The IDA Secretariat has two offices based in Geneva, Switzerland and New York, USA.
Vladimir Cuk, Executive Director
Vladimir is the Executive Director of the International Disability Alliance (IDA). Vladimir is responsible for coordinating the IDA Secretariat and IDA advocacy towards the UN System. In particular, Vladimir is engaged in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Vladimir is a member of the Policy Board of the UN Partnership to Promote the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as well as the Inter Agency Support Group to the CRPD. IDA was instrumental in establishing the Global Action on Disability (GLAD) Group - a disability inclusive donors coordination mechanism. Vladimir is based in the IDA New York Office.
Priscille Geiser, Program Director
Priscille joined IDA in November 2017 to support IDA Executive Director with developing, communicating and monitoring IDA’s strategy, including fundraising and coordinating with IDA’s strategic partners. Priscille has over 16 years of experience in development and inclusion of discriminated groups, including 12 years with Handicap International where her last position was to lead the Technical Unit on Support to Civil Society. She has also been actively involved with the International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC) as Chair of the Board since 2015. Priscille is based in Lyon, France. Email: pgeiser [at] ida-secretariat.org
Tchaurea Fleury, Director of Capacity Building
Tchaurea has been with IDA since July 2010. Her main mission is to provide coordination for the effective and quality implementation, development and monitoring of the Bridge CRPD-SDGs initiative. Previously she worked supporting IDA’s advocacy and DPOs’ engagement towards the UN Human Rights Council and Treaty Bodies as well as leading negotiations such as on the Sendai Framework and Beijing +20 regional review. Tchaurea formerly worked with grassroots NGOs, UNESCO Brazil, EuropeAid and OHCHR. She is based in the IDA Geneva Office. Email: tfleury [at] ida-secretariat.org
Nicolas Bach, Operations and Finance Director
Nicolas joined IDA in June 2013. He received his Master of Public Administration from London School of Economics-Sciences Po Paris in 2013, and an Msc in Finance from Reims Business School. He was previously program administrator for Handicap International in Lebanon, the Middle East regional office and for the Pakistan emergency mission. Nicolas is based in the IDA Geneva Office. Email: nbach [at] ida-secretariat.org
José Viera, Advocacy Director and Senior Manager of the GDS Secretariat
Jose previously worked as the Chief Executive Officer of the World Blind Union. He has also acted as the Permanent Representative of the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities. Previously, he was the WBU Human Rights Policy Advisor for two years, supporting more than 100 different national associations of the blind in advocacy work to promote inclusive and productive lives of blind people. Jose has a Master’s degree in Management of Development from Torino University, Italy, and a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations. For the past 10 years, he has also worked part-time as Associate Professor of the International Relations Department at the Siglo 21 University, in Cordoba Argentina. Jose is currently based in Toronto, Canada, and can be reached at: jmviera [at] ida-secretariat.org.
Talin Avades, Manager of the Global Action on Disability (GLAD) Network Secretariat
Talin joined the IDA Secretariat in January 2017. She has previously supported the development and smooth engagement of IDA members in the governance and selected high-level events. She has been managing the Global Action on Disability (GLAD) Network Secretariat since June 2021. Talin is based in the IDA New York office. Email: tavades [at] ida-secretariat.org
Talin joined the IDA Secretariat in January 2017. She has previously supported the development and smooth engagement of IDA members in the governance and selected high-level events. She has been managing the Global Action on Disability (GLAD) Network Secretariat since June 2021. Talin is based in the IDA New York office. Email: tavades [at] ida-secretariat.org
Elham Youssefian, Inclusive Humanitarian Action and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Advisor
Elham joined IDA in 2019 and she is responsible for leading and coordinating the implementation of IDA’s strategy to promote and support the effective enforcement of disability-inclusive humanitarian action, response to forced displacement, peace and security, Disaster Risk Reduction, and climate action. She has led IDA's COVID-19 emergency response in the aftermath of the global pandemic announcement. Elham is co-chairing the Reference Group on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action (DRG), as well as the GLAD Working-Group on Disability-Inclusive Climate Action
Elham's education is in international and human rights law including Master of Human Rights Law from London School of Economics. Before joining IDA, Elham lead diverse projects on disability rights, protection of refugees, violence against women and other human rights and humanitarian projects. She is currently based in New York.
