Right to Education Initiative welcomes three new members of staff and embarks on ambitious programme of work

In February, Right to Education Initiative welcomed three new members of staff to the team, and with their arrival began an expanded programme of work in support of the right to education in diverse contexts.

The new members of staff will support across core strategic areas and communications activity, expanding both our strategic capacity and mobilisation ability.

In addition to Director Delphine Dorsi and Finance and Administrative Officer Natalia Dzvelaia, the newly expanded team now includes Rajamakuri Michaelsamy, Programme Manager for Early Childhood Care and Education; Hoda Khaled, Programme Officer for non-state actors in education; and Eleanor Rosenbach, Communications Manager.

Based in India, Switzerland and the UK respectively, the new members of staff bring multilingual and multicultural understanding, and will be pivotal in realising the ambitions of the 2020-2022 strategic plan.

Director Delphine Dorsi says “This is a really exciting time for RTE. The expansion of the existing team allows us to expand our reach and ability to make the right to education a reality for all. The addition of new members of staff from all over the globe is a fantastic opportunity to increase our impact in different educational contexts, building bridges between different language communities and between different education actors.”

Rajakumari Michaelsamy, Programme Manager (Early Childhood Care and Education), is a human rights professional with over 15 years of experience in various aspects of human rights including human rights education, research, monitoring, training, intervention and advocacy. Being an ardent advocate of right to education, she has closely worked with children and educators in India from pre-primary to secondary level. She joined RTE in February 2021, and has previously worked with a range of national and international NGOs and organisations, including Pax Romana -IMCS Asia Pacific, People’s Watch-Tamil Nadu, Indian Social Institute, Child Rights and You, and Amnesty International India. She holds a Master’s degree in Human Rights from the University of Essex and a Postgraduate Diploma in International Human Rights Law from the National Law School of  India University.

 

Hoda Awwad joins as Programme Officer with a primary focus on the privatisation of education and the involvement of non-state actors. Her work relies heavily on promoting the Abidjan principles. She is a legal expert, who has worked for international and local NGOs in Egypt and abroad. She holds a dual LLB in Law from universities of Paris-I Pantheon Sorbonne and Cairo University, and has a Master’s degree in International Law from the Graduate Institute of Geneva.

Eleanor Rosenbach, appointed as Communications Manager, has a decade of experience in strategic communications, storytelling and campaigning, with a focus on human rights and social change initiatives. She joined RTE in February 2021, having previously worked with a range of national and international NGOs and organisations, including the International Organisation for Migration, MSF, and Centre for Justice and International Law. She holds a BA in English Literature and Hispanic Studies from the University of Birmingham. Currently studying an MSc in International Migration and Public Policy at the LSE, Eleanor has a particular interest in the intersection of education and migration.