Maulline Gragau is an experienced legal, policy and legislative practitioner, scientist, internationally savvy and collaborative hybrid consultant with a history of stellar performance as a visionary leader and team player for innovating solutions that reduce inefficiencies and maximizes growth in firms, companies and non-profit organisations. She is not only used to wearing many hats but sincerely enjoys it! She is respected as a change agent who boldly questions the status quo, identifies opportunities where many believe there are none, and champions strategic initiatives that drive transformative legal, political, economic and cultural changes.

She has done extensive work with policymakers, marginalized/indigenous youth and women in Israel, Russia, Germany, South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Liberia, and Botswana. By enabling marginalized communities to access and apply ICTs and through open access of legal information and trainings on design and systems thinking, project management, product/service positioning strategies, many beneficiaries have been able to leverage technology as an accelerator.

Maulline has received recognition for her work in policy, research, indigenous youth and entrepreneurship being awarded the Common Ground Research Networks Emerging Scholar Award 2021, First Runners-Up Activist of the Year Award 2021, and 2018 Yerima Balla Award for Entrepreneurship and Environmental Development. She has previously served as chairperson to the 2018 European Commission Marketplace of Ideas policy sub-team on renewable energy, the jury to the 2020 UNEP/CoalitionWILD – Young Champions of the Earth Competition, and is actively engaged in the Executive Committee of Energy Innovation Network and various Working Groups of Children and Youth Major Group to UNEP.

Maggie works for Save the Children in Rwanda as their Country Director for Rwanda and Burundi. Before this she was their PMM Lead, developing a project management methodology for the organization, which was based on PMD Pro. She has over 15 years’ experience of managing teams and programmes of work in the development sector, always with a focus on child rights programming and often in highly challenging environments. These have included living and working in countries such as Sierra Leone, Tajikistan, Moldova, Kenya, Rwanda, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Ecuador, Russia and Kyrgyzstan with organizations such as Plan International, EveryChild, ChildAid, and Sense International.

Maggie has a passion for quality programming and sits on several boards, speaks at conferences and writes blog articles on project management, amongst other topics, within our sector. She says “my vision is for a strong international development sector that can rival and influence our private and public sector counterparts when it comes to excellence and grace under fire in the very complex environments we work in!“

Maggie is half Brazilian and half Scottish and graduated from the LSE with a MSc in Development Studies. She lives in Rwanda with her husband and their two children.

A passionate advocate for promoting excellence in project and programme management, Oliver Filler has over 10 years of experience in humanitarian response and development programming.

As Project Cycle Management Programme Support Specialist, Oliver has been leading Plan International’s global project management strengthening initiative. This initiative utilises PMD Pro Level 1 as a core global project management standard. Through this roll out Plan has PMD Pro trained staff in all 54 country offices and has a growing pool of Regional and National Office trainers.

In this role, Oliver has co-authored Plan International’s global Programme and Influence Quality Policy and created Plan’s global project cycle procedures, tools, guidance, competencies, maturity model and standards. Oliver also provides direct project management support to Country Offices and Regions.

Oliver’s background is in programme quality, specifically in conflict and post conflict areas. He has worked with the Danish Refugee Council and Save the Children in senior management roles responding to the Syria conflict, South Sudan refugee response, Horn of Africa famine and Tsunami response, amongst others.

Oliver sees the professionalization of project management in the NGO sector as a critical element of ensuring that the sector remains relevant, adaptive and innovative.

Amanda is a humanitarian and development practitioner with over 13 years of experience, specializing in project and program management and MEAL. She has worked with local, national, and international organizations, providing capacity building and consultancy services to support teams and organizations and is a Senior Trainer/Consultant at Genome Training and Consulting headquartered in Amman, Jordan.

Amanda has been involved in the development of the Program DPro and led the process in redeveloping the Guide to the Project DPro V2. She is an advocate for localization and promoting best practices in project management, program management, and MEAL in the humanitarian and development sectors.

Don is currently the Global Director, Program Operations for Nutrition International and is internally leading the contextualization of Project DPro into organizational standards and practice to deliver health and nutrition outcomes in the most malnourished populations in Africa and Asia. A former Board of PM4NGOs, he also pioneered the development and adoption of the Project DPro methodology in Southern Africa during his time at World Vision in 2010-2012.

A Certified Project Management Professional (PMP), Don has a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, a BS in Economics degree at the University of the Philippines School of Economics, and completed an execution education course on Human-Centered Design Thinking at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, Stanford University.

William Gustave is an Agronomist with a master's degree in animal production. He has solid experience working with Haitian and international civil society organizations in various development and humanitarian sectors. Since 2012, he has been facilitating workshops in project management for NGO and public sector leaders using the Dpro approach and coaching young leaders in the application of project management tools and methods.

