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WIDE Secretariat
Secretariat WIDE Secretariat in Brussels facilitates global advocacy, research, action and alliance building on issues related to development, trade and gender as well as capacity building activities. WIDE Network employs eight staff members as a part of a Brussels office, to coordinate and support the activities of the network. WIDE often hosts one or more interns at the secretariat. Currently we do not have internship possibility. The WIDE Secretariat consist of: Bénédicte Allaert: Executive Director Bénédicte can be reached at WIDE Office on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at: + 32 2 5459072, or by e-mail: benedicte[at]wide-network.org. As an Executive Director, Benedicte works closely with the WIDE Board and Steering Group in the political leadership and management of the WIDE network. She is leading and coordinating the staff in Brussels, and is overall responsible for the smooth implementation of the WIDE programme. Before taking over the position of Executive Director in 2008, Bénédicte has been working with WIDE for more than 12 years as an Information Manager, a Project Manager and a Capacity Building Programme Coordinator. Bénédicte studied Development Co-operation (ULB, Brussels) and Languages and International Relations (Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL)) in Belgium. She is an experienced trainer in gender mainstreaming, economic literacy from a gender perspective and has a thorough expertise on gender, development issues & international trade. Bénédicte speaks French, English and Spanish fluently. Angela van Aalst: Finance and Administration Manager  Angela can be contacted at WIDE from Mondays to Thursdays at: + 32 2 5459073, angela[at]wide-network.org.
As WIDE´s Finance and Administration Manager, Angela is responsible for a sound financial management and administration of the organisation. She works closely with the Executive Director, managing WIDE´s finances, human resources and the administration of the office. Angela started her job with WIDE in May 2010. Originally from The Netherlands, she lives and works in Brussels since 1999. She gained a considerable professional experience in the area of finances and administration management with several European Brussels based NGOs (Eurodad, Friends of the Earth Europe, Concord). As a feminist she played an active role in the women´s movement. She was the chair of the city-link of her municipality with Masaya in Nicaragua. Angela speaks fluent Dutch (native) and English, and is proficient in French, German and Spanish. Gladys: Financial and Administrative Officer Please note that Gladys is on a sick leave at the moment. Gladys can be contacted at WIDE from Mondays to Wednesdays at: + 32 2 5459070, or gladys[at]wide-network.org. Gladys started working with WIDE in 2006. As Financial and Administrative Officer she is responsible for day to day functioning of the Secretariat. Originally from Zimbabwe, Gladys has a diploma in Business Studies and Credit Management. Before joining WIDE Secretariat, she worked as Credit Controller in Clients´ Service in Zimbabwe. Later on she was employed by WAPES (World Association of Public Employment Services), shortly after completion of her Administrative studies in Belgium.Gladys speaks English, Dutch, French and Shona. Luisa Antolin: Advocacy officer Luisa can be reached from Mondays to Thursdays at + 32 2 5459075, or luisa[at]wide-network.org. Luisa joined WIDE Secretariat in September 2008 as an advocacy officer, but was already involved in WIDE´s activities for several years. She was SG representative from the Spanish platform; when she moved to Brussels, she took part in numerous consultancy missions for the network. As an Advocacy Officer, Luisa´s main roles include research, analysis and advocacy coordination on gender and development issues, especially on the processes of Financing for Development, Aid Effectiveness and EU Road Map for Equal opportunities of Men and Women in external relations. Luisa has a degree in Journalism. She did a Master of Social Sciences on International Studies (Birmingham University, UK) and two one- year- post-graduated courses on International Development and Gender equality. She studied her PhD on "Feminist Theory as a critical perspective" (Univ. Complutense). Luisa is an experienced gender expert and trainer.She has been employed by various NGOs, publicinstitutions and local governments in Spain as gender equality officer/coordinator related to development and non-sexist education and to equal opportunities policies.She is a founder of "Emilias", Feminist Communication NGO focusing on design, management and implementation of advocacy and communication strategies for women organizations. Luisa is a poet and a writer. Her recent poetry collection "Discovering the wound" ("Descubrimiento de la herida"), was published in Madrid 2009. She is also author of a series of women artists´ biographies for children: "Virginia Woolf, the writer of invisible", "Gloria Fuertes, poet", etc (info at: www.hotelpapel.com.) Luisa speaks Spanish, English and French; she understands and reads Italian, Catalan. Barbara Specht: Advocacy Officer  Barbara can be reached everyday, from Mondays to Fridays at + 32 2 5459074, or barbara[at]wide-network.org.
