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Who we are

Vision and mission

At least 31 different countries are represented in our mostly virtual team, who are based all over the world, and as well as National Societies, and many team-members hold additional institutional affiliations including universities, charitable foundations, UN agencies and professional associations.

Visit our Contacts page for email addresses of our regional focal points and also for media contacts.

The mission of the Climate Centre, an IFRC Global Reference Centre hosted by the Netherlands Red Cross in The Hague, is to support the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and its partners in reducing the impacts of climate change and extreme-weather events on vulnerable people.

In recent decades, there has been a sharp increase in weather-related disasters with climate change and there is an urgent need to manage the rising risk of extreme-weather events through better early-warning, disaster relief and risk reduction, and with climate-smart programmes for health and care, water and sanitation, and food security (glossary).

Our approach, working at the intersection of science, policy, and practice, is detailed in our Strategy 2021−2025. A core objective is to make the best global scientific insights operable at local level. Key elements include support for awareness-raising and capacity-building, especially in developing countries whose people are the most vulnerable to climate change. 

The Climate Centre focuses primarily on providing guidance and tools to National Societies and their partners, and fostering the exchange of experience, training and technical back-up for Red Cross Red Crescent volunteers, delegates and managers specializing in the management of disaster risk and health.

In the international arena we facilitate access to climate-related funding and advocate for support to the most vulnerable people in debates on climate policy, especially the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the annual UN climate talks, but also related international discussions on development and humanitarian policy and finance.

Key documents

Climate Centre Strategy 2021−2025
Movement Ambitions to Address the Climate Crisis
Climate Training Kit
IFRC Strategy 2030
The Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organizations
UN/WMO early warnings for all initiative
When rain turns to dust(ICRC)
The Cost of Doing Nothing report (IFRC)

Board

Debra Roberts

Debra Roberts

Chair

Professor Debra Roberts was co-chair of the IPCC’s Working Group II on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability for its sixth assessment cycle – the first woman from Africa to be elected as an IPCC co-chair. She led on multiple relevant areas in eThekwini, Durban for 30 years, and has been named one of the world’s 100 most influential people in climate.

Xavier Castellanos Mosquera

Xavier Castellanos Mosquera

Member (IFRC Under Secretary General)

Xavier Castellanos Mosquera has more than three decades’ experience in National Society development, resilience building and emergency humanitarian operations at the national, regional and global levels. He has served the Movement in various capacities since 1981, when he started as a volunteer with the National Society of Ecuador.

Harm Goossens

Harm Goossens

Member (General Manager, Netherlands Red Cross)

Harm Goossens is the General Manager of the Netherlands Red Cross, succeeding Marieke van Schaik on the Climate Centre board. A former director at the Unilever company, he studied business administration in Groningen and fulfilled various roles in South Africa, Turkey, Poland, the Netherlands and the UK.

Yasmine Praz Dessimoz

Yasmine Praz Dessimoz

Observer (ICRC Director of Operations)

Yasmine Praz Dessimoz is ICRC Director of Operations and has held multiple roles in challenging or conflict-affected regions, including Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, former Yugoslavia, Iraq and Sudan. She holds a first degree in economic science and an executive master’s in international negotiation and policy-making from the Graduate Institute in Geneva.

Team

Tilly Alcayna

Tilly Alcayna

Tilly is the Senior Technical Adviser for Health and Climate. She has over twelve years’ research experience in climate change adaptation for health, epidemiology, and disaster preparedness. She holds a public health master’s degree.

Irene Amuron

Irene Amuron

Irene leads on anticipatory action and is the focal person for learning, innovation and exchange at the Anticipation Hub. She is a technical expert in the field of disaster risk management, whose expertise includes specialist support to National Societies and partners on FbF.

Julie Arrighi

Julie Arrighi

Director of Programmes

Julie is Director of Programmes. Her position is shared with the American Red Cross. She is also a visiting researcher at the University of Twente and has supported the Movement since 2009.

Maléki Badjana

Maléki Badjana

Maleki is a technical adviser working on anticipatory action in Madagascar. He has a background in Hydrology with extensive experience in hydrological modelling, disaster risk reduction and early warning systems. Maleki has also worked as a consultant for many institutions including the Global Water Partnership-West Africa, UN agencies and the World Bank Group.

