Team – Streetnet International

Oksana Abboud (Ukraine)

International Coordinator

Oksana Abboud is StreetNet International Coordinator since June 2019. She joined StreetNet in 2013 in the capacity of Regional Organizer for Asia and Eastern Europe. In 2016 Oksana got additional responsibility of a part-time StreetNet Media Officer and greatly contributed to media and particularly –social media development of StreetNet globally.

In 2005-2012 Oksana used to work as an International Secretary at the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (KVPU). It was her first official working place after graduation from Kyiv National Linguistic University, which in its turn, impacted and designed her future passion to focus on a field of labour movement, namely promoting workers’ rights and interests at different levels; advocating for human & labour rights and values, campaign for social justice and a fair future of work.

In 2006-2007 Oksana won a fellowship opportunity and completed an education course on International and Security Policy; Economic and Social Challenges in the process of Democracy Building at Robert Schuman Institute in Budapest, Hungary.

Since 2005 she was involved in the KVPU youth work – chairing the KVPU Youth Committee and in 2006-2008 she was serving as an elected Member of the Youth Committee of the Pan-European Regional Council, an ITUC wing for Europe.

Email: coordinator@streetnet.org.za

Pat Horn (South Africa)

Senior Advisor

Pat Horn founded StreetNet International with its international base in Durban, South Africa, on 14th November 2002, after three years of preparation from 2000 to November 2002 together with Nozipho Lembethe, founding administrator. Pat worked as the International Coordinator from the foundation of StreetNet until the end of May 2019 after the Sixth StreetNet International Congress in Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan, where it was agreed to hand over the coordination of StreetNet to her successor, Oksana Abboud. She drew on her experience as a trade unionist in the formal economy in South Africa from 1976 – 1991, in developing new ways of organizing workers in the informal economy and establishing StreetNet as a new global federation of organized workers in the street vendors’ sector of the informal economy. She now serves as Senior Advisor to the leadership, members and staff of StreetNet.

Email: advisor@streetnet.org.za

Annelene Shahbaz (South Africa)

Administration and Finance Manager

Annelene Shahbaz joined StreetNet International as a Finance administrator in July 2011. She was retrenched in 2014 and reemployed on a part time basis in 2015. She was employed full-time again in December 2016 and was Promoted to Administration and Finance Manager in June 2019.

Annelene holds a Diploma in Business Studies and Financial Management. Annelene is very passionate about working with figures. She believes that good Financial Management plays a huge role in any organization and helps drive the organization forward.

Prior to working with StreetNet International, Annelene worked as an accountant at various organisations, these raging from a construction company, a printing company and an accounting practice. Annelene has over 18 years’ experience in Business, Finance Management and Administration.

Annelene is based at the StreetNet International Head office in Durban, South Africa.

Email: accounts@streetnet.org.za

Jane Masta (Kenya)

Organizer for East and Southern Africa

Jane Masta joined StreetNet International in January 2018 as the Organiser for Africa. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Public Administration and Sociology and a Master’s degree in Public Administration. Prior to Joining StreetNet International she worked with Central Organisation of Trade Unions Kenya (COTU-Kenya) and ITUC-Africa as a gender officer and projects manager. She has also been a member of the African Labour Research Network (ALRN) and Committee of Expert’s Member for East Africa Trade Union Confederation (EATUC). Jane has over 15 years’ experience in the Labour Movement.

At StreetNet International she is involved in assisting the International Coordinator in coordinating StreetNet Internationally, Regionally and Lobbying and Advocacy work. She is also involved in project management.

Email: jane.masta@streetnet.org.za

Maíra Vannuchi (Brasil)

Organizer for the Americas, Strategist and Education Developer

Maira Villas-Bôas Vannuchi is the organizer of StreetNet International for the Americas, in addition to contributing in the areas of communication and workers education of the organization. Prior to that, she worked with StreetNet between 2011-2013 on the World Class Cities for All Campaign in Brazil. She was a founder with many other comrades of the União Nacional de Trabalhadores/as Camelôs, Ambulantes e Feirantes do Brasil – UNICAB (National Union of Workers Street Vendors of Brazil). Graduated as a sociologist, she has a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the Institute of Urban and Regional Planning – IPPUR at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro-UFRJ. Prior to that, she held the MA Globalization and Labor at TISS India under the ILO Global Labor University-GLU program. She worked in Brazilian Civil Society Organizations and at the Social Observatory Institute of Central Única dos Trabalhadores-CUT Brasil.

Email: maira.vannuchi@streetnet.org.za

Suvarna Ragunan (South Africa)

Administration and Finance Assistant

Suvarna resides in South Africa in the city of Durban. She holds a Bachelor of Social Science Psychology degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The non profit organization world is nothing new to her as she has worked for nonprofit organizations on a part-time basis whenever needed. Suvarna has a huge passion for the upliftment of the poor and of women. She has a passion for helping people and was involved in a lot of community work growing up. Prior to StreetNet, she worked for Santam Insurance as a payment processor and at Bidvest Steiner.

