Steering Committee

Our current Steering Committee

• Sukhgerel Dugersuren (OT Watch | Mongolia)

Sukhgerel is a Mongolian woman human rights defender who works closely with communities impacted by large scale development projects. She has a long history of exposing human rights abuses and environmental degradation linked to large scale mining, energy and infrastructure projects. She is the Chair of Oyu Tolgoi Watch (OT Watch) – a Mongolian NGO monitoring the environmental and human rights impacts of Rio Tinto’s gold and copper mine Oyu Tolgoi – and Director of the Rivers without Boundaries Coalition in Mongolia which helps local communities to protect river ecosystems they depend on.

• Pallab Chakma (Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact and Kapaeeng Foundation | Asia)

Pallab is an Indigenous rights activist from Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh. Currently he is working as the Executive Council Member of the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) which is a regional platform of Indigenous Peoples in Asia. Besides, Mr. Pallab is also serving as Executive Director of Kapaeeng Foundation (KF), a member of the Coalition for Human Rights in Development that works for the promotion and protection of the rights of Indigenous Peoples. He is involved with many regional and global networks and platforms that work for land rights, such as, International Land Coalition (ILC) where currently he holds the position of Co-Chair of the ILC Global Council. Mr. Chakma is also one of the members of Indigenous Peoples’ Advisory Group for ADB in Asia. He has been working in the field of land rights and Indigenous Peoples rights for 15 years. 

• Kazi Zaved Khalid Pasha Joy (Initiative for Rights View | Bangladesh)

Joy is the Coordinator of Initiative for Rights View, a non-profit organization established in 2008 that focuses on economic justice, climate change, and human rights among other issues. Previously, he worked in different roles (from researcher to field officer) for Coastal Development Partnership (CDP). He was an International Committee member of NGO Forum on ADB and coordinator of the National Network Democratic Budget Movement. Joy has been working in the development sector for the past 16 years and he has conducted research on natural resource management, disaster aid, community-based and participatory development projects, and the impacts of projects funded by development banks.

• Paulina Garzón (Latinoamérica Sustentable, LAS | Latin America)

Paulina, a native Ecuadorian, has been working on environmental justice and community rights in the Amazon for more than 20 years. She has extensive experience on Chinese finance institutions and she is currently the Director of Latinoamérica Sustentable (LAS). Previously, she was the president of Acción Ecológica, Steering Committee member of the Amazon Coalition, and worked for BIC as the Latin America Program Manager. She is the co-Founder of the Center for Economic and Social Rights in Quito-Ecuador. She was awarded Honorary Membership in the Frente de Defensa de la Amazonía for her advocacy work against Chevron-Texaco.

• Gonzalo Roza (FUNDEPS | Argentina)

Gonzalo is the Program Coordinator for Global Governance at FUNDEPS in Argentina. For the past 15 years, Gonzalo has worked extensively on development finance issues in LAC. He has participated in several civil society working groups (eg: on the IDB and the BRICS) and he is one of the team members of the Early Warning System for the LAC region. From 2016 to 2018, he was part of the Secretariat of the Coalition and has been actively contributing to the Coalition’s work since its inception. Previously, he worked for the Centro de Derechos Humanos y Ambiente. Gonzalo has also authored several papers and articles on topics such as transparency and access to justice.

• John Brownell (Green Advocates International | Liberia)

John works for Green Advocates International, a human rights organization that supports communities facing environmental and human rights violations by providing legal aid, conducting advocacy, organizing campaigns, and mobilizing solidarity efforts in Liberia and beyond. John has been closely working with the Coalition since its creation and attended the first Defenders in Development campaign meeting in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 2018. With GAI, John has been actively engaging development finance institutions to put human rights at the center of sustainable growth and development in Liberia, on issues ranging from natural resource governance to corporate accountability.

• Amy Ekdawi (Arab Watch Coalition | Middle East and North Africa)

Amy has over 25 years of experience working with rights-based Southern and Northern civil society groups. Since 2019, she has been the director of the Arab Watch Coalition. Previously, from 2010 to 2017, she worked in different roles with the Bank Information Centre (BIC). Amy is deeply committed to creatively providing grassroots movements with resources, strategies, and tools to advocate for their own rights at the local, national, and international levels. She has experience in training, fundraising, project management, and has a strong track record in coalition building among civil society groups.

• Petra Kjell Wright (Recourse | Global)

Petra Kjell Wright is Campaigns Manager at Recourse. She has previously worked at organisations such as the Bretton Woods Project, Progressio, the New Economics Foundation, and the World Development Movement. For over two decades, Petra has been working on various issues related to international development, with a focus on social and environmental rights and accountability. She has worked with partners in a wide range of countries spanning from Africa, Asia (including Central Asia) and Latin America, including conducting workshops and case study field research. Her academic background includes degrees in political science, development studies and environmental sustainability.

• International Accountability Project (Global)

Carlo Manalansan (he/him) is the Southeast Asia Community Organizer at the International Accountability Project (IAP) where he supports community-led responses with partner communities, organizations, and movements across the region to strengthen local campaigns and community-led development plans to be grounded in local priorities, lived experiences, and collective decision-making. Carlo has more than a decade of experience working to strengthen local community-led campaigns to achieve national and international objectives related to human rights, Indigenous Peoples’ rights, environment, climate justice, and development justice. He has also worked with social movements and solidarity formations across global regions working against plunder, repression, and rights violations. Carlo is also a photojournalist providing images for alternative media in the Philippines.

• CEE Bankwatch Network (Europe and Central Asia)

About the election process

In March 2024, the Coalition for Human Rights in Development completed its first open election process to appoint the ten members of our Steering Committee. You can read more about the new Steering Committee’s workplan and their first in-person meeting in this blog.

To ensure equitable geographic distribution, there are following number of seats from each region:

– Africa and Middle East (2);

– Asia (3);

– Europe and Caucasus (2)

– Latin America and the Caribbean (2).

– United States and Canada (1)

To ensure diversity and to reflect the membership composition, the Steering Committee election process also ensured that:

– at least five of the representatives identify as women;

– no more than two international organizations are represented;

– at least two representatives are from Indigenous or traditional communities.