Aditya Bahadur

Aditya Bahadur

Director

Aditya is the director of the Climate Centre. He has nearly two decades of experience in working on climate change and development with governments, international agencies, research institutes and local civil society organizations. He has a MA and PhD in development studies, focusing on resilience, and has completed a post-doctoral programme on urban climate resilience.

Meghan Bailey

Meghan Bailey

Meghan leads the portfolios on climate-responsive social protection and the climate-health nexus. They are also an adviser on the design of forecast-based financing systems and supports research efforts across our work. Meghan holds a PhD on climate change adaptation from the University of Oxford.

Juan Bazo

Juan Bazo

Juan is a climate scientist with many years’ experience in implementing climate change adaptation, climate risk and anticipatory action programmes in Latin America. With a PhD in climate science and experience with national meteorological and hydrological departments, he brings valuable expertise to our dialogues within the humanitarian sector.

Marisa van den Berg

Marisa van den Berg

Marisa is the financial manager of the Climate Centre.

Erin Coughlan de Perez

Erin Coughlan de Perez

Erin oversees our work on climate science for risk management. She leads support to forecast-based financing initiatives around the world, developing triggers for early action before disasters happen. Erin also leads operational science research on forecast verification and application.

Margot Curl

Margot Curl

Margot is a manager leading work on innovative engagement (online and offline). She also leads the youth portfolio and coordinates the Climate Centre’s internship programme. She is an expert in designing and facilitating learning processes and has over thirteen years’ experience working for the Red Cross Red Crescent.

Agustinho Dos Reis De Fatima 

Agustinho Dos Reis De Fatima 

Agustinho is a technical adviser for Green Climate Fund Timor-Leste Early Warning System Project providing technical support and coordination on Forecast-based Financing. He has background in Disaster Risk Resilience & Environment, and he is passionate about facilitating building resilience as part of community-based DRR and climate change adaptation initiatives.

Rana El Hajj

Rana El Hajj

Rana is Senior technical adviser for the MENA region at the Centre. She has more than 19 years experience working at the interface between research, policy and practice on environment and climate change in the Middle East and North Africa region. She focuses on climate adaptation in vulnerable settings.

Knud Falk

Knud Falk

Knud has worked with Climate Centre for more than ten years. He jointly developed the Climate Training Kit and assists in the development and facilitation of capacity development courses for National Societies. He has a PhD in Arctic ecology from the University of Copenhagen.

Adrajow Ferede

Adrajow Ferede

Adrajow is a technical adviser working on FBF for Ethiopia. He has 15 years’ experience in operational weather and climate forecasting and modelling at its National Meteorology Agency. He has an MSc in meteorology and first degrees in civil engineering and meteorological science.

Sarah Gale

Sarah Gale

Sarah is a Technical Adviser working at the intersection of climate change and conflict. She also coordinates the Climate Centre’s technical support to the ICRC. She has worked in complex humanitarian contexts and holds an LLM in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights.

Marcel Goyoneche

Marcel Goyoneche

Marcel is a Technical Adviser working on climate and conflict, with a focus on protection. At the Climate Centre he is mainly involved with capacity building. Marcel has worked with the Chilean Red Cross, the IFRC and the ICRC. He also does consulting for other clients, mainly UN agencies.

Clemens Gros

Clemens Gros

Clemens is a consulting technical adviser in monitoring and evaluation with 18 years’ experience in the humanitarian and development spheres. He designs, leads, and analyzes complex research efforts across the Climate Centre portfolio. Clemens also does consulting for other clients including UN agencies and the World Bank.

Kiswendsida Guigma

Kiswendsida Guigma

Kiswendsida Guigma is a climate scientist with expertise in climate risk, anticipatory action and the climate and conflict nexus in addition to a profound research interest in heat waves. Our focal point for West Africa and the Sahel, he also has experience working with national meteorological and hydrological services.  

Ahmadul Hassan

Ahmadul Hassan

Hassan is the technical adviser for forecast-based financing in Bangladesh and support similar projects across South Asia. He is a widely published expert in the fields of water-resource planning, early warning, disaster management, climate change, vulnerability assessment, and resource modelling.