Bethany Brown, Human Rights Advisor
Bethany Brown is the International Disability Alliance’s Human Rights Advisor, working to uphold the standards of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities across all human rights mechanisms in New York, and ensuring participatory approaches representing the diversity of the disability movement and its constituencies. She is a lawyer, and has been an advocate at the United Nations in the fields of human rights, humanitarian aid, and development since 2010. Previously, she started Human Rights Watch’s program of work on older people’s human rights in its Disability Rights Division. Before Human Rights Watch, she was HelpAge USA’s Policy and Advocacy Director, where she carried out research, trainings and advocacy at the United Nations for the rights of older people in low- and middle-income countries. Bethany received her bachelor’s degree from Barnard College of Columbia University, and her Juris Doctor from American University Washington College of Law. She lives in New York City. Bethany is based in the IDA New York Office.
Email: bbrown [at] ida-secretariat.org.
Jarrod Clyne, Human Rights Advisor for the Human Rights Council
Jarrod joined the IDA Secretariat in September 2020. He has worked for the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs for 15 years, with postings to Tokyo, Geneva, and short-term assignments to New York. As Deputy Permanent Representative at the Permanent Mission of New Zealand to the United Nations in Geneva, Jarrod co-chaired the Group of Friends on the CRPD and co-facilitated several Human Rights Council resolutions on the rights of persons with disabilities from 2014 - 2019. His academic background is in law, and he has a Master's degree in International Law of Armed Conflict (Geneva Academy, Switzerland) and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from Otago University (New Zealand). He is based in the IDA Geneva Office.
Email: jclyne [at] ida-secretariat.org
Juan Perez Bello, Human Rights Advisor for Treaty Bodies
Juan Ignacio Pérez Bello re-joined the IDA Secretariat in September 2020. Juan is a human rights lawyer from Argentina and holds a LLM degree at American University, Washington College of Law. He began his work on the field of human rights in 2009 in Buenos Aires, as part of the Civil Association for Equality and Justice, where he focused on the right to education, engaging in evidence based collective litigation and community work with the populations concerned. Juan has worked for the International Disability Alliance Treaty Bodies section between 2014 and 2018. He has also worked as consultant for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on thematic reports to the Human Rights Council and on the context of the project Bridging the Gap I. He is based in the IDA Geneva Office. Email: jiperezbello [at] ida-secretariat.org
Mirriam Nthenge, Human Rights Officer for Treaty Bodies Mirriam joined IDA in February 2020. She holds an LLM in International and Comparative Disability Law and Policy. She previously worked with the Center for Reproductive Rights leading advocacy at African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and at the global level with different UN human rights mechanisms. She has also worked with the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights as a human rights officer, responsible for disability mainstreaming and with the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Her human rights skills are complemented by development experience having worked with the Society for International Development where she researched and authored policy briefs and organized dialogues on integrity in national elections and in health financing.
Eleonora Guzzi, Program Coordination Officer
Eleonora joined IDA in July 2018. In her capacity as the Programme Coordination Officer, Eleonora supports the planning, follow-up and coordination of IDA projects and activities, including the development of new projects and applications, and the programmatic collaborations between IDA and IDA members. Prior to joining IDA, she worked for the Italian Union of the Blind and Partially Sighted and for the Human Rights Division of the Italian Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva. Eleonora holds a master’s degree in International Security Studies and a B.A. in International Relations and European Institutions. She is based in the IDA Geneva office.
Email: eguzzi [at] ida-secretariat.org
Dorodi Sharma, Inclusive Development Project Officer
Dorodi joined IDA in July 2018. In her capacity as the Inclusive Development Project Officer, she leads the implementation and monitoring of IDA’s work in inclusive development consortium projects, as well as manages selected IDA inclusive development initiatives. She has over 10 years of experience working with civil society organisations on inclusion of disability issues in national laws and policies. Prior to joining IDA, Dorodi was the Disability Rights Specialist at the UN Resident Coordinator's Office in Delhi where she supported the creation of the first ever disability portfolio for the UN Country Team. She has also worked with G3ict, managing communication across all their verticals. She holds a master in public policy from the University of Maryland College Park. Dorodi is based in New Delhi.
