Biographies Plenary Speakers for the XX IAVE World Volunteer Conference

(Spanish link below)

APRIL 2
Inauguration Ceremony
*CEASAR MOLEBTASI, Former President YMCA World Alliance.
Caesar Molebatsi is a champion of human rights, social justice and empowerment in South Africa (pre-during and post apartheid), and has worked in youth formations and in economic development ventures.  Caesar Molebatsi has given leadership to Youth Alive Ministries since 1976, and is currently the Director of Youth Alive Development Foundation, which is the resource arm of the Youth Alive organisation. . Caesar is the host of "Two Way", a popular television audience participation programme, highlighting the encouraging debate on issues that reflect the pulse of South Africa. He is a Master in Communication from Wheaton Graduate School. He is the chairman of different boards in his country including the Accountability Institute. He has been past president of the World Alliance of YMCAs, has had leadership positions in the African Alliance of YMCAs as well as the YMCA in South Africa. His experience of life has made of him a world know motivational speaker as well as corporate consultant in management of leadership, change and diversity.

APRIL 3
Plenary “Volunteers against Poverty”
*HONORABLE MRS. VIVIAN FERNÁNDEZ DE TORRIJOS, First Lady of Panama.
Mrs. Torrijos is a professional publicist. She has actively participated and directed social welfare projects focused on the improvement of life conditions for disadvantaged social groups such as handicapped, the rural women and children with limited resources. She founded ACDE a social organization that develop humanitarian projects around the country and has been her President during 2001-2004. For more than a decade, the attention to handicapped people has been one of the most relevant aspects of her job. She actively participates with groups that struggle to eradicate discrimination and prejudice against more than 280,000 handicapped Panamanians. Her first action as First Lady of the Republic of Panama was to support the creation of the National Secretary’s office for the Social Integration of Handicapped People. Almost immediately, she developed a population awareness campaign under the slogan “Include”. In support of the President, she has carried out health tours, received donations and organized help centers to face the social problems caused by natural disasters. For her humanitarian job, the Panamanian Red Cross distinguished her as Honorary President. Mrs. Torrijos is the World Protector of Habitat for Humanity, the international organization of humanitarian aid, founded by former President of the United States, Jimmy Carter. She received also the Award “My Hero 2006” given by AIDS FOR AIDS for her outstanding work in the fight against HIV/AIDs. Since March 2007 is part of the Board of Special Olympics in Panama.

*ISABEL LICHA, Main Advisor in Social Policies, Spain Fund, UNDP.
Originally from Venezuela, is a PHD in Sociology of Development from University Paris I  (Pantheón-Sorbonne).  Her specialization is in citizenship participation, tools and frameworks for social management, youth policies and social policies. Her academic experience is focused in research and teaching in post graduates in Development Studies in Venezuela in: Center for Development Studies (CENDES) from the Universidad Central de Venezuela (1980-1995), coordinating the Doctorate in Development Studies and the research program in CENDES in the period 1990-1993. She has been teacher and specialist in Social Development for the Interamerican Institute for Social Development of the Interamerican Development Bank during 1995-2007. She has been visiting professor of the Political Science School in the University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona (april-july 2006). Currently, she is the main advisor in Social Policies of the Spain Fund in UNDP. She is the author of a number of books and articles being the most recent ones: Citizens in Charge: Managing Local Budgets in East Asia And Latin America, editor, (IADB, 2006); Active Citizenship, editor (IADB, 2005); Social Management in Latin America, editor (IADB, 2002); Building up Citizenship and Youth Policies in Latin America, editor (in preparation).

*SALIL SHETTY, Director, Millennium Campaign, United Nations.
Salil Shetty joined the United Nations in October 2003 as Director of the Millennium Campaign after two decades as a recognized civil society leader. In the last three years, Mr.Shetty has played a pivotal role in building up the global advocacy campaign for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in over 50 countries. This powerful anti-poverty campaign is a unique global partnership of the UN with NGOs, trade unions, faith groups, local authorities and the media, calling for greater accountability from Governments in the fight against hunger, disease and illiteracy. Prior to joining the United Nations, Mr.Shetty was the Chief Executive of Action Aid - a leading international development NGO; here he worked initially in field programmes in South Asia and Sub Saharan Africa and latterly in the fundraising and advocacy programmes in Europe and U.S.A.  Mr. Shetty serves on the Boards of The Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, The Overseas Development Institute, London, and the Agence France-Presse Foundation, Paris and is a Member of the Advisory Council of the American-Indian Foundation, New York. He also serves on the Global Leadership Council of the Technology Museum of Innovation in San Jose, California. An Indian National, Mr.Shetty earned a distinction in a Masters of Science in Social Policy and Planning from the London School of Economics and has a Masters in Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad.

*FLAVIA PANSIERI, Executive Coordinator, UN Volunteers.
Flavia Pansieri was appointed Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme in February 2008.  Immediately prior to joining UNV she served as the United Nations Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the Republic of Yemen (2004-2008).  She joined UNV with 25 years experience in development and has held a number of positions in UN agencies worldwide.

Ms. Pansieri started her UN career in 1983 with UNDP in China, where she was responsible for the UNV and TOKTEN programmes, as well as for projects in the energy sector.  She continued with UNDP in Bangladesh (1987-1990) and Myanmar (1990-1993), followed by her posting to the Lao PDR as Director of the United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP).  In Laos, she oversaw various alternative development projects to replace opium production with commercial crops and other programmes to provide treatment and to prevent drug abuse.  From 1995 to 1998 she served at UNDCP Headquarters in Vienna assisting countries in the preparation of drug control master plans, and directing the planning and evaluation activities of UNDCP.As the Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in New York (1998-2001), she engaged in programming to promote gender equality.  Before taking up the UNDP position in Yemen, she was in charge of the Country Division of the Regional Bureau for Arab States in UNDP, providing guidance and support to programme activities in the Arab region.
Ms. Pansieri is an Italian national with a doctoral degree in Philosophy from Milan University, and another in Chinese language and literature from Venice University. 

APRIL 4
Plenary “Volunteering for Solidarity and Equality”
*KUMI NAIDOO, Honorary President, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation.
Kumi Naidoo has been the Secretary General and CEO of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, an international alliance of organizations dedicated to strengthening citizen participation and civil society worldwide. Mr. Naidoo was the founding director of the South African NGO Coalition and served on the task team which drafted new NGO legislation.  He has also worked extensively in adult education and has done social and economic justice work in South Africa.  He has published several articles on NGOs, civil society and youth and resistance politics in South Africa. As an activist of the African National Congress, he was expelled from school at age 15 for his anti-apartheid activities and went into exile for a number of years.  He returned to South Africa in the early 1990s and was centrally involved in the first democratic elections in 1994.
Mr. Naidoo holds a doctorate in political science from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.  He has served as the chairperson of the Partnership for Transparency Fund, which supports civil society efforts to eradicate corruption, and has been a board member of the Association for Women's Rights in Development.
He was appointed by the UN Secretary-General to the Panel of Eminent Persons on UN Civil Society Relations and is also a member of the steering committee of the World Economic Forum’s Global Governance Initiative.

*MARKUS HELD, Director, European Volunteer Centre (CEV).
Markus Held is director of CEV, the European Volunteer Centre. In this position, he is responsible for representing the network of currently 64 national and regional volunteer centers and volunteer development agencies from 27 European countries towards the institutions of the EU, contributing to policy making in areas such as active European citizenship, integration of migrants, life-long learning policies, social inclusion and Corporate Social Responsibility.On two occasions he has been appointed external expert for opinions of the European Economic and Social Committee, notably for the opinion on Voluntary Activities - its Role in European Society and its Impact. Since 2007 he is also member of the Management Committee of the Platform of European Social NGOs (Social Platform) the alliance of representative European federations and networks of non-governmental organizations active in the social sector. Previously to joining CEV in 2004, Markus has worked for the EU Civil Society Contact Group to develop a civil society contribution to the debate in the European Constitutional Treaty. He has an extensive experience of working with grassroots volunteer organizations in Bolivia, France and Germany. A graduate in Social Work, Education and European Public Policy, he has focused in his academic work on the role of civil society in the European political debates and European policies to promote active citizenship.

* LESTER SALAMON, Director, Center for Civil Society Studies at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies, The Johns Hopkins University.
Lester M. Salamon is a Professor at The Johns Hopkins University and director of the Center for Civil Society Studies at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies.  He previously served as Director of the Center for Governance and Management Research at The Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. and as Deputy Associate Director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget in the Executive Office of the President. Before that, he taught at Duke University, Vanderbilt University, and, during the American civil rights struggle of the mid-1960s, at Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, Mississippi. Dr. Salamon was a pioneer in the empirical study of the nonprofit sector in the United States and, more recently, throughout the world.  His 1982 book, The Federal Budget and the Nonprofit Sector, was the first to document the scale of the American nonprofit sector and the extent of government support to it. His book Partners in Public Service: Government-Nonprofit Relations in the Modern Welfare State (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995), which examines government-nonprofit relations in the United States, won the 1996 ARNOVA Book Award. As director of the Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project, Dr. Salamon has extended this analysis to the international sphere, producing the first comparative empirical assessment ever undertaken of the size, structure, financing, and role of the nonprofit sector at the global level. The results of this work have been published in Dr. Salamon’s 1994 book, The Emerging Sector (Manchester University Press), in his more recent volumes, Global Civil Society: Dimensions of the Nonprofit Sector -Vol. I (Johns Hopkins University 1999) and Vol. II (Kumarian Press, 2004), and in an entire series of books on the international nonprofit sector published by Manchester University Press. Dr. Salamon is also the author of America’s Nonprofit Sector: A Primer, which is used widely in college-level courses on the nonprofit sector in the United States and elsewhere, and The State of Nonprofit America recently published by the Brookings Institution Press.  His book The Tools of Government - A Guide to the New Governance (OUP 2002) has been well received by policy planners and academics alike. Dr. Salamon received his B.A. degree in Economics and Policy Studies from Princeton University and his Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University. He serves on the Social Science Research Council’s Committee on the Nonprofit Sector and Philanthropy, on the Boards of the Maryland Association of NPOs and the Chesapeake Community Foundation, and on the Editorial Boards of Voluntas, Administration and Society, Society, Public Administration Review, and Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly.

APRIL 4
Closing Plenary “Volunteers, a Vital Resource”
*PATRICIA JANIOT, Presenter, CNN (in Spanish)
Patricia Janiot is a senior anchor for CNN en Español and serves as the advisor to the senior vice president of the network. Janiot joined CNN in 1992 and presents Panorama Mundial con Patricia Janiot, the day's most important headlines and stock market activity; and Las Noticias, a dynamic and comprehensive review of world events. She has traveled to Latin America to report live on key world events, including the most recent presidential elections in the United States, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. In 2006 she reported live from London to cover the terrorist attacks on the city, and from the Vatican to report on the death of John Paul II. Janiot has also interviewed most of Latin America's heads of state, including Fidel Castro and Augusto Pinochet. She has also interviewed former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Janiot also traveled to Paraguay to report on the political crisis that concluded with the resignation of President Raul Cubas. In addition, she reported President Bill Clinton's historic visit to Colombia and has anchored live, from Atlanta, the development of important news events including the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the war against terrorism, the U.S. presidential elections, the hostage crisis in Peru, Princess Diana's funeral and the conflicts in Iraq and Kosovo. She also traveled to the Gaza Strip and Israel when former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was elected. She has covered several papal trips to Latin America and Ibero-American Summits. Janiot has received numerous journalism accolades, among them a Golden Mike Award in 1990 for best newscast by the Radio & Television News Association of Southern California, an Emmy Award nomination, and Colombia's Simon Bolivar award for investigative journalism. Janiot was also named to the Hispanic Media 100 in 2001, an annual recognition of 100 of the most influential Spanish-language journalists and news media executives in the United States, and was most recently awarded a 2002 Spanish-language Television Industry Award (INTE) for "Best Female News Personality." In addition, she serves as the president of the non-profit organization Colombianitos, dedicated to helping children who have been affected by the war in Colombia. Born in Bucaramanga, Colombia, Janiot earned a journalism and social communications degree from Universidad de la Sabana in Bogotá. She also studied broadcasting, radio and television production at Colegio Superior de Telecomunicaciones in Bogotá and holds a degree in English from Cambridge University.