Dorothy Heinrich

Dorothy Heinrich

Dorothy is a technical adviser with expertise in the operability of climate and weather information for humanitarian decision-making. She works closely with National Societies on the design of early warning and anticipatory action. She is currently doing her PhD in meteorology part-time at the University of Reading in the UK.

Ashley Hoek

Ashley Hoek

Ashley is the Contracts and Compliance Manager. She has over seven years of grant experience and holds a master’s in business administration from EDHEC business school.

Karina Izquierdo

Karina Izquierdo

Karina is our urban adviser for Latin America and the Caribbean. Her background centres on resilient and inclusive urban environments and she has ten years of international experience. She holds a master’s degree in urban innovation and public policy from University College London.

Chris Jack

Chris Jack

Chris is a climate science expert, primarily engaged with forecast based finance and anticipatory action.  He has a background in computer science and and PhD in climate science, but more recently has become increasingly involved and passionate about integrating climate science into collaborative learning, co-production, and transdisciplinary action research processes.

Catalina Jaime

Catalina Jaime

Catalina manages work on climate and conflict and leads on anticipatory action in situations of conflict for the Anticipation Hub. Over the past few years she has coordinated the global development of anticipatory action, and is currently doing her PhD at the University of Twente.

Eddie Jjemba

Eddie Jjemba

Eddie Jjemba is an urban enthusiast and a seasoned facilitator with more ten years’ work on urban resilience projects in Africa behind him. He facilitates interactive workshops, conferences and trainings that inspire participatory decision-making. He holds a master’s degree in climate and society from Columbia University, New York.

Aynur Kadihasanoglu

Aynur Kadihasanoglu

Aynur helps advance the climate change adaptation and extreme heat action in urban settings with a focus on innovative approaches, tools and methodologies aimed at scaling up our impact. Aynur is an urban planner with experience in the development and humanitarian fields.

Ramiz Khan

Ramiz Khan

Ramiz is an urban sustainability and resilience-building practitioner with over eleven years’ experience working in more than 25 cities and their respective local governments across Asia. He supports urban action on heat, FbF, coastal resilience, and water and sanitation.

Bettina Koelle

Bettina Koelle

Bettina is Interim Associate Director. A geographer by training and passionate about exploring linkages within complex systems and helping people navigate challenges by designing and facilitating interactive processes of dialogue. She leads the Climate Centre’s learning portfolio and is the Southern African focal point for the organisation.

Michaela Korodimou

Michaela Korodimou

Mikki is a Technical Adviser who works across a number of teams. She holds a PhD in Climate Change and Human Mobility and uses her skills as a researcher, educator and practitioner to support people in reorienting themselves to the realities of a quickly changing world.

Andrew Kruczkiewicz

Andrew Kruczkiewicz

Andrew joined the Climate Centre as a technical adviser in 2014 and specializes in climate risk management. He is also a staff research associate and lecturer at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at Columbia University, focusing on remote sensing and early warning.

Olette Manhoudt

Olette Manhoudt

Olette is the HR Officer for the Climate Centre with extensive experience in support roles in a.o. healthcare and educational organizations.

Maya Manocsoc

Maya Manocsoc

Maya is a technical adviser coordinating the establishment of forecast-based financing in the Pacific, primarily within the GCF/UNEP Pacific Climate Resilience Programme. She has 20 years of experience, notably in anticipatory action, disaster risk reduction, and humanitarian response. 

Shaban Mawanda

Shaban Mawanda

Shaban has more than 13 years of experience as a humanitarian and development professional. He has led adaptation and risk reduction initiatives in the Horn of Africa and other parts of the world, while supporting country and regional projects aligning civil society activities with government strategic frameworks.

Stephen McDowell

Stephen McDowell

Stephen has been working on issues such as social protection, resilience, famine early-warning systems, food security, and nutrition in sub-Saharan Africa, the South Pacific and Latin America for the last 30 years. His work focuses on the role of climate in risk-informed planning and anticipatory action.

Renate Meyer

Renate Meyer

Renate is an adviser with the conflict and climate team. She has a background in public and environmental health, oral history and research at the intersection of trauma, memory and human rights adaptation approaches.

Fleur Monasso

Fleur Monasso

Fleur joined the Climate Centre in 2005 and is part of the programme management team. She specialises in the international public sector and studied international relations at the University of Amsterdam. Fleur is the European focal point for the Climate Centre and works on the health and climate agenda.

Devin O’Donnell

Devin O’Donnell

Devin is a technical adviser on climate and health. She works across projects on the health impacts on climate change, anticipatory action, conflict, and climate-smart programming. She holds a master’s degree in public health. 

Florence Pichon

Florence Pichon

Florence Pichon supports the Climate Centre’s work on climate finance. Her own research has included ways the humanitarian system can deploy climate finance at the local level to meet the needs of adaptation and address risk, and how the aid sector might better meet the dual challenges of climate change and poverty.

Emmanuel Poan

Emmanuel Poan

Dazangwende Emmanuel is a climate and weather scientist. He has developed a solid expertise in climate modeling and analysis, Early Warning Systems and more recently anticipatory action. He also has experience working with national meteorological and hydrological services and engaging them on humanitarian work.  

Bharti Ray

Bharti Ray

Bharti is our Business Support Officer. She has expertise working in administrative Support. She has over seven years of experience as a healthcare administrator. She is responsible for handling support systems, for which she is the focal point for all our departments. 

Rebeka Ryvola

Rebeka Ryvola

Rebeka fosters a culture of creativity, innovation and experimentation in the team, supporting with the interpretation of technical information, the generation of educational and programmatic content, and the creation of visual tools for learning and advocacy.

Mauricio Santos Vega

Mauricio Santos Vega

Mauricio is a Technical Adviser for Health and Climate, bringing with him more than a decade of research experience in assessing the effects of climate on health, quantitative epidemiology, and epidemic preparedness. His academic background includes a PhD. in the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases.

Cornelia Scholz

Cornelia Scholz

Cornelia is a GIS Technical Adviser with a focus on addressing complex challenges arising from the intersection of climate change and conflict. She has been supporting Climate Centre’s projects with open mapping and geospatial analysis.

Sayanti Sengupta

Sayanti Sengupta

Sayanti provides technical support to the Climate Centre’s work on integrating climate risks into social protection in South Asia and Africa. She has previously worked in water and sanitation and climate adaptation in India, and brings valuable expertise on project implementation and governance to the team. 

Roop Singh

Roop Singh

Roop manages the urban and attribution portfolios, including leading our work on heat. She has worked for over a decade with NGOs, governments and businesses on climate risk and adaptation planning. 

Sajanika Sivanu

Sajanika Sivanu

Sajanika is a technical advisor working at the intersection of social protection and climate change. She has experience conducting research, formulating policy recommendations, and developing strategies for effective implementation.

Liz Stephens

Liz Stephens

Liz is joint lead for science on anticipatory action and is a professor of climate risks and resilience at the UK University of Reading. She holds a PhD in hydrology from the University of Bristol.

Janot Mendler de Suarez

Janot Mendler de Suarez

Janot has been contributing to applied research since 2010, developing serious games for programmes in Africa, helping to train the PfR country team in Mali, and jointly editing Games for a New Climate with Boston University’s Pardee Center.

Madhab Uprety

Madhab Uprety

Madhab is a Technical Adviser and Asia-Pacific focal point. He has extensive experience working on risk reduction, early warning systems and resilience building for climate-related disasters in the developing world.

Olof van Praat

Olof van Praat

Director of Operations

Based in the Netherlands, Olof leads on core functions such as finance, HR, IT, and contracts and compliance. With a background in financial services and the NGO sector, Olof’s passion for operations stems from their pivotal role in translating vision and strategy into tangible outcomes and, with the Climate Centre, making the best global scientific insights operable at local level.

Martha Vogel

Martha Vogel

Martha is a Climate and Health Technical Adviser with a PhD from ETH Zurich university, specializing in climate extremes, in particular drought and heatwaves. At UNESCO she gained experience in policy development, knowledge transfer and climate impacts in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

Mary Anne Zeilstra

Mary Anne Zeilstra

Mary Anne supports managing and coordinating our anticipatory action program with over 25 projects. She is also our security focal point. She has an academic and work background in international development, diplomacy, labor migration, and social policies. She completed her master’s at the University of Amsterdam.