Barbara works as an advocacy officer for WIDE. Barbara´s main roles include research, analysis and advocacy coordination on gender and trade issues, especially following processes in relation to bilateral and multilateral trade policies of the EU, women´s rights, decent work and labour issues. Building alliances and synergies with other women´s organisations and networks is an important part of her work. Barbara has been working with WIDE for more than 8 years as an Information officer and information and advocacy officer. She also worked for a European Consumers association. Barbara is a political scientist and holds M.A. in Political Sciences, English Literature, Comparative Religious Science (Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam) from Frankfurt University, Germany. Her Master thesis looked at gender aspects in the development policy of the European Union, with a focus on the ACP-EU Co-operation. Barbara is a trainer on economic literacy from a gender perspective and has a thorough expertise on gender, development issues & international trade. She speaks English, German, Dutch, and French. Laura Paulus: Project Officer Laura can be reached every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at + 32 2 5459077, or laura[at]wide-network.org. Laura works as a Project Officer responsible for capacity-building, networking, membership and policy advocacy related tasks. She is coordinating WIDE´s advocacy work on the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); thenew UN Gender Equality Architecture; and the Seattle to Brussels Network´s "Alternative Trade Mandate" initiative. Laura is working for the WIDE Secretariat since February 2009 and as a Project Officer since September 2009. In July 2010 she took over network and membership issues as her responsibilities. Before joining WIDE, Laura held various positions related to international affairs and development cooperation in the Student Union of University of Tampere, worked as an intern for EURODAD in Brussels and volunteered for an Indian NGO GRAVIS.She was also active in United Nations Youth and Students´ Association in Finland and the United Nations Association in Tampere. Laura holds a Master´s Degree in Social Sciences from the University of Tampere, Finland where she studied social psychology, international relations, development studies and journalism. Her Master Thesis focused on norms, values and social capital of an Indian women self-help group based on microcredit. Laura speaks fluent English, French and Finnish. She is proficient in Spanish and Swedish. Natalie Giorgadze: Media and Communication Officer  Natalie can be reached from Monday to Thursday at + 32 2 5459076 or natalie[at]wide-network.org. For urgent matters you can reach her on her mobile phone (can be obtained from the Secretariat).
As a Media and Communication Officer, Natalie is responsible for developing internal and external communication strategy, information sharing, ensuring good working relations with journalists; organising press conferences and other media-related events, drafting and editing press releases and editing online content. Natalie studied Journalism and Social Psychology in Georgia, Tbilisi, where she is coming from. After working for different TV companies for three years as an international news observer, she decided to move to the NGO sector. Natalie was an active human rights defender in her own country. Involved in communication work, she was organizing different actions, campaigns and movie festivals in Georgia. Following her move to Belgium, she obtained her Master´s degree in Cultures and Development Studies from Catholic University of Leuven. Meanwhile, she was engaged in developing and organizing cultural events in Brussels art gallery. Natalie is interested in arts, design, dance and media. She speaks fluent English, Russian, Georgian (native) and is proficient in French. Susanna Jussila: Intern 
Susana can be reached every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at: volunteer[at]wide-network.org Susanna started as an intern in WIDE Secretariat in May 2010 just in time for the Annual Conference held in June. Besides AC logistics and follow-up, she is assisting WIDE staff in different kinds of tasks, including communications and research, until the end of October 2010. Susanna studies International Politics as her major and Women´s Studies, Spanish Language and Social Anthropology as minors in the University of Tampere, Finland. She is currently working on her Master thesis about sex tourism from a postcolonial feminist perspective. Before coming to WIDE, Susanna has been twice in Central America. In 2006 she did a 6-month volunteer period at World Vision´s Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, based in Costa Rica. In 2008 she worked as an intern in UNIFEM El Salvador, in a feminist macro economical project called "Women´s Economic Agenda". She has also been an active volunteer in UNIFEM Finland´s local committee in Tampere since 2005. Susanna speaks fluent English, Spanish and Suomi (native). She is proficient in Swedish and German.
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