Steering Committee

Mariko Kinai joined World Vision Japan (WVJ) in 2008 with over 21 years of professional experience which includes work for Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), the Japanese government financial aid organisation, and the University of Tokyo as senior academic staff, working for the President to establish a new multi-disciplinary academic alliance.

In WVJ, she assumed several responsibilities including response director of East Japan earthquake and tsunami, strategic and planning director, and the national director since 2017.

Beyond her role in World Vision Japan, Mariko also takes a part to contribute the civil sector and development field in Japan. She serves as a board member for Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation (JANIC) and Japan Non-Profit Organisation Centre (JNPOC). She is also a member of Advisory Committee for Evaluation in Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Mariko has Master of Science (Msc) degree in development economics from Oxford University and Msc. in social policy and planning in developing countries from London School of Economics (LSE), and a member of Development Studies society in Japan. She is a part-time lecturer at Tokyo Institute of Technology University and Aoyama Gakuin University.

Mariko is a member of Hongo Church (Presbyterian) in Tokyo.
She is a mother of eighteen years old son and a wife of Ei Kinai, a pediatrician.

Hiroki Matsubara is Executive Director of Hiroshima NPO Center (HNC) and Co-Chair of the Japan Civil Society Coalition on G7 Summit 2023. In HNC, he has been in charge of planning and coordination for the areas of Environment, Education, Sightseeing, Disaster Prevention, and Community Development. In this role, he works on supporting Japanese NPOs/NGOs, solving local issues, advocacy, and collaboration to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Hiroki will organize the Citizen’s Summit for advocacy to the G7 Summit with multi-stakeholders in Hiroshima on 16-17 April 2023.

Aoi Horiuchi is Senior Advocacy Officer of Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation (JANIC), as well as Deputy Director of THINK Lobby, and has been working on achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially Goal 16 and protecting civic space in Japan and Asia. Aoi is an active member of Development Unit, Japan Civil Society Network on SDGs, and has participated many international fora such as UN General Assembly, UN High-Level Political Forum, past G7 and G20 Summits etc., for advocacy purposes.
Aoi served as co-secretariat for civil society platform on G7 Ise-Shima Summit in 2016, and C20 Sous-Sherpa in 2019 when the Government of Japan hosted G20 Osaka Summit.

Anke Kurat studied regional sciences of Latin America as well as political science, Spanish and French at the University of Cologne and in Lisbon. Since 2002 she has been a political advisor at the Association of German Development and Humanitarian Aid NGOs. Since 2019 she is heading the Global Justice and Sustainable Development department. Previously, she was responsible for the foreign projects in Chile and northeastern Brazil at Kindernothilfe in Duisburg. At the German Red Cross she was responsible for personnel recruitment and deployment to the Balkans and Latin America.

Born 1963. Director of the German NGO Forum Environment & Development since 1996. Organized The Other Economic Summit during the G7 Munich 1992. Member of the Civil Society Advisory Committee for the Russian G8 Presidency 2006, closely involved in C7 and C20 processes in Germany 2007, 2015, 2017, 2022 and in Japan 2008 and 2019, Argentina 2018, Saudi Arabia 2020 and others.

Valeria Emmi has been working as Networking and Advocacy Senior Specialist for CESVI (Italian NGO), currently leading the CESVI global advocacy at international, European and national level to support its effective integration in humanitarian and development programming. She represents CESVI in several coalition committees, both at national and international level, as in GCAP – Global Call to Action Against Poverty (Italy) – a key interlocutor for Italian institutions on G7/G20 processes and the 2030 Agenda implementation, and expression of the largest global CS movement, calling for an end to poverty and inequality, promoting sustainable policies that respect human rights, gender equality, social and environmental justice, within the 2030 Agenda framework.

She currently serves as Co-Chair of the Advocacy and Communications Group of Alliance2015, a strategic partnership of 7 European NGOs which are engaged in humanitarian and development action.

In 2021, during the G20 Italian Presidency, she was appointed C20 Sous-Sherpa.

Valeria Emmi has a sound experience in designing and managing advocacy strategy development, policy dialogue with decision-makers in politics and galvanising donors’ support on different policy issues such as food and nutrition security, community resilience building and climate change (DRR), mixed-migration and protection, and increasingly specialising in women’s empowerment to tackle poverty and inequality in all its forms. Economist with a wide experience in research coordination, she has also authored various publications for an effective and evidence-based advocacy.

Carelle Mang-Benza is the Policy Lead at Cooperation Canada. Her responsibilities include examining trends in international development and humanitarian work, developing advocacy and collaboration strategies in the sector, and advancing dialogue with Global Affairs Canada and members of Parliament. Before joining Cooperation Canada in November 2021, Carelle accumulated 20 years of experience working in climate change mitigation and adaptation at the United Nations as well as environmental policy and humanitarian assistance with the US State Department in West and Central Africa. Carelle holds Ph.D. in geography and environment from the University of Western Ontario and a M.Sc. in chemical engineering from Universite Laval in Quebec City.

Ben Bestor is a senior program coordinator on the Global Development Policy and Learning team at InterAction. In this role, he coordinates the G7/G20 Advocacy Alliance, a group of US-based CSOs that work together to influence the annual G7 and G20 summits. Ben also manages InterAction’s Evaluation and Program Effectiveness Community of Practice and supports the Children and Youth Initiative and the NGO Aid Map.

