Winner announcement
Meet the Evaluation Committee
The Challenge Innovation Call Evaluation Committee comprises an impartial and independent group of experts in skills development and innovation. Membership of the Evaluation Committee is drawn from ILO technical departments and from a range of stakeholders including ILO Constituents, UN agencies, research institutions, academic and implementing partners.
The ICEC members are:
Paul Comyn
Paul Comyn has over 30 years experience in TVET and skills development as a technical specialist and consultant. He has worked on various assignments and projects associated with the reform or expansion of TVET and skill systems in more than 30 countries. He has a PhD in vocational education and training policy and has authored various journal articles and book chapters on the topic. His interests include skills policies and industry engagement in skills development. He has worked for the ILO for the past twelve years and since 2015 has been the Senior Skills & Employability Specialist leading the work of the Skills Policies and Systems Group in Geneva.
Martin Henry is a research coordinator at the headquarters of Education International (EI) Brussels. His work focuses on coordinating and commissioning research mandated by Congress across a number of priority areas, working with the EI Research Network and acting as secretariat to the EI Research Institute Board. He is currently leading projects on the future of work in education, professional standards, teacher union renewal, technical vocational education and training, curriculum breadth, refugee education and professional autonomy. Other duties include representing teachers and educators at the OECD, UNESCO, ILO and other international forums. Before joining EI in 2016 Mr Henry spent three years leading the professional issues work at the New Zealand secondary teachers’ union PPTA. Prior to that he worked for 5 years as a Deputy Principal in a New Zealand high school and spent 3 years managing the professional learning infrastructure and working on the curriculum and across a range of academic subject standards for the New Zealand Ministry of Education. He earned a BA (hons.) from University College London, a Diploma of Teaching from Auckland College of Education and an M Lit (dist.) from Auckland University.
Jens Liebe leads the team on ‘Innovation and the Future of TVET’, which includes the Bridging Innovation and Learning in TVET (BILT) project and i-hubs initiative. He leads the UNEVOC TVET Leadership Programme, a UNESCO flagship programme for mid- to senior-level TVET experts, serves as Regional Focal Point for ‘Europe, CIS and North America’, and advises the Director on the global UNEVOC Network development strategy.
Ms. Nazrene Manniethe, Executive Director of GAN Global is a specialist in the field of social policy focusing on youth employment and skills development. Nazrene joined GAN Global in August 2019. Since her arrival , Ms Mannie has been appointed as a Geneva Champion and has worked closely with organisations such as the Global Alliance for Youth, private sector companies and international development entities such as the ILO, World Bank, IOE, UNESCO and OECD to drive forward the agenda for agile Workforce Development within the context of the Future of Work. Nazrene, a South African national has worked for a range of key multi-sector organisations in South Africa and has engaged in several international projects. Nazrene has been involved in skills development and VET projects with multiple international organisations including, but not limited to, the European Union, GIZ , African Union and the British Council. Ms Mannie has worked closely on a range of instruments within the social policy context including ILO work on Jobs and Skills Mismatch, and participated in the 2019 ILO Centenary Declaration on the Future of Work.
Senior Technical Officer in Sectoral Policies Department in ILO since November 2017. She is now working on a development cooperation research project, which covers issues related to skills shortages, skills development and international labour migration in ICT fields in seven target countries. Prior to this appointment, she had worked for the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan for over 20 years. She was involved in making policies and measures for employment and skills development, including creating a new employment support system for women after the child-rearing years and a new IT training courses for young job seekers to attain higher skills.
Devang is a Partner with Dalberg, based in Dar es Salaam. He also leads Dalberg's Education to Employment practice, which focuses on topics related to youth development. He advises both public and private sector clients on topics such as youth unemployment, employment readiness, vocational training, primary and secondary education, and innovative financing mechanisms. He has written articles on youth unemployment for publications such as African Business Magazine, The Financial Times’ This is Africa, The Mail & Guardian, Huffington Post and NORRAG. He has also served as a panelist on this topic at forums such as the Harvard Africa Development Conference, AAI’s State of Education in Africa Conference, among others.
In the Education to Employment sector, Devang has led a number of youth unemployment studies across the African continent. He has also provided strategic and operational advice to leading employment organizations, and he has founded a Pan-African Youth Employment Peer Learning Network for knowledge-sharing across these organizations. He has helped Dalberg develop a Youth Unemployment Knowledge Hub that compiles the learnings from these engagements and makes them available for all stakeholders in this ecosystem.
