Institution: International Labour Organization (ILO)

Samia Kazi Aoul-Chaillou is a labour migration specialist at the International Labour Organization (ILO). Within the Labour Migration Branch of the ILO, she is the focal point on migrant workers’ social protection and the focal point for the Africa region on labour migration and mobility. Samia provides policy guidance, technical support and capacity building to ILO’s constituents on the governance of labour migration including on labour migration policy development, the extension of social protection to migrant workers, cooperation and social dialogue. She first joined the ILO in 2004 as an Associate Expert in social protection in ILO Algiers office. From 2008-2011, she served as a technical officer for the MIGSEC project, which contributed to strengthening migrant workers’ social protection in Africa. Before 2004, she worked for NGOs and research centres in Algeria, India, Canada and France.

Samia has two master’s degrees, one in Economics and Development and one in Political Science, International Relations and Cooperation.

Moussa Oumarou was ILO’s Deputy Director-General for Field Operations from January 2018 to August 2022.

Before joining the ILO, Mr Oumarou occupied many positions in teaching and in public administration which led him to occupy several positions of responsibility such as that of Inspector in Technical Studies and Vocational Training and Secretary-General of the Ministry of National Education in Niger. Following this, he was appointed Minister of Public Services, Labour, Employment and Social Security from 1997 to 1999. In these various positions of responsibility he was, in particular, a member of the Inter-Ministerial Committee responsible for negotiating with the International Financial Institutions (IFI) in the context of economic and social reforms, and President of several committees instructed to negotiate on behalf of the Government with the social partners. It is during this period that he had the texts adopted for the establishment of a National Commission of Social Dialogue (one of the first in Africa). He also proceeded to the revision of the General Statutes of Public Service and implementing supplementary regulations of law on the Labour Code.

After leaving the Government in Niger, Mr Oumarou started working for the ILO, first as a consultant for social dialogue, then as coordinator of a national project for the promotion of the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. He then became Chief Technical Advisor of the Regional Programme for the Promotion of Social Dialogue in French-speaking Africa. In 2006, he joined the ILO headquarters where he served as Senior Labour Administration and Labour Inspection Specialist.

Mr Oumarou completed his secondary studies in his home country, Niger, and from 1978 undertook advanced studies in France. He holds diplomas from the Institut Universitaire de Technologie de Béthune, the Ecole Normale nationale de Lyon and the Ecole normale Supérieure de Cachan from which he graduated as Inspector of Technical Studies and Vocational Training.

Marie-Christina Dankmeyer is the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Social Protection and Climate Change Specialist. Her work focuses on social protection to protect people against the current and future impacts of climate change and to contribute to mitigation efforts – and a just transition to net zero.

Prior to joining the ILO, Marie-Christina worked with UNICEF as Social Policy Specialist in the Eastern Caribbean where she coordinated a Joint UN Programme on Adaptive Universal Social Protection across several UN agencies and supported countries in preparing for and responding to shocks, such as hurricanes. She also previously advised the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) as a Social Protection Advisor on behalf of GIZ/German Development Cooperation, following several placements in Southeast Asia, including Cambodia and the Philippines, as well as work with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization.

Marie-Christina holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy with a focus on Public Health and Social Policy, having studied in Berlin, Los Angeles, Passau and Toulouse.

Lou Tessier is Health Protection Specialist at the International Labour Organization (ILO). Lou supported the development of community-based health insurance (CBHI) in West Africa before joining Deloitte advisory services to the national health insurance system in France. Lou joined the ILO in 2011 in support of the adoption of Recommendation No. 202 on Social Protection Floors and has subsequently occupied various positions on social protection and occupational safety and health in headquarters and in the field.

Lou obtained her Msc. in international law and economics from Sciences Po Lyon, her post-graduate diploma in Public Health (Global Health) from the University of Manchester and her MBA from ESSEC Business School. She also holds a bachelor in Anthropology from the University of Toulouse and an undergraduate degree in geopolitics of the Middle-East and Northern Africa region.

Loveleen De is Programme Manager and Technical Advisor on Social Protection for ILO Lao PDR. She has been working for ILO for 10 years in social protection policy design, financing, implementation and capacity development in Asia, Africa and Geneva. She is currently managing SOLAR, a project to model, implement and expand rights of coffee and tea workers and to explore dynamic partnerships with the public and private sectors and civil society in Lao PDR.

Loveleen holds a Bachelor’s in Engineering from the University of Mumbai and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Prior to joining the ILO, she worked in banking and financial services.

Kroum Markov works at the International Labour Organization (ILO) since 2001, initially for the International Labour Standards Department on the application of the ILO’s social security instruments and, since 2017, for the Social Protection Department as Social Protection Policy and Legal Specialist. He has developed a strong knowledge of the ILO’s social security standards, providing technical support to the bodies responsible for monitoring the application of ILO Conventions and Recommendations. Through his work, Kroum supports ILO constituents in the design and implementation of universal and rights-based social protection policies and systems grounded in the principles enshrined in ILO standards.

Kroum is a lawyer specialized in International and European law. He also holds post-graduate diplomas in International Administration (DESS) and in International Economic Law (DEA) from the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne. He speaks fluent French, English and Bulgarian and has a working knowledge of Spanish and Russian.

Ian Orton is a Social Protection Policy Officer in the International Labour Organization in Geneva. Over the past 2 years, he has been part of the drafting team for the ILO’s World Social Protection Report and contributed to publications analysing the pandemic’s implications for social protection. Previously, he worked for UNICEF, BRAC, the International Social Security Association (ISSA) and as a lecturer at Goldsmiths and Greenwich University of London, where he taught political theory and sociology. His social policy interests have focused on social protection and the financial crisis, universal child benefits, child labour and universal basic income. Ian holds a PhD. in Philosophy from the University of Northampton focusing on post-Marxist thought and a Master’s degree in Critical Theory from the University of Nottingham.

Helmut Schwarzer is Head of the Public Finance, Actuarial and Statistical Services Unit of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Social Protection Department in Geneva since December 2021. Previous positions were Researcher at the IPEA (Applied Economic Research Institute, Brasília), Undersecretary for Social Security (2003-2010) and for the Bolsa Família programme (2015-16) both in Brazil, as well as Senior Specialist for Social Security at the ILO Social Protection Department in Geneva (2010-2015) and at the ILO Country Office for Mexico (2016-21).

Helmut Schwarzer holds a postgraduate degree in Economics and Economic Development at the Universidade Federal do Paraná (Curitiba/Brazil) and Freie Universität Berlin (Germany).

Clara van Panhuys is currently working for the Social Protection Department of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva focusing on working with governments, workers and employer organizations to support the extension of social protection to migrant workers, refugees and their families. Prior to that, she has worked in the humanitarian field in various (post) conflict countries for UNHCR, UNESCO, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and various NGOs in Pakistan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Thai-Myanmar border on fostering respect for human rights and providing assistance and protection to conflict affected populations. She has two Master degrees, one in Law and one in Humanitarian Assistance.