Sandra Martinsone is Policy Manager on Sustainable Economic Development at Bond UK. She has 20 years of experience working for humanitarian and international development organisations. For the last 1 years Sandra has focused on research, policy and advocacy specialising in political economy, tax justice, ethical trade, development finance institutions, decolonisation of economic development and food systems. She also has previously worked for UNDP, Foreign office in Latvia and has MA in International Political Economy from University of Leeds, UK.

Ms. Jamila Asanova has over 30 years experience in the development sector. As the CEO of ARGO, Ms. Asanova has expanded the umbrella organization to cover 8 Central Asian regional countries with 2,000+ member organizations and activists; managed multi-million USD regional projects; and developed ARGO to a staff of 50 personnel throughout the region. She was the steward of the I4C global governance board, uniting 7 Global South regional civil society development Hubs. Ms. Asanova is high-level advocate both within Kazakhstan and internationally, through membership in various national councils under the Ministries of Kazakhstan; and the first representative of Kazakhstani civil society to speak at the UN High Level Political Forum, in 2019. Ms. Asanova is a Chair of the Steering Committee of the Asia development Alliance, in 2022-2024.

Catherine Nyambura (Cate) is a self-identified pan African feminist who is an international development expert specializing in program management, advocacy, research, grant making, and strategic partnerships. Her academic background is in biomedical research, public policy, gender, and international development. Cate has worked on topics such as Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, adolescent health, HIV/AIDS prevention, care, treatment, Gender Equality, Women and Girls Empowerment, GBV, Adolescent and Youth Engagement for over a decade. Her work, borne out of student activism, transitioned into community organizing and currently involves working across the intricate linkages between grassroots organizing, national, regional, and global levels. Cate, who is currently an independent consultant, has worked with various organizations in the gender equality and global health spheres. Cate has designed dynamic and multi-country projects and programs on girls and young women power building, SRHR, HIV and leadership. She has developed advocacy and strategic partnership strategies and provided a range of advisory services and program management to women’s rights organizations and other clients as part of her dynamic consultancy portfolio. Cate enjoys working with feminist networks, adolescent girls and young women and grassroots movements on global health, advocacy, and feminist movement building.

Cate is a 2019 & 2022 Goalkeeper, an initiative of the Gates Foundation bringing together global leaders to accelerate progress toward achieving the SDGs, Mandela Fellow 2016, Royal Commonwealth associate fellow, 120 under 40 winner and was named one of the five young African women changemakers to know in 2015 by This is Africa. She has been published in the Agenda Feminist Journal (2018 Edition), the Gender and Development Journal (2018 edition), and other global platforms.

Disabled Peoples International (DPI) is a Human rights organisation committed to the protection of disabled people’s rights and the promotion of their full and equal participation in society. Established in 1981, DPI is represented through active membership of national organisations of disabled people in over 130 countries Jean-Luc Simon is a social worker who became paraplegic when he was 25 old. Understanding that the reality he discovered as a person with a disability was a lot different from was he learned as a professional, he did 3 researches on independent living trainings and & for people ith disabilities. He teaches in different Universities and works as trainer and consultant.

Campaigner for the rights of all disabled persons, he sots up the French Assembly of DPI on 1993. He Chair the European Region since June 2005 and is a World Council Executive Member of DPI.

He was nominated to Chair the French National Committee of the European Year of People with Disability 2003 by the French Minister from January 2002 to march 2004.

Nominated in December 2019 by the French Ministry as Vice Chair of the National Council of People with Disabilities for European and international affairs, and the application of the global Conventions, he lives both in Paris and in a rural area.

Emilia Reyes is Programme Director of Policies and Budgets for Equality and Sustainable Development, at Equidad de Género: Ciudadanía, Trabajo y Familia (Gender Equity: Citizenship, Work and Family). She coordinates the Campaign of Campaigns and is Co-Convenor of the Women’s Working Group on Financing for Development, as well as a co-lead of the Economic Justice and Rights Action Coalition in the UN Women’s Beijing+25 process. She’s a Contributing Author in the segment “Gender, Climate Justice and Transformative Pathways” of the IPCC report: Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. For five years she was an Organizing Partner of the Women’s Major Group for the 2030 Agenda; for two years she was Co-chair of the High Level Political Forum’s Major Groups and Stakeholders Coordination Mechanism.

Patricia Miranda is Global Advocacy Director at LATINDADD, works on debt justice and leads the work on New Financial Architecture; coordinates inputs from its member organisations along 13 countries in the region, with an expertise at regional, national and subnational levels. She is part of CSO Financing for Development Group, she was member of the Steering Committee of the Civil20 between 2017 and 2021 and of the C7 in 2022.

Prior to that she was policy advocacy officer at Fundación Jubileo Bolivia, LA Regional Programme Officer at Debt Relief International and Public Debt Advisor at subnational governments.

She has a Masters on Finance and specialisation on Public Financing Strategies.

· MA in Development Studies and PhD in Economics (magna cum laude) from Free University Berlin.
· 1987 – 1998 – Lecturer at the Free University Berlin (development studies)
· 1998 – 2014 –worked in the NGO sector as country director in Burkina Faso, Tanzania and Kenya
· 2014 – 2017 Senior Economic Justice Advisor at Christian Aid
· 2007 – 2014 – Founding Chair of Tax Justice Network Africa
· 2014 – 2017 Chair of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice and Senior Advisor of Tax Justice Net Work Africa
· Currently serving as Executive Coordinator of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice