Global Advisory Panel Bios
Ola Abu Al Ghaib, nominated to the Disability Rights Fund (DRF) Global Advisory Panel by the Arab Organization of Disabled People, is the Founder and Chairperson of Stars of Hope Center, a Disabled Persons’ Organization in the Occupied Territories which focuses on empowerment of women with disabilities and creation of an enabling environment that guarantees their full social integration and participation as citizens. Ola has spent her life advocating for the rights of people with disabilities. She has worked with the German Organization for the Disabled, CARE International, Handicap International, and the Swedish Organization of Persons with Disabilities International (SHIA). She is currently working as a Project Coordinator for the MENA region for SHIA’s International Training Program on rights and disability. She has an M.A. in Project Management from Birzeit University. Ola was selected as an Agent of Change by the Worldwide Network on Disability and Human Rights (an entity managed by SHIA) in 2006; and elected as an Ashoka Fellow in 2007.
Fredrick Ouko Alucheli, nominated to the Disability Rights Fund Global Advisory Panel by the UN Youth Section, is the Founder and Executive Director of the Kenya Disabled Action Network (KEDAN). KEDAN is a community based organization run by and for disabled young people. KEDAN carries out capacity building and advocacy activities to ensure that disabled young people both know and demand their rights and also seeks to help improve the socio-economic status of young disabled people, many of whom are living in severe poverty. Fredrick is also an Associate Director of Kibera Community Youth Programme which is a unique organization formed and run by young people in the Kibera slum in Nairobi. In addition, Fredrick is a Board Member of Little Rock Inclusive Early Childhood Education Centre, an educational institution that caters for children with disabilities in early childhood education. Early in January 2009, Fredrick was recognized as a young achiever by the Government of Kenya in recognition of his exemplary achievements in promoting a youth agenda in the realization of Kenya’s national development goals. In June 2009, from an applicant group of 500 young people across the world, Fredrick was one of 20 exceptional young social entrepreneurs selected as a global fellow for 2009/2010 by YouthActionNet, , a program of the International Youth Foundation. .
Gunta Anča, nominated to DRF’s Global Advisory Panel by the European Disability Forum, is the Chairperson of the Latvian Umbrella Body for DPOs, SUSTENTO. SUSTENTO, which has 26 member organizations, represents more than 25,000 people with disabilities in Latvia, and has the aim of promoting equal opportunity, rights protection and full inclusion for people with disabilities. Gunta is also a resource person for the Latvian Ministry of Social Welfare’s National Council of Disability Affairs and a member of their working groups on disability law, policies and action plans. She is a member of the European Economic and Social Committee.
Shanti Dairiam, recommended to be a member of DRF’s Global Advisory Panel by the Center for Reproductive Rights, has been involved in the promotion of women’s right to equality and non-discrimination through law and policy reform and the application of international human rights norms and standards for the past 27 years. She has worked with the Federation of Family Planning Associations Malaysia, The Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development and the Commonwealth Secretariat, London. In 1993 she founded the International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific, a regional and international independent, non-profit NGO, based in Malaysia that monitors and facilitates the implementation of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. She is also a nominated member of the National Advisory Council for Women in Malaysia, the Vice President of Women’s Aid Organization Malaysia (a program to combat domestic violence), and an Advisory Council Member of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) Institute for the Empowerment of Women. Shanti has served as an expert assisting key UN agencies such as APGEN, the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights and UNIFEM. She holds a Masters in Literature from the University of Madras, India and a Masters in Gender and Development from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. Shanthi served as a member of the UN Committee on The Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women from 2005-2008.
Bhargavi Davar, nominated to DRF’s Global Advisory Panel by the World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry, is the Founder of the Bapu Trust for Research on Mind and Discourse and Director of its research arm, the Center for Advocacy in Mental Health (CAMH) in Pune, India. CAMH, started in 2000 with monies from the MacArthur Fund for Leadership Development among other sources, runs an alternative mental health program which brings together resource persons, professionals and practitioners as well as communities, families, and users, in order to share information and build capacity on the process of healing and recovery from a psychosocial disability, without the use of psychiatric drugs. Bhargavi herself identifies as a survivor of psychiatry. Her work addresses the enormous human rights gaps in the mental health system in India. She is a peer support facilitator and a member of peer support groups especially for women with psychosocial disabilities. She is also a Board Member of NAAJMI, the National Alliance on Access to Justice for Persons Living with a Mental Illness, a new coalition led by people with disabilities in India. Bhargavi has a PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology, is widely published, and was elected as an Ashoka fellow in 2005.
Javier Diez-Canseco, recommended to be a member of DRF’s Global Advisory Panel by Human Rights Watch, is a social scientist, journalist, committed human rights leader and well known anticorruption activist, who has been elected to the Peruvian Congress 6 times and has also served as Vice President of the Congress. Javier most recently served as a consultant for the Andean Health Organization Hipolito Unanue on promoting Andean state coordination on health policies dealing with PWDs. Affected by polio when he was one years old, Javier has been an activist in anti-discrimination and human rights for decades. From 2002-2006, he was chairman of the National Congress Special Studies Commission on Disabilities in Peru, which developed legislative initiatives, public policies, and advocacy for increased state attention to the issues of people with disabilities. The most important Peruvian law addressing disability was drafted with his aid. He has been responsible for promoting disability legislation domestically (including ratification of the CRPD) as well as at the international level, for example, in the OAS.
