Plenary session I: Collaborative pathways to end child labour
Sofie Ovaa No child should work, every child has the right to quality education, the right to play and to enjoy his or her childhood. From this vision Sofie has been working for over 20 years to improve the situation of working and out-of school children. At the moment, Sofie is managing the Work: No Child’s Business programme, aiming at children and youth to be free from child labour and enjoy their rights to quality education and (future) decent work. She is based in the programme management unit at the Hivos Global Office in the Netherlands, and works closly together with Alliance partners UNICEF, Save the Children and the Stop Child Labour coalition, both in the Netherlands and in partner countries in Africa and Asia.
Saskia Jongma has served as a deputy director Sustainable Economic Development Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since March 2018. After finishing her master in Economics, she started at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, where she worked for almost ten years in the areas of sustainability, business, innovation and international trade. Her next step, in 2004, took her to the Dutch Enterprise Agency, as unit manager project- and product development. After five years she became director International Cooperation of the Dutch Enterprise Agency, responsible for the development and execution of Development Cooperation Programmes. After that, she became director of Solidaridad-Netherlands. Her next step, three years ago, brought her to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she became programme manager Economic Diplomacy.
Manish Singh is Secretary at Manjari Sansthan, Rajasthan, India. He is a trained Social Worker with more than 27 years of professional experience. He has successfully led large-scale projects related to integrated development, food fortification, access to justice, child labour, and voluntary sector development in the states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. He has worked for many National and International Organisations, including UN agencies.
Soumahoro Gbato is Child Protection Specialist with Unicef Côte d’Ivoire. Soumahoro is passionate about social development, finding sustainable solutions to local challenges, and transferring skills to empower local actors and community members. Over the past 25 years he has worked in different capacities at country, regional and national level to ensure that children’s rights are known and respected and that children are being heard. Since 2023, he oversees the newly opened inter-agency (UNICEF – ILO) satellite office in the North-West region of Côte d’Ivoire.
Nguyen Ba Lam is Senior Country Manager (Northern Region) for the Centre for Child Rights and Business in Vietnam. Mr. Lam supervises several projects related to child rights and young workers in the north of the country, with focus on handicraft, apparel and furniture supply chains. Mr. Lam contributed to the development of business guidelines for different projects initiated by ILO, UNICEF, Save the Children and a number of brand-funded initiatives. Mr. Lam has been the lead assessor in child rights risk assessments for international brands in their supply chains in different sectors.
Plenary session II: Making international standards work in global supply chains and local operations
Marco Dubbelt Senior Director Global March, has been working towards addressing child labour, forced labour and gender inequalities in different settings and countries, with a focus on child labour in global supply chains. He is the officer in charge for Global March Against Child Labour where he is engaged in advocacy and developing strategies for addressing child labour. Marco is an active member of the Global Coordinating Group of the Alliance 8.7 and different other international and national initiatives for eliminating child labour. He is also part of the several multi-stakeholder initiatives on international responsible business. He wants to make a better connection between the efforts on eliminating child labour in global supply chains and the work at the grassroots.
Manon Wolfkamp has more than twenty years’ work experience in an international environment as a connector, networker, trainer and journalist. She has expert knowledge on responsible business conduct (RBC) and specifically on business and human rights. On behalf of Dutch civil society, she was involved with the development of due diligence legislation both at national and European level in the past years. She has also coached and trained the private sector, trade unions, NGO’s and government officials in implementing human rights and environmental due diligence world wide.
Jeroen Verburg Over 15 years of experience with responsible business conduct/CSR, which started off at Oxfam Novib (1 year). Followed by a corporate experience on research and advisory to institutional investors on responsible investment with Sustainalytics (8 years). Since 2018 in the RBC unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, working on several sectoral agreements in the financial sector, the revision of the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, coordinating research on the uptake of the OECD guidelines by Dutch companies and regulatory burden from due diligence legislation, and last but not least, involved in EU legislation trajectories of the CSRD and the CSDDD, including negotiations on the Council position and final rollercoaster of the trilogue agreement. Currently working on the transposition of the CSDDD into Dutch national law.
Cleo Gaulier-Wright is policy and fundraising officer for the International Cocoa Initiative. She has extensive experience working on policy and partnerships in multi-stakeholder initiatives to address child labour in the agricultural sector. Cleo holds a Master’s in Child Protection from the University of Kent, with a research focus on a systems theory approach to protecting children from child labour.
Annemarieke Jansen, Commercial Director of IKEA Netherlands B.V. Annemarieke worked at IKEA Netherlands from 1999 to 2006, in various commercial roles. After that, she worked at the Coffee Company and as a Regional Manager at ETOS, before returning to IKEA in 2010. This time, she worked in Sweden, where she was responsible for the international strategy and range and product development for the bedroom assortment. Since October 2022, Annemarieke has been back with the Dutch organization of IKEA as the Commercial Director. At IKEA, sustainability, circularity, and responsible business practices have been key topics for many years, integrated into all parts of the organization, and they are also a part of Annemarieke’s daily work.