Devang holds an MBA with honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and an undergraduate degree in Economics from Claremont McKenna College. He was born and raised in India.
The ICEC members are:
Paul Comyn 
Paul Comyn has over 30 years experience in TVET and skills development as a technical specialist and consultant. He has worked on various assignments and projects associated with the reform or expansion of TVET and skill systems in more than 30 countries. He has a PhD in vocational education and training policy and has authored various journal articles and book chapters on the topic. His interests include skills policies and industry engagement in skills development. He has worked for the ILO for the past twelve years and since 2015 has been the Senior Skills & Employability Specialist leading the work of the Skills Policies and Systems Group in Geneva.Martin Henry
Martin Henry is a research coordinator at the headquarters of Education International (EI) Brussels. His work focuses on coordinating and commissioning research mandated by Congress across a number of priority areas, working with the EI Research Network and acting as secretariat to the EI Research Institute Board. He is currently leading projects on the future of work in education, professional standards, teacher union renewal, technical vocational education and training, curriculum breadth, refugee education and professional autonomy. Other duties include representing teachers and educators at the OECD, UNESCO, ILO and other international forums. Before joining EI in 2016 Mr Henry spent three years leading the professional issues work at the New Zealand secondary teachers’ union PPTA. Prior to that he worked for 5 years as a Deputy Principal in a New Zealand high school and spent 3 years managing the professional learning infrastructure and working on the curriculum and across a range of academic subject standards for the New Zealand Ministry of Education. He earned a BA (hons.) from University College London, a Diploma of Teaching from Auckland College of Education and an M Lit (dist.) from Auckland University.Jens Liebe
Jens Liebe leads the team on ‘Innovation and the Future of TVET’, which includes the Bridging Innovation and Learning in TVET (BILT) project and i-hubs initiative. He leads the UNEVOC TVET Leadership Programme, a UNESCO flagship programme for mid- to senior-level TVET experts, serves as Regional Focal Point for ‘Europe, CIS and North America’, and advises the Director on the global UNEVOC Network development strategy.Nazrene Mannie
Ms. Nazrene Manniethe, Executive Director of GAN Global is a specialist in the field of social policy focusing on youth employment and skills development. Nazrene joined GAN Global in August 2019. Since her arrival , Ms Mannie has been appointed as a Geneva Champion and has worked closely with organisations such as the Global Alliance for Youth, private sector companies and international development entities such as the ILO, World Bank, IOE, UNESCO and OECD to drive forward the agenda for agile Workforce Development within the context of the Future of Work. Nazrene, a South African national has worked for a range of key multi-sector organisations in South Africa and has engaged in several international projects. Nazrene has been involved in skills development and VET projects with multiple international organisations including, but not limited to, the European Union, GIZ , African Union and the British Council. Ms Mannie has worked closely on a range of instruments within the social policy context including ILO work on Jobs and Skills Mismatch, and participated in the 2019 ILO Centenary Declaration on the Future of Work. Hitomi Takeuchi-NAKAGOME
Senior Technical Officer in Sectoral Policies Department in ILO since November 2017. She is now working on a development cooperation research project, which covers issues related to skills shortages, skills development and international labour migration in ICT fields in seven target countries. Prior to this appointment, she had worked for the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan for over 20 years. She was involved in making policies and measures for employment and skills development, including creating a new employment support system for women after the child-rearing years and a new IT training courses for young job seekers to attain higher skills.
Devang Vussonji
Devang is a Partner with Dalberg, based in Dar es Salaam. He also leads Dalberg's Education to Employment practice, which focuses on topics related to youth development. He advises both public and private sector clients on topics such as youth unemployment, employment readiness, vocational training, primary and secondary education, and innovative financing mechanisms. He has written articles on youth unemployment for publications such as African Business Magazine, The Financial Times’ This is Africa, The Mail & Guardian, Huffington Post and NORRAG. He has also served as a panelist on this topic at forums such as the Harvard Africa Development Conference, AAI’s State of Education in Africa Conference, among others. In the Education to Employment sector, Devang has led a number of youth unemployment studies across the African continent. He has also provided strategic and operational advice to leading employment organizations, and he has founded a Pan-African Youth Employment Peer Learning Network for knowledge-sharing across these organizations. He has helped Dalberg develop a Youth Unemployment Knowledge Hub that compiles the learnings from these engagements and makes them available for all stakeholders in this ecosystem.
Devang holds an MBA with honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and an undergraduate degree in Economics from Claremont McKenna College. He was born and raised in India.