaborations.
The Committee of the Association for the Geneva Global Hub for Education in Emergencies Secretariat
Martin Dahinden
President
Martin Dahinden
President
Martin Dahinden is a Swiss diplomat. He was Ambassador to the United States from 2014-2019 and Head of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC. From 2000-2004, he built up the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining. As adiplomat, he has served also in Paris, Lagos (Nigeria), New York (Mission to the UN), Brussels, Geneva, and Bern.
Mr. Dahinden is a member of the Advisory Group of UNICEF (New York), a lecturer at the University of Zurich, Vice-Chairman of the think tank ICT4Peace and a board member of the World Demographic and Aging Forum. He holds a doctorate in business administration and was a researcher of economic and social history at the University of Zurich.
Beatrijs Vanhove
Vice-President
Beatrijs Vanhove
Vice-President
Beatrijs Vanhove brings 34 years of humanitarian experience from within the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. She worked for the Belgian Red Cross and for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the fields of education, communication and events management. From 2021 to 2023 and prior to her retirement, she was ICRC’s Access to Education Advisor and the ICRC focal point for all work of the EiE Hub’s Technical Working Group. Ms. Vanhove lives in Geneva. She actively engages in the practice of philosophy for children with the association proPhilo, to reflect with children and young people to think for and by themselves, all the while learning to think together, and developing critical, creative, collaborative and caring thinking.
Martine Kaufmann
Treasurer
Martine Kaufmann
Treasurer
Martine Kaufmann is an experienced finance specialist in the areas of development cooperation and humanitarian aid. She worked for more than 20 years for the Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA in Bern, in the finance department and in the representations of the FDFA as head of finance, human resources, and administration.