About Us

Amina is responsible for inclusive grant-making and communication, program idea generation, and networking with the On Nigeria team.

She was formerly a lecturer in the Political Science Department of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Senior Special Assistant to the Minister of Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, and Coordinator, DFID/UKAid’s Coalitions for Change (C4C) Program.

Amina received her B.Sc and M.Sc from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and PhD from the University of Abuja. She also has spent time at Aspen, the Universities of Cape Town, Sussex, and Liverpool. 

Amina is an honorary adviser to numerous government, private sector, and civil society organizations on gender, equity, inclusion, and policy. She is a member of the International Political Science Association, Chartered Management Consultants, and the African Feminist Forum. She was a past Chair of the Kaduna State Rehabilitation Board for Persons with Disabilities; pioneer