Evelyn Benjamin-Sampson (Ghana)

Organizer for West and Central Africa

Evelyn Benjamin-Sampson holds master’s degree in Development Economics, in the area of “Social Economy and Labour” from the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas (SP), Brazil (where she conducted her research on Informal Economy Workers and their Socio-economic Contributions); as well as Bachelor of Arts from the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Ghana. She initially trained as a Professional Teacher and taught for 15 years before joining the Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU) as Gender and Youth Coordinator/Expert, upon studying Gender and Development/Gender-sensitive Planning and Implementation courses at the ILO International Training Center in Turin, Italy. She has trained on Labour and Social Policies for Decent Work (ILO, Geneva), Result-Based Management of Projects, Monitoring and Evaluation, Social Justice for Fair Globalisation and Global Development Agenda. She has repeatedly represented OATUU at International Labour Conference in Geneva; and at High Level Consultative Meetings at the international levels including UNCTAD, AU ECOSSOC, UNECA and ILO. She has worked as Resource Person at international workshops and trained many trainers in Unions across Africa. As Gender and Labour Expert she has offered guidelines to new Gender and Youth Officers. She has written many articles for newspapers and co-authored “Visibility and Voice for Union Women” for Global University Researchers.

Evelyn: evelyn.sampson@streetnet.org.za

Kateryna Yarmolyuk-Kröck (Germany, Ukraine)

Organizer for Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Dr. Kateryna Yarmolyuk-Kröck is a labour lawyer and a researcher on labour and social issues. After studying law at the National University “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” in Ukraine, she has obtained her PhD in law at the International Center for Development and Decent Work / University of Kassel, Germany. She is also a graduate of the GLU Master Programme “Labour Policies and Globalisation” (2007-2008, University of Kassel and Berlin School of Economics and Law). Prior to that, Kateryna worked as a legal advisor to trade unions in Ukraine. Before joining StreetNet International, she has worked as a project coordinator at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Ukraine from 2018 to 2021, where she has effectively implemented a series of projects on workers’ rights, strengthening social dialogue, labour protection, occupational safety and health and gender equality with multiple stakeholders, including global union federations (such as BWI, IndustriALL and IUF), national employers’ and workers’ organisations and NGOs.

Her scientific interests are focused around the implementation and application of international labour law in the national legislation of states, occupational safety and health standards and social protection, particularly in the informal sector, and the role of labour inspection in enhancing labour legislation at work. Besides, Kateryna is actively researching on occupational safety and health in Europe, specifically on work-related psychosocial risks as well as the implications of COVID-19 on the world of work.

Email: kateryna.kroeck@streetnet.org.za

Nash Tysmans (Belgium, Philippines)

Organizer for Asia

Nash Tysmans is a writer, teacher, and community worker. She joined StreetNet in 2021 as a consultant for social protection but currently serves as its organizer for Asia. As a development practitioner originally based in the Philippines, she has had over 8 years of experience working in government, NGOs, and independently as a researcher in far-flung communities. She received her master’s degree in Development Studies from the University of Antwerp where she specialized in governance and conflict. At StreetNet she is most excited to work on extending social protection to informal economy workers, engaging in participatory research, and working with young people in practicing communications for social change.

Email: nastasia.tysmans@streetnet.org.za

Pilar Balbuena (Canada, Colombia)

Global Advocacy and Urban Policies Specialist

Pilar Balbuena, works in the role of Global Advocacy, Strategist & Informal Economy Analyst for StreetNet International (SNI). Pilar has spent a significant part of her career documenting and analyzing the global trends of workers in the informal economy with particular focus on street vending, Pilar also has worked extensively with global partners in joint inclusive cities advocacy efforts. A particular work focus has been on advising and facilitating the advocacy work in the American Region, while also developing, implementing and facilitating Urban Policies capacity building for street vendors organizations across the globe. She has also played an active role on SNI Informal Cross Border Trade (ICBT) Project and helped to develop a partnership with UN-Habitat on an upcoming Public Spaces project collaboration.

Margarida Teixeira (Portugal)

Communication and Media Manager

Margarida Teixeira joined StreetNet International as Media Officer in June 2020. With an academic background in Cinema, Philosophy and Human Rights, she is passionate about communication for development and social change. Previously, she worked mostly with organizations devoted to migrants’ and women’s rights and has continued to be involved with grassroots feminist groups in Europe. Margarida is based in Portugal and she holds a Master’s degree of Communication for Development from Malmö University.

Email: media@streetnet.org.za

Irene Doda (Italy)

Media Assistant

Irene joined StreetNet in 2021 as a media assistant. She lives in Italy, where she also works as a freelance contributor and writer for several magazines. She’s a community activist and organizer, involved in feminist collectives and movements in her country. She has lived and worked in several European countries such as Belgium, Greece, Ireland, and Poland. She holds a Master’s Degree in International Politics & Markets from the University of Bologna and is currently a student at the London School of Journalism.

Eleni Rozali (Greece)

Digital Communications Consultant

A digital native but creative at heart, Eleni has more than 15 years’ experience in the communications industry. The past 5 years she has been focusing mainly on digital marketing and is passionate about helping busy brands and organizations create and maintain an online presence through social profiles and websites, providing solutions that move hearts and minds. Her expertise involves strategy development, crisis management, digital and brand communications and event planning. She holds a BA in Marketing Management and an MA in Communication for Development from Malmo University.

When she’s not on her laptop [ a rare occurrence] she enjoys volunteering for the homeless or wandering the city.

She believes that one smile, one hug, one handshake, one kind word, can make the world a better place. For Eleni all challenges are accepted and all barriers can be transformed into experiential opportunities to gain momentum. Her motto: ·Be Kind·

Mduduzi (Mdu) Phenyane (South Africa)

Caretaker and Receptionist

Mdu lives in Durban and is working in a part-time position as a caretaker and receptionist in StreetNet’s office.

Subscribe to our E-Letter!