Who's who

Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Director - Gezahegn Kebede

A versatile development strategist, who believes in 'overcoming poverty and suffering' through effective programmes that have measurable impact on the lives of the poor and disadvantaged, Gezahegn Kebede is the Regional Director of Plan in the region of Eastern and Southern Africa.

His extensive experience in the region as Senior Leader dates back to 1983 when he worked as Controller and Chief Internal Auditor for the Ethiopian Insurance Corporation and also as Deputy General Manager for the Agricultural Marketing Corporation amongst other offices of government. Gezahegn has previously worked as Programme Management Specialist for 6 years at USAID; and at Oxfam Great Britain as Country Director in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya successively. He joined the region as Deputy Regional Director in 2007 and was appointed Regional Director in August 2010. Gezahegn holds a Masters in Economics and an advanced diploma in Finance as well as other professional disciplines.

West Africa Regional Director - Adama Coulibaly

Adama, also known as Coul, has spent his whole professional life with Plan. He joined the organisation in November 1993 after acquiring a master’s degree in infrastructures, water and environmental engineering. Coul is also a Financial Executive with broad experience in all aspects of accounting, auditing and financial management.

He was assigned to Guinea as a Technical Advisor and then moved to Guinea-Bissau, where he was a key actor in setting up the country office in 1995. Coul held several positions in Plan, including Operations Support Manager in Guinea, Regional Administrator, and Regional Finance Manager in Senegal. After 6 years in Senegal, Coul joined Togo in September 2008 as Country Director and then started his work as Regional Director in February 2011. He feels lucky to be part of such a strong team and is thrilled to be in direct contact with the children Plan is helping.

Eastern and Southern Africa Deputy Regional Director Program - Luther Anukur

Luther has vast experience in programme development and management, organization and institution capacity building, consulting and research. Served in various development agencies including, Lutheran World Federation, World Vision, Child Fund and Panos Eastern Africa.

Luther is also winner of prestigious award by the British Council & Uganda Management Forum. He is currently a Senior Fellow with synergos a think tank that addresses global poverty and social injustice by supporting and connecting leaders and partnerships to change the systems that keep people in poverty.

West Africa Deputy Regional Director Program- Stefanie Conrad

Stefanie Conrad has worked in Plan since 1993 and since then held different positions in Plan programme countries in the Caribbean and West Africa. After being Country Director for Plan Togo, she joined the West Africa regional office as Manager for Communication and Advocacy before taking up the position of Deputy Regional Director for Programmes in 2010.

Stefanie's areas of expertise and personal passion include children’s rights, child protection and participation, and advocacy. Stefanie is the author and editor of a number of publications on child protection and participation and speaks fluently German, English, French and Haitian Creole.

West Africa Deputy Regional Director Operations Support- Amavi Akpamagbo

A multidisciplinary development professional, Amavi has more than 20 years of hands-on experience working at program unit, country and regional offices in the areas of finance, administration, IT, programmes. His career with Plan started in Togo where he held many field and management positions including Programme Area Manager, Country Administrator, Operations Support Manager, Acting Country Director.

He also worked in Liberia as Finance Manager where he set up the administration and finance functions when Plan resumed operations in this country. Amavi’s previous regional roles with Plan West Africa include a secondment as Assistant Regional Administrator, Regional Finance Manager and Acting Regional Director.

Before joining Plan, Amavi was a teacher in an undergraduate school and worked with Christian Children's Fund in Togo. He holds a Master’s degree in Economics and Bachelor’s degrees in Literature, Secretarial Studies and Education Sciences (Psycho-pedagogy).