Agenda

Borhene Chakroun is an engineer and has a PhD in Education Sciences from Bourgogne University in France. Borhene worked, during the 1990s, as trainer, chief trainer, project manager. He has also worked as short-term consultant for the EU, World Bank and other international organisations before coming to the European Training Foundation (ETF) in 2001. At the ETF, Borhene worked as Senior Human Capital Development specialist. He is now Director of Policies and Lifelong Learning Systems Division at UNESCO-HQ. Borhene conducted a range of policy reviews and skills systems diagnosis in different contexts. He has authored and co-authored various articles and books in the field of skills development and lifelong learning. Much of his most recent work focuses on global trends in reforming education and training systems and global agenda for skills development in the context of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. He is also the coordinator of the Global Education Coalition launched by UNESCO to respond to the COVID-19 crisis.

Mr. Barbosa is the Head of the Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society (Cetic.br), a research center linked to the Brazilian Network Information Center (NIC.br), working under the auspices of UNESCO. He is responsible for leading research projects that generate ICT-related data for monitoring national policies and international goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, he coordinates capacity building programs in survey methodologies for Latin America and Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa.

Mr. Barbosa is an internationally recognized expert in the field of ICT and has held various leadership positions in prestigious organizations. He served as the Chair of the Expert Group on ICT Households indicators (EGH) at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) from 2012 to 2017 and is currently an expert at the OECD working party on Measurement and Analysis of the Digital Economy and working party on Artificial Intelligence Governance. He also serves as a member of the Consultative Committee of the Brazilian Census at the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics and as a member of the Board of Counselors of the Brazilian Center for Innovation in Education (CIEB).

Mr. Barbosa holds a PhD in Business Administration from Getulio Vargas Foundation (Brazil), a Master's Degree in Business Administration from Bradford University (UK), an MSc in Computer Science from Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil), and a BSc in Electrical Engineering from Catholic University (Brazil). He has also conducted postdoctoral research at HEC Montreal (Canada).

Giuseppina has over 15 years of international affairs and government relations. An Italian national, she unfolded her professional path operating in different Countries. Prior to joining Millicom she was Director of International Affairs in Madrid for Vinces Consulting developing public and government affairs and operation strategies for businesses across Europe. She worked at AT&T developing the international regulatory affairs strategy covering Canada, Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean. Previously, he held the position of Chief of Staff to the Secretary General of the European People's Party in Brussels. She has a degree in International and Diplomatic Sciences from the University of Trieste and a Master of Arts in Nationalism Studies from the Central European University in Budapest. She speaks Italian, English, Spanish and French. 

Zohra Yermeche is Head of Connect To Learn, Ericsson’s global flagship education program since 2014. She oversees the development and deployment of Ericsson’s technology solutions for education across the world. Her focus includes promoting comprehensive strategies for digital transformation of education and delivery of digital infrastructure, tools and skills for societal human capital development.

Dr. Yermeche is a strong advocate of the key role that technology and access to digital connectivity can play in addressing global sustainable development challenges particularly in the area of education and life-long learning. She has worked at the intersection of technology and education in key projects around the globe, leading diverse coalitions of like-minded organizations. Currently she drives Ericsson’s contribution to the UNESCO-led Global Education Coalition. She also oversees Ericsson’s partnership with UNICEF on school connectivity mapping as part of the Giga project.

Dr. Yermeche received her Ph.D. in Applied Signal Processing from the Blekinge Institute of Technology (Sweden). Her professional experience includes working as a senior researcher in Multimedia Technologies at Ericsson Research.

Beth Havinga is the Managing Director of the European EdTech Alliance and the EdSAFE AI Alliance. Beth currently serves on the Digitisation Council of the state of Berlin in Germany, is chair of the advisory board of Kids.Digilab.Berlin, and serves on the international advisory boards of both CoSN and ISTE. Beth represents the EEA both in the EdTech Roundtable of the European Commission and UNESCO’s Broadband Commission and consults to the Council of Europe on the topic of AI and education. Previously, Beth has served on the special board of the Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economics in Austria, as an expert in the field of “digitalisation in apprenticeships", and as a member of the expert Platform, "Digital Future: Learning. Researching. Knowledge" of the German Digital Summit by invitation of the German federal Minister for Education. 

Beth has considerable experience developing interoperability standards frameworks, and represents Germany as head delegate to the European Committee for Standardization of Interoperability for Learning Technologies and EdTech, and has worked closely with multiple governments and data protection agencies on national definitions for data modelling and certification. 

Calvain R. NANGUE is a passionate ICT Education specialist who joined the ambitious Smart Africa Alliance Partnership to support the Skills Development and Capacity Building Initiatives. From a career as a University Lecturer at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Calvain led the Cisco Networking Academy Program development in the Francophone region of Africa for about 10 years, networking, onboarding, and managing a network of over 300 public and private Higher Education Institutions within the global Cisco NetAcad ecosystem.

Joining the Smart Africa Alliance, Calvain will contribute to the development of the Smart Africa Digital Academy program, which objectives to federate digital skills development initiatives on the continent, strategically supports his passion for technology-based skills and knowledge transfer. Calvain is a member of the Institute of Information Technology Professionals of South Africa and devotes his spare time to community services.