UNPRPD - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Administration and Operations Assistant
Lubna has over two decades of experience working for UN agencies, including UNESCWA, UNDP, UNCHR, and UN Women. Her responsibilities have included conducting RFQs, analyzing project delivery, assisting with event logistics, communicating with media outlets, and providing administrative assistance for the implementation of the program's action plans and finance.
Before joining UNPRPD, Lubna was a Program and Administrative Associate at OSESGY, UN Women Yemen CO, where she provided administrative support in preparing program work plans, budgets, and proposals. In 2017, Lubna also worked for UNDP-UNHCR Sub Regional Response Facility-Amman, Jordan, as a Program, Administrative, Procurement, and Logistics Associate, where she supported the Policy & Crisis Coordination Specialist in following up with project partners on financial and progress reports. She also assisted in the preparation of programme financial reports for the Joint Secretariat.
Lubna holds a bachelor's degree in Business Management from Baghdad University and is fluent in English and Arabic.
Job Titles:
- Technical Programme Support Specialist
Job Titles:
- Senior Disability Research Specialist
Annika Nilsson has worked in the area of development cooperation for over 35 years. She has extensive experience with complex evaluations in areas linked to social change processes, civil society capacity development, democracy and human rights progress, and aid effectiveness. Key focus areas have been children's rights, persons with disabilities and LGBTI people. Annika has been part of two major evaluations of disability inclusion in Norwegian aid. Annika has also engaged in organisational capacity analysis, OD coaching and mentoring of civil society organizations, particularly those of persons with disabilities. She has supported SIDA in developing web-based tools for applying HRBA and implementing international training programmes on the rights of persons with disabilities. She has engaged in results/rights-based management and disability inclusion support to several agencies. She has been heavily involved in research and method development, leading several methodological studies. Since 2021, Annika has been working closely with UNPRPD to support the Situational Analysis processes.
Dr. Ola Abu Al Ghaib was appointed Manager of the UNPRPD in August 2019. Ola led the organization's development and implementation of the Strategic Operational Framework (SOF) for 2020-2025, which positions the UNPRPD Fund as a key player in supporting countries advancing disability inclusion.
Under her direction, the organization has successfully launched and implemented over 40 joint programmes across all regions. Ola has more than twenty years of experience working on gender and disability in development, including in fragile and crisis-affected settings in the Arab States, Africa and Asia.
Before joining UNPRPD, she was the Director for Global Influencing and Research at Leonard Cheshire Disability in London, UK. Over the past 15 years, she has also worked with the UN system worldwide to promote disability-inclusive policies and programmes. Ola served as the Vice Chair of the International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC) and a board member of the Disability Rights Funds.
Ola holds a PhD in Social Protection from the University of East Anglia, UK. Ola was featured in the Gender Equality Top 100 list of most influential people in global policy.
Job Titles:
- Fundraising and Outreach Specialist
Léo Goupil-Barbier is a disability inclusion expert with over twelve years of dedicated experience in disability governance, community-based inclusive development, and inclusive humanitarian action.
Throughout his career, he has assumed diverse roles such as Program Manager, Technical Advisor, and Global Specialist for the NGO Humanity & Inclusion in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Lao PDR, occupied Palestinian territory and at Headquarters in Brussels, leading disability rights, capacity development, research, disability data, and gender and intersectionality initiatives. Most recently, Léo served as Disability & Inclusion Officer within the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East based in Lebanon, supporting disability mainstreaming efforts and enhancing inclusive health, education, social, and protection services for persons with disabilities.
Léo holds a Master's degree in International Public Policies and Strategies from Sciences Po Lyon (France) and an Advanced Master's in Gender Studies from UCL (Belgium).
Job Titles:
- Diversity & Research Specialist
- Expert
Lisa Adams is a disability and gender justice expert with over twenty years of directing disability justice advocacy, intersectional advocacy and inclusive grantmaking internationally, working with governments, activists, social justice organisations, donors, UN agencies and human rights institutions. She was most recently a Disability and Gender Advisor at CREA, leading a global disability, gender and sexuality online institute run by women with disabilities from the global South, international cross-movement building, intersectional research and engaging feminist activists with disabilities and their allies on sexual and reproductive health rights. She was Program Director at the Disability Rights Fund (DRF), leading global grantmaking on disability rights led by persons with disabilities. At DRF, she authored a gender and disability strategy for grantmaking and philanthropy. She has led research, training and technical assistance on human rights monitoring, disability rights legal and policy reform, and human rights advocacy. Lisa holds a MSc in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics.
Job Titles:
- Administration and Operations Assistant
Natalia is a strategic programme management expert with more than 15 years of experience working with CSOs, governments and UN Agencies including WHO, UNDP, UNFPA and UN Women.
In 2004 she was appointed Director of Autism Europe in Brussels and obtained funding under the European Commission anti-discrimination program. In 2007 she moved to South America, where she worked as a consultant for several organizations, UN agencies and governments to mainstream the rights of persons with disabilities in cross sectorial development programmes. In Uruguay, she coordinated a UN joint programme on health services reform. In 2015 she joined the UNPRPD, where she has been responsible for the coordination of over 50 programmes across the world and the launch of 10 global initiatives.
Natalia holds a master's degree in International Aid from the Complutense University in Madrid, Spain. She is fluent in Italian, English, Spanish and French.
Nikisha Smith is a dedicated disability advocate with a rich background in advancing the rights and inclusion of persons with disabilities within diverse communities across the Micronesian region. She has nine years of experience in disability advocacy and inclusion, spearheading awareness programs, community engagement, and developing disability-mainstreamed policies in the Pacific.
Her achievements include developing the Pohnpei State Government Disability Policy 2018-2022, recipient of the Peer Service Award and nominee for the Australian Carer of the Year Award with the Cerebral Palsy Alliance. She has contributed to academic research on mental health and climate change and was a co-founder and board member of the Special Olympics Micronesia NGO.
Nikisha is embarking on a Master's in Disaster and Emergency Management from Charles Darwin University, focusing on sociology and Indigenous studies.
Job Titles:
- Manager of the Technical Secretariat
Job Titles:
- Communications and Outreach Officer
- Communications and Outreach Specialist
- Communications Consultant for the European Commission
Communications expert with more than 15 years of experience conceptualizing, designing, and implementing dissemination and sensitization strategies across diverse cultural backgrounds.
Throughout his career, Oscar has served as a communications consultant for the European Commission, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNPD, and other international organizations and NGOs, performing fieldwork in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
Oscar holds a Master's degree in Research in Social Communication from Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona, Spain), a Master's degree in Marketing and Communication from Universidad Europea de Madrid, and a Bachelor's degree in Audiovisual Communication from Universidad Complutense de Madrid. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Culturally Tailored Communication for Public Health at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands).