New members join the Governance Assessment Team
John Samuel: Policy Advisor on Democratic Governance
John Samuel has 25 years of experience and expertise in strengthening democratic governance, human rights advocacy and sustainable development in India, Asia and internationally. His work combines policy research, advocacy, capacity building, strategic leadership and social mobilization across the world. He has worked with civil society, government agencies and academic institutions to promote inclusive participation of the marginalized people in governance. Prior to joining UNDP, he was the International Director of Actionaid, based in Bangkok, leading its global thematic work on just and democratic governance and heading the Asia-pacific region. Until 2003, he helped to establish and served as the Chief Executive of the National Centre of Advocacy Studies in India. John Samuel was a visiting fellow at the Institute of development Studies, University of Sussex and at the Advocacy Institute, Washington DC. He helped to initiate and develop participatory methodologies and tools such as ELBAG (Economic Literacy and Budget Accountability for Governance) and social audit to promote democratic governance assessments at the grassroots, national and international levels. He has helped to initiate and establish several advocacy and research organizations and civil society alliances, including Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability, Social Watch and GCAP (Global Call to Action against Poverty). He has published extensively on issues related to people-centered advocacy, democratic governance and civil society. (Email: john.samuel@undp.org)
Danae Issa: Programme Analyst
As a Junior Professional Officer (JPO) from the Government of France, Danae Issa joins OGC from UNDP-Yemen where she worked for over four years on institutional capacity-building for the water resources management sector as well as developing and implementing national and local communication and awareness-raising strategies. She has also worked actively with civil society including as a project manager for a French association promoting disabled women’s rights, co-founder of an association promoting the rights of the Tibetan people, and co-founder and director of an NGO devoted to the empowerment of African refugee women in Yemen. With a multicultural personal background, she speaks a variety of languages (French, Greek, English, German, Spanish, Arabic, Amharic and Haitian Creole). Her academic background is a Master’s degree in International Relations and Development from the Institute of Political Sciences of Paris (Sciences Po Paris), as well as a Master’s degree in Philosophy and Psychoanalysis from the Sorbonne University of Paris.
With her communication-related background and multilingual working capacity, Danae Issa will support the governance assessments programme at the country and regional level, explore alternative media and help strategize communication on governance assessments. (Email: danae.issa@undp.org)