Vasilka Lalevska joined Save the Children in September 2023 as Child Rights and Corporate Sustainability Advisor in the CRB Global Hub team. Her role includes supporting colleagues in advocacy and partnerships across the Save the Children movement to strengthen collaboration in advancing child rights in business, particularly focusing on sustainable finance/ ESG. Vasilka is now leading and coordinating the advocacy efforts related to the implementation of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) together with SC Members and SC Europe.
Breakout sessions
Odilia van Manen is an experienced program manager at Kinderpostzegels, the Netherlands, specializing in children’s rights, youth participation and gender equality. From 2016 to 2020, she led the Her Choice Alliance, a multi-partner initiative aimed at addressing child marriage in Africa and South Asia. Currently, her focus is on promoting child participation and enhancing the resilience of vulnerable children in South Asia through targeted programs. With a strong track record in international program management and advocacy, Odilia is dedicated to creating lasting, positive change for children and advancing gender equality in the global development landscape.
Silvia Mera serves as GoodWeave International’s Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships and Advocacy. In this capacity, she leads on the organization’s external relations, including donor relationship building and involvement in multi-stakeholder initiatives. Previously, Silvia managed GoodWeave’s apparel and fashion jewelry portfolio. Previously, she served as Program Director of the Mekong Club, a Hong Kong-based NGO, where she led an anti-modern slavery association of multinational corporations and advised business partners on their human rights policies and practices. Silvia regularly speaks at international events and has authored research reports and articles on modern slavery. She holds a Master’s Degree in international relations and is currently based in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Maggie de Jongh-Abebe is advisor for the Subsidy Programme for Responsible Business (SPVO) and the Fund against Child Labour at the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). She manages several projects on child labour and projects focusing on other (interrelated) social risks with regard to labour conditions and living income. Previously, she managed a programme against worst forms of child labour in mica mines, with Terre des Hommes Netherlands.
Niels van den Beucken works as a CEO at Arte, a custom-made supplier of stone kitchen tops and its derivatives. All materials are processed in their own custom-made factory. From granite, composite, ceramics to Dekton. He has a seat in the Central College of Experts for the CSR Performance Ladder, co-initiator and signatory of the International Corporate Social Responsibility Covenant TruStone, a proud President of the Arte Foundation and a dedicated FBK ambassador.
Kristina Ullrich is a senior private sector engagement officer at Terre des Hommes Netherlands. Kristina has a background in lobby, advocacy & stakeholder management, experience she gained at both various trade associations and NGOs. She is a specialist in child labour in global supply chains, especially extractives.
Sara Benjamin is Deputy CEO for ADMC Group company, a company working in the healthcare sector, setting up healthcare franchise centres form the Netherlands to the Middle East and North Africa. Together with the company CEO she set up and implemented three projects to eliminate child labour (funded by the RVO “FBK program”) in different areas in Egypt. Currently working on studying the impact assessment of decent working conditions and living wages in Egypt through a project funded by the RVO “SSF program”.
Sandra Claassen is director of Arisa and has been working for many years on the issue of labour rights and decent work in the Netherlands and in international supply chains, mainly to South Asia.
Hanneke Kramps is programme manager of the WNCB programme at Kinderpostzegels. She also works on new initiatives for children’s programmes initiatives including relationship building. Previously, Hanneke was the Head of Programmes for Terre des Hommes Netherlands, and led Terre des Hommes global child exploitation portfolio. Before Terre des Hommes, she was the director of Biblionef, a global NGO working on child and youth literacy. She started her career as a Tax Lawyer, working for EY, Reebok International and the Dutch government. She holds an Advanced Master’s Degree in international children’s rights and a Master’s Degree in tax law. She currently based in The Hague, The Netherlands.
Plenary session III: Wrap-up and takeaways
Isabelle van Tol currently serves at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a Strategic Policy Advisor for Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Growth, and as head of Trade Facilitation and Innovation/Digitization. She is an experienced diplomat with a demonstrated history of achievement in multilateral and bilateral settings and skilled in negotiation, intercultural communication, aid effectiveness and international relations. Isabelle has an extensive track record in development, trade and economics, both at strategic and operational levels. Prior to joining the diplomatic service, she started her career at Rabobank Nederland, where she helped build international relations with co-operative banks throughout Europe.
Arthur Molenaar is the Head of International Programmes with Save the Children Netherlands. Over the last two decades he has dedicated his work to empower children, youth and women to realise their rights in places and times where these are most under pressure. He has worked with Save the Children and like-minded organisations such as CARE, Oxfam and Mercy Corps in headquarters and in field-roles in Angola, Burundi, Congo, Jordan, Rwanda, Sudan and Syria.
Moderator
Ama van Dantzig An original thinker, Ama divides her time between Accra and Amsterdam – building bridges between seemingly opposite worlds. With over a decade of experience as a facilitator, moderator and researcher in many countries and communities, Ama believes in the ability of people to generate ingenious solutions for the challenges of our time. She has facilitated dialogues with governments, businesses and civil society organisations in search of more sustainable and just responses to the needs they identify.