Venus Ilagan, nominated to DRF’s Global Advisory Panel by Disabled Peoples’ International (DPI), is the new Secretary General of Rehabilitation International (RI). She is RI's 9th SG and the first person with a disability to ever occupy the post. RI is a New York-based organization established in 1922, working globally for the promotion of the rights and inclusion of persons with disabilities. Prior to joining RI, she was the Immediate Past Chairperson (and first female chair) and Representative for International Relations of DPI. She was among the leaders of the global disability community who were actively involved in the negotiations work for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Aside from her involvement in international disability initiatives, Venus was also the National Project Director for the last 14 years for the Breaking Barriers for Children Project in the Philippines, which provides free comprehensive rehabilitation services to over 13,000 poor children and youth with disabilities. Venus had polio as a three-year old and uses a wheelchair. She attended university as an academic scholar of the Philippine government and holds a degree in journalism from the Centro Escolar University in Manila; she worked as a journalist for 14 years before beginning her career in the field of disability. Venus is a recipient of the 5th annual Kazuo Itoga memorial prize award for outstanding achievement in the field of disability in Asia and the Pacific from the Kazuo Itoga Memorial Foundation of Japan. She is also the first non-Danish recipient of the PTU (Danish Society of Polio and Accident Victims) Award for International Development Work which she received in ceremonies held in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1998.
Raisa Kravchenko is the Founder and Chair of the Djerala Association for People with Intellectual Disability in the Ukraine which has the aim of integrating people with intellectual disabilities into society by creating opportunities for their rehabilitation and employment. She is also Executive Director of the All Ukrainian NGO for People with Intellectual Disabilities, a coalition of 70 member organizations working to provide assistance, promote sustainable health and social care, and reintegrate people with intellectual disabilities into the community. As a member of the Board on Disability Issues attached to the Cabinet of Ministers of the Ukraine, Raisa has supported the development of new legislation addressing people with intellectual disabilities. In 2004, for instance, she spearheaded an effort which led to the approval of policy that, for the first time in Ukrainian history, guaranteed the right of people with intellectual disabilities to receive social services in their places of residence. Raisa is a parent of a child with an intellectual disability.
Jabulani Ncube, nominated to DRF’s Global Advisory Panel by the African Decade on Persons with Disabilities, is the Deputy Chief Executive & Director of International Programmes with Action on Disability and Development (ADD). ADD is a UK-based international development agency, founded in 1985, which supports disabled persons organizations in Africa and Asia to influence policy and practice to end social exclusion and poverty. Prior to his current position with ADD, Jabulani spent 16 years in consultancy work on disability and development, 8 years of which he spent in Zimbabwe and Namibia providing capacity building services to DPOs and country-level disability assessments to international development organizations and governments. In the 1980’s, he was the Executive Director of the National Council of Disabled Persons in Zimbabwe, and he is a member of the Namibian Association of People with Disabilities.
Martha Lucia Osorno Posada, nominated to DRF’s Global Advisory Panel by the World Federation of the Deaf, is a member of the Executive Council of the National Federation of the Deaf of Colombia FENASCOL and its past President for seven years. FENASCOL supports the capacity of its member organizations; promotes quality services for the deaf; and promotes and participates in the creation of national legislation, policies and plans of action which address the needs of the deaf in Colombia. Martha is also a member of the Colombian National Consultative Committee on Disability 2007-2009 and a part of the South American Secretariat of the World Federation of the Deaf. Martha lost her hearing at age 9 but continued her education in mainstream educational institutions until age 14, when she had her first contact with the deaf community and learned sign language.
Silvia Judith Quan-Chan, nominated to DRF’s Global Advisory Panel by the Latin American coalition of DPOs, RIADIS, has been the Chief Officer of the Disability Rights Defense Unit at the Guatemalan Human Rights Procurator’s Office since 2003. Prior to her work in the ombudsman office, she was Chief Executive Director of the Guatemala Foundation for Deafblind children Alex – FUNDAL. She is a member of the Guatemalan National Council for the Disabled and a founding member of Colectivo Vida Independiente de Guatemala. She was strongly involved in the lobbying for the Inter-American Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against People with Disabilities as well as the Ad-Hoc process leading up to the adoption of the CRPD. Silvia has a post-graduate degree in Gender Studies from Fundación Guatemala and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (the National Autonomous University of Mexico - UNAM) and an M.A. in Human Rights from Rafael Landivar University of Guatemala.
William Rowland, nominated to DRF’s Global Advisory Panel by the World Blind Union, is the Immediate Past President of the World Blind Union, the Honorary President of the South African National Council for the Blind, and the Honorary President of Disabled People South Africa. He is the Chairperson of DEC Investment Holding Company Ltd, an enterprise generating funds for DPOs through commercial ventures (banking, construction, manufacture, telecommunications) and Director of the Taquanta financial group of companies. Until 2007, he was CEO of the Thabo Mbeki Development Trust for Disabled People, an agency providing skills development, assistive technology, and poverty alleviation. He is the Co-founder and Past Chairperson of the Southern African Federation of the Disabled (SAFOD), a regional development agency. William is the former Chairperson of the IDA CRPD Forum, an alliance of 8 global and 2 regional organizations of persons with disabilities.