He also collaborated on the French translation of the 2nd edition of Project Dpro. As a consultant, he also conducts project and program evaluations and the capitalization of experiences. He believes that the continuous training of development and humanitarian sector managers is a good practice to contribute to making people more effective in helping vulnerable or crisis-affected communities.

Gabrielle Bielen believes expanding project management knowledge and skills is one way to promote global health, economic growth, and prosperity. As Director of Project Management at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF), Gabrielle has embraced the power and simplicity of the PMD Pro Guide and toolkit.  She is a certified PMP with the Project Management Institute (PMI), PMD Pro 2 with PM4NGOs, and MSP with Axelos.  She holds a Master of Arts in International Affairs from Marquette University and a Bachelor of Arts in Government from Colby College.

Brandy Westerman is the Senior Director of Program Performance for Mercy Corps. She has worked in international development since 1998 designing, managing, and evaluating programs and agency-wide initiatives from both headquarters and direct implementation positions. Brandy led global organization change for the adoption of minimum standards for quality program design and program management and initiated cross-learning opportunities for INGOs working to improve internal project and program management practice. Brandy works to foster a culture that values structured and accountable project and program management at all levels. She led the development and implementation of Mercy Corps’ global training curriculum for program management and a global community of program management facilitators within the organization.

Brandy contributed as an advisor in the development of the 2nd Edition Project DPro Guide and Program DPro. Brandy has served on the Board of PM4NGOs from 2012 to 2022. Certified as a PRINCE2 Practitioner as well as a Project Management Professional (PMP) by the Project Management Institute, Brandy believes that the impact of international relief and development projects can be significantly improved through professional and intentional project management practice by relief and development actors in the public, private, civil society, and nonprofit sectors.

Bimal Ghimire brings around two decades of extensive experience in managing diverse development and humanitarian projects and programs. With expertise in Project and Programme Management, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL), as well as Finance, he has collaborated with national, international, and bilateral organizations. Bimal has played a pivotal role in developing project management handbooks and facilitating numerous training sessions and awareness programs. Currently serving as the Head of Programme for DanChurchAid Nepal, he is deeply committed to advancing project management education, training, and research. In addition to his professional responsibilities, he serves voluntarily as a board member of the Project Management Association of Nepal, demonstrating his dedication to the advancement of the field at both local and international levels.

I am the Project Management Training Lead at Save the Children International with passions for humanitarian, project management, learning & development, rock climbing, running, and languages. In my current role, I lead the design and delivery of online and in-person training to our global workforce, and in my spare time I advocate for staff rights and provide mentoring. I am certified in several project management qualifications and speak Italian and Spanish.

Sam qualified as a Chartered Accountant in London in 2000, working in the charities department of Mazars. The following year she moved to Uganda where she has lived and worked ever since.  She started off auditing with a local audit firm with predominantly NGO clients, then moved to consulting and training with Aclaim Africa Ltd, with assignments in Ethiopia, Senegal, Tanzania, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and Rwanda as well as across many districts in Uganda.  She was accredited as a Humentum (Mango) Associate trainer in 2004, and delivered the course that became the precursor to FMD Pro, as well as their training of trainers course.

Sam spent two years as part time Chief Financial Officer of a tourism business before returning to the NGO world as Grants Management Advisor to VSO, supporting a programme with 28 sub-grantees in Northern Uganda.  Having tasted the INGO experience, she took on the role of CFO of a small local organisation preparing for its first USAID grant as a sub of Catholic Relief Services.

Sam returned to full time work in 2017 as Regional Director East Africa for Humentum, where she was also the internal ‘Subject Matter Expert’ for financial management training and developed a ‘Fighting Fraud in NGOs’ course. Sam has passed PMD Pro and is excited about the crucial complementarity between PMD Pro and FMD Pro. Sam is currently Project Director for IFR4NPO at Humentum, an initiative to develop internationally applicable financial reporting guidance for non-profit organisations.  Sam has a degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and is honoured to serve on four other boards at present.

Mr. Thomas Wuchte completed his assignment as the Executive Director for the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law (IIJ) located in Valletta, Malta in November 2022.  He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and received a post-graduate degree in International Relations and Russian Studies from the University of Illinois. Tom has served in a variety of multilateral postings related to nonproliferation, terrorism, and security-sector reform/confidence building measures.  Before the IIJ, he led counter-terrorism efforts for the 57 participating States in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna, Austria.  This work maintained and strengthened the role of the organization as an effective framework for addressing security issues surrounding fragile governments, and in close co-ordination with the United Nations.  Tom is the recipient of the U.S. Department of State's Highest Award for Excellence in International Security Affairs for his efforts to work collaboratively with international partners regarding nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction.  He speaks German and Russian.

Mazen Alhousseiny has completed his master’s degree on organizational Change and Development in the University of Manchester. He is currently working with Start Network as Training and Capacity Development Advisor. Developing the capacity of Start Network members and hubs on Disaster Risk Financing and Anticipation Actions. Designing training programs for individuals and organisations against the capacity assessments. Collaborating with educational and training institutes to accredit and quality assure the training programs. Enhance the effectiveness for anticipation actions through ensuring well capable organisations and their country offices.

He has more than 9 years’ experience in humanitarian field in various positions focusing on projects/programs lead, partnerships management, organizational development and country director position for a variety of well-known Turkey based organizations (International NGOs e.g. Save the Children and CARE as well as Syrian Diaspora NGOs). He has more than 35 projects management experience from short term emergency response projects till long duration and sustained resilience projects in the following sectors: FSL, NFI, WASH, Health and Education.

Mazen was honored with Alan Harpham Award for 2016 for the promoting the professionalization of project management in the international development and humanitarian sectors.

Mazen is a certified trainer on Project Management for Development Professionals, PMD Pro levels 1 and 2 as well as Program Management for Development Professionals, PgMD Pro. Conducted more than 40 training sessions on Project/program D Pro, partnerships management, strategic planning, and organizational development for Syrian as well as International NGOs which targeted more than hundreds of trainees. Mazen is also one of the team members that was engaged in the modification process for the 2nd version of the PMD Pro with PM4NGOs.

Finally, he has written several articles related to the humanitarian field as follows:

• The Evolution of the Syrian Humanitarian NGOs and External Challenges, The Rest Journal, July 2021
• Triple Nexus and the Case of Education and Health Systems in the Syrian Opposition Held Areas, Save the Children Resource Centre, June 2021
• Empowering Local NGOs: the Story of Syria Relief, ODI Humanitarian Practice Network Magazine, May 2021
• NGOs’ Team Empowerment: the case of “Syria Relief”, Syria Relief, Sep 2020
• Four Traps that can Lead to Project Failure, PM4NGOs, July 2020
• Participatory Methods during Project Identification, PM4NGOs, July 2020
• Vouchers Project for Syrians Under Siege, Logistics and Transport Focus Magazine, Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT-UK), Feb 2020, Pg 44/45

Peter is an experienced Project Manager, having delivered a wide range of ICT systems in both the public and private sectors in the UK. He is a graduate of Imperial College London and a Chartered Engineer (MIET). He is also a PRINCE 2 Practitioner and a Member of the Association for Project Management (MAPM). He is qualified to PMD Pro Level 1.

Peter’s career moved from electronic hardware design into software development, and then into technical project management. He founded a business, Softcopy Limited, to provide electronic publishing solutions to industry and the media.

Peter is Director of Project Managers Against Poverty (PMAP), a not-for-profit organisation which provides assistance to project managers seeking to volunteer their unique skills and experience to help reduce poverty in the UK and worldwide. He is also a trustee of The Kambia Appeal, a UK-based charity that aims to improve the medical conditions in the Kambia district of Sierra Leone.

Jane is a freelance trainer/consultant and most of the work she does is focused on project management or L&D support for the development and humanitarian sector. She has developed and delivered a variety of online, face to face and distance courses for clients including NGOS, government departments and UN agencies.

Jane has been involved with the PMD Pro / Project DPro qualification for about 11 years and is level 2 qualified (and a Prince 2 practitioner). She strongly believes in the importance of project management skills in the development / humanitarian sector.

Jane has written guidance on project management, for example working with Tearfund on the Roots 5 guide. She has also worked with several organizations to help them improve their project and programme management practices. This includes writing high level guidance, Programme Cycle Management Manuals, policies, guidance notes and templates.

Jane started working in the sector as a VSO volunteer in Kenya and has also worked on education projects in Peru and for ActionAid in the UK.

Tom has served as an advisor, consultant, and leader in both the nonprofit and private sectors focused on assisting organizations to achieve their full potential.  Based in New York, he currently advises nonprofit leaders and organizations on issues of strategy, leadership development, and overall effectiveness.

Previously, Tom served as the President and CEO of Humentum, an global INGO membership association focused on advancing operational excellence for the social sector.  Prior to Humentum, Tom was InsideNGO’s President and CEO before leading the three-way merger of InsideNGO with LINGOs and Mango UK to create Humentum in 2017.  He originally joined InsideNGO in 2011 as Chief Operating Officer. Previously, Tom was a partner at both Bain & Company and Kearney, two global management consulting firms, advising corporate executives on strategy development, organizational effectiveness, and performance improvement in a 20+ year career.

He graduated summa cum laude with a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College and received an MBA with honors from Columbia University.