E-mail: dsharma [at] ida-secretariat.org
Paula Hearn, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Officer
Paula joined the IDA Secretariat in June 2019 as the MEAL Officer and is responsible for the Secretariat’s monitoring and evaluation activities. As the MEAL Officer Paula contributes to IDA’s accountability, greater learning and impact, while building capacities and ownership of its members. Paula has over 8 years working in the field of disability, human rights and development. She holds a Master’s Degree in Critical Disability Studies and a B.A. in International Development. Paula is based in Burlington, Canada. Email: phearn [at] ida-secretariat.org
Amba Salelkar, Bridge CRPD-SDGs Officer
Amba is the Bridge CRPD-SDGs Officer under the Capacity Building Unit. She supports the implementation of the Bridge CRPD-SDGs Training Initiative as well as other workshops being organized by IDA members. Amba is also leading the development of IDA's online learning platform. She also supports work at IDA around disability-inclusive safeguarding. She is a lawyer and moved into the disability policy advocacy space after a 7-year career in criminal trial litigation. Since 2012 she has supported organizations of persons with disabilities from underrepresented groups, including women with disabilities, to participate in policy advocacy. She is based in India. Email: asalelkar [at] ida-secretariat.org
Alradi Abdalla, Bridge Training of Trainers Officer
Alradi Abdalla is the Bridge Training of Trainers Officer under the Capacity Building Unit. In addition to strengthening the global network of Bridge facilitators, he supports alumni in their efforts to become facilitators post-Bridge cycle. Alradi is also leading IDA's works around Disability-Inclusive Social Protection as well as leading IDA’s capacity Building works around Article 11 of the CRPD. He is a lawyer by background and has several years of experience. He held a number of positions with different organisations including OPDs and INGOs. Alradi holds two masters: one in law from the University of Khartoum and another in human rights from the University of Leeds. Alradi is based in Sudan.
Email: aabdalla [at] ida-secretariat.org
Rosario Galarza, Intersectionalities Officer
Rosario Galarza joined IDA as the Intersectionalities Officer for the Capacity Building Unit. She is responsible for strengthening the inclusion of women with disabilities and underrepresented identities in IDA's work. Prior to joining IDA, Rosario worked as Human Rights Officer at the RIADIS where she supported OPDs in the implementation and monitoring of the CRPD, CEDAW and the agenda 2030, prioritizing activities related to the rights of women with disabilities and underrepresented groups. From 2013 to 2016, Rosario was appointed as Chair of Gender and Equality in the Latin American Union of the Blind (ULAC). As a Chair of Gender and Equality, she promoted the realization of different blind women’s meetings in different countries of Latin America to spread the rights recognized in CEDAW and CRPD. Rosario is based in Peru. Email: rgalarza [at] ida-secretariat.org
Erin Hardin
New York Office Advocacy Assistant. Erin is part of IDA’s Advocacy Unit working at the United Nations in New York, coordinating IDA members and organizations of persons with disabilities around UN meetings, including the Conference of States Partiesand the High-Level Political Forum. Erin’s policy interests focus on the intersection of the human rights of persons with disabilities and humanitarian aid, and she brings strong background knowledge of the Sustainable Development Goals to her role. She holds a Master’s degree in Conflict Resolution & Coexistence from Brandeis University, and a Master’s degree International Law & Human Rights from the University for Peace, where she focused on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Before her graduate studies, she served with the United States Peace Corps in Thailand working on youth development projects. Email: ehardin [at] ida-secretariat.org.
IDA Fellowships Program
- February 8, 2021
Since its early years of existence, IDA has been supporting disability activists to engage in advocacy and develop their skills and experience, including through accessing exposure to international human rights monitoring and advocacy work. Over the years, fellowships have developed and have proven to be essential to the overall development of the capacities of the disability rights movement and disability activists.