The Board

The GAATW Board of Directors meets once a year and it monitors the implementation of the strategic plan, the functioning of the International Secretariat (IS) in this regard and gives the final approval to the Regional Chapters’ Activity Plans. It nominates new IB members, and an Executive committee (Ex-Co) which directly oversees the daily running of the IS with regard to financial, personnel, and legal matters. Under the Current Statute the composition of the IB members is mandated to reflect representation from different world regions and professional experiences. 

Dr Naruemon Thabchumpon President

Ajarn Naruemon is Assistant Professor in Politics and Director of the Asian Research Center for Migration at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. She obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Politics and Government from Thammasat University and PhD in Politics and International Studies from Leeds University. She has published numerous articles and book chapters, and made numerous conference presentations on politics, development, civil society, human rights, and migration in Thailand and ASEAN. 

Poonsap Suanmuang Tulaphan Member and Treasurer

Poonsap is the Director of the Foundation for Labour and Employment Promotion (FLEP) or HomeNet Thailand – an organisation that advocates for the rights and well-being of informal workers. Poonsap has over three decades of experience working with women and informal workers in Thailand. She has helped develop women’s potential and improve their economic situations using local knowledge of science and technology as well as community enterprise. Her current work is centred on organizing membership-based organisation of informal workers, as well as promoting and advocating for social protection policies and legislation covering informal workers in Thailand.

Dr Ratchada Jayagupta Member and Secretary

Ratchada is a Research Fellow on forced migration specializing in anti-human trafficking at the Institute of Asian Studies at Chulalongkorrn University. She is also the Thailand representative to ACWC, ASEAN. ACWC is an intergovernmental body and an integral part of the ASEAN structure. Ratchada was a National Project Coordinator at the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP-Thailand Office). She was also the international program liaison officer for the Southeast Asian Regional School in Forced Migration (SEARSFM), in collaboration with the Refugee Studies Centre (RSC), University of Oxford, and the IASFM (International Association for the Study of Forced Migration) 8th Conference in January 2003, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Graziella Rocha Member representing Latin American membership

Graziella is the Director of ASBRAD, the Brazilian Association for the Defence of Women, Children and Youth. ASBRAD, a member organisation of GAATW, has been working for over 30 years to combat human trafficking in Brazil. 

Graziella coordinates ASBRAD's shelter dedicated to the reception and protection of victims of human trafficking, migrants, and refugees in the State of São Paulo. She holds a PhD in Social Policy and has over 16 years of experience in the development of public policies focused on combating human trafficking and ensuring assistance and rights protection of trafficked persons. She is a member of the National Committee for the Fight against Human Trafficking.

Teresa De Gasperis Member representing European membership

Teresa is the Coordinator of Alliances and International Relations at the Spanish NGO ACCEM, a member organisation of GAATW. She has expertise in coordinating and implementing actions on research, capacity building, advocacy, awareness-raising, direct assistance and partnership with relevant stakeholders in the fields of migration, asylum, trafficking in human beings, unaccompanied migrant children, and non-discrimination. 

Teresa has been a speaker at conferences on issues related to trafficking in human beings, refugees and unaccompanied migrant children, and has also authored severalpublications in those areas. She holds a law degree from the University of “La Sapienza,”  Rome (Italy), and did her post-graduate studies on international humanitarian law, international crimes, child soldiers and the protection of civilians during armed conflicts.

Andriyeni Member representing Southeast and East Asia membership

A women's rights activist and feminist lawyer, Andriyeni is the Program Coordinator of the National Executive Board at Solidaritas Perempuan (SP)-Women’s Solidarity for Human Rights from 2023-2027. SP is a feminist organisation that works for marginalised, poor, oppressed, and exploited women, including women migrant workers. Its mandate is to strengthen the feminist political movement in fighting the patriarchal political system that impoverishes women in Indonesia. One of the programme areas that she works on at SP is the protection of women migrant workers and their family members through policy advocacy and case handling. They focus on cases of violence, rights violations, and human trafficking in the informal sector, including those in domestic work and palm oil plantations and online scamming.

Grace Ideahor Osakue Member representing Africa membership

An educationist, sexuality expert, and social worker, Grace is co-founder of Girls' Power Initiative (GPI) Nigeria. GPI seeks to empower and promote sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) among girls through educational programs, counseling, referral services, and social action. Grace is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of GPI, the Network of Civil Society Organisations against Trafficking Child Labour and Abuse (NACTAL), and Focal Point for Trafficking in Persons within the UNODC Vienna UNTOC Stakeholders forum. She has extensive experience in research, advocacy, curricular development, awareness raising, and consultancies on women's and girls' rights, sexuality, and human trafficking issues. She has co-ordinated GPI's work on human trafficking since 1997, which spans from research and awareness-raising for prevention to rehabilitation and social inclusion of returned trafficked persons.

Meera Raghavendra Member representing Asia membership

Meera has a Master's degree in Social Work (MSW), and Philosophy in Population Studies from Madras University, India. She founded Women's Initiatives (WINS) in 1994. Gender equality and sexuality rights across the gender spectrum have been the core areas of WINS' work since the beginning. With her 28 years of work experience in the field, she has been a master trainer and consultant on a wide range of issues related to gender, sex, sexuality, human rights, sexual health and law, STDs, HIV and AIDs, community health, care, and the protection of children in difficult circumstances. She is presently leading a program that aims to reorient small women's entrepreneurship to position them into efforts that are gender equitable, climate-resilient, nutritionally secure, and sustainable.

International Secretariat

GAATW's International Secretariat is based in Bangkok, Thailand. Its core functions are to service and support the members of the Alliance by:

• Making local issues internationally visible and supporting Members in their advocacy efforts;
• Helping to apply international policies and standards locally;
• Producing evidence, research and analysis on issues that impact migrant women workers;
• Facilitating local, regional and international representation of Members at relevant fora;
• Building, facilitating and maintaining mutual exchanges, communications and learning with and among Alliance members;
• Collecting, processing, disseminating and making easily accessible to members, essential documents on trafficking, as well as generally relevant information, in support of their activities;
• Developing and making available information resources on trafficking, gender, globalisation and informal economies, rights-based advocacy, and research methodologies;
• Facilitating capacity building and organising conceptual clarity sessions for Alliance members as well as non-members upon request.

The International Secretariat includes the following staff members:

Bandana Pattanaik International Coordinator and Programme Lead, Women Workers for Change Programme

Alfie Gordo Programme Lead, Women on the Move Programme 

Maya Linstrum-Newman Programme Lead, Human Trafficking and Forced Labour Programme

Vivian Cartagena Rivera Programme Officer, Alliance Strengthening and Movement Support

Daisy-May Carty Cowling Programme Officer, Human Trafficking and Forced Labour Programme

Dewi Nova Wahyuni Programme Associate, Women Workers for Change Programme

Prabina Tandukar Programme Associate, Women Workers for Change Programme

Santoshirani K Programme Associate, Women Workers for Change Programme

Borislav (Bobby) Gerasimov Editor, Anti-Trafficking Review

Alvin Gallardo IT Support Administrator

Apivart 'Nong' Chaiason Finance and Administration Manager

Trisana Jirasawanont Administrative Assistant