List of Bios
Presenters:
Ravi Karkara is a trained Social Worker with commitment to advancing human rights, Gender Equality
and Social Justice with right holders. His roots to gender equality stem are personal and professional
commitment spreader over 17 years. He worked on women’s empowerment and leadership in local
governance in South Asia and ever since he has been advocating for role and responsibility of boys and
men in gender equality. He has worked with several organizations on gender equality with a specific
focus on boys and men in gender equality such as include UNICEF, UN-WOMEN, UNDP and Save the
Children. He has developed key programmes, projects and capacity building tools on the above. He
widely trained and spoken on Boys for Gender Equality (from a life cycle approach)in key platform such
as UN Special Session on Children 2002, UN Study on Violence against Children 2006, ECOSOC 2010,
CSW 2010 - Beijing +10 and the UN High-Level Meeting on youth 2011. He has written over 60
publications including publications on gender equality and roles of boys and men in gender justice. His
publication “Boys for Change – Boys for Gender Equality” captures innovative experiences on
boy’s engagement on gender equality. He also contributed to a life skills manual for adolescent boys
named “Choose a Better Future” CEDPA 1999. He worked with UNICEF and Save the Children to
launch 4 pioneering films on Masculinities “Let’s Talk Men”: boys and men for gender
eqaulity1999-2000. He is an advisory group member of Plan International’s on their Flagship Publication
“Because I am a Girl” on Boys for Gender Equality. As a former Regional Programme Manager of Save
the Children Sweden for South and Central Asia, he was instrumental in establishing the South Asia
MenEngage Alliance Network. He is also a founding member of MenEngage Alliance –boys and men for
gender equality. He also moderates an e-group of over 450 members on “Working with Boys and Men:
Promote Gender Equality”.
Sarah Hendriks is the Global Gender Equality Advisor for Plan International. In this role she leads the
process of organizational change on gender equality, including the development of the organization’s first
comprehensive gender equality policy (2011) and the design of a global capacity development program
on gender equality and children’s rights. Sarah is also the lead gender advisor and researcher for Plan’s
global report on girls’ rights (Because I am a Girl: the State of the World’s Girls) and head of
programming for Plan’s Because I am a Girl global campaign. Before joining Plan International, Ms.
Hendriks worked with Women and the Law in Southern Africa Research and Education Trust (WLSA) in
Malawi and she has worked extensively as a gender equality consultant in areas such as Gender-Based
Violence (CIDA), Women’s Access to Justice (GTZ), HIV & AIDS (NGOs), and the design of gender
equality strategies (Institute of Public Administration of Canada).
Gary Barker, PhD, is International Director and founder of Instituto Promundo, a Brazilian NGO in Rio
de Janeiro with offices in Washington, DC, that works globally to engage men and boys in gender
equality and violence prevention. He is co-author of the Program H violence prevention initiative that has
been implemented in more than 20 countries and named a best practice by UNFPA, the World Bank and
UNDP. He is co-chair of MenEngage, a global alliance of NGOs and UN agencies working to engage
men and boys in gender equality and a member of the UN Secretary General’s Men’s Leaders Network,
part of the UNite to End Violence Against Women Campaign. He has carried out research on engaging
men and boys in gender equality in the Balkans, Brazil, South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, Central America,
the Caribbean and the US. He holds a doctorate in child and adolescent development and a master’s in
public policy. Among his publications is the book, Dying to be Men: Youth, Masculinity and Social
Exclusion (Routledge, 2005). He is also coordinator of the multi-country survey on men, IMAGES (the
International Men and Gender Equality Survey). He has worked as a consultant for UNFPA, USAID, the
World Bank, the Brazilian government, UNICEF, UNAIDS, WHO and numerous foundations on issues
of gender equality. He is a member of the Coordinating Group of the Sexual Violence Research
Initiative.
Discussants:
Fabian Koss is the Youth Development Coordinator of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). He
was appointed the Youth Development Coordinator immediately following the 1995 IDB-Israel Youth
Forum, which was the first time that a Multi-Lateral Bank brought together young leaders from around
the world to discuss youth development issues. He is also one of the founders and coordinators of the
Inter-American Working Group on Youth Development, a consortium of international donor agencies
which seek to increase resource support and promote learning around effective youth development
programs in the hemisphere. Prior to this, Fabian founded in 1999 the Many Hats Institute (MHI), an
international organization that is dedicated to improving the conditions for children worldwide.
Susan Opper is a Senior Education Specialist with 30 years experience in developing countries as senior
advisor to national authorities and team leader of field programs. This includes more than 15 years in
conflict affected countries of Africa and South Asia. Susan is currently working in the Bank's South Asia
Region, managing sector work and operations including a Sector-wide program for primary education in
Bangladesh in which the Bank participates with eight other Development Partners. This program is a
precursor to the Bank's recently approved Program-for-Results financing instrument. Susan has also
worked in the Bank's Sub-Saharan Africa Region as task manager for operations in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Senegal, and Mauritius. Prior to joining the Bank, Susan was
senior program officer with the Aga Khan Development Network. She also held academic positions at the
Universities of Uppsala (Sweden) and California (USA). At the European Union, Susan was part of the
core team that launched "ERASMUS," for joint academic programs across European Community member
states. Susan holds a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia.
For additional information or to be added to the Gender and Development Group mailing list, please
contact Mame Niasse (mniasse@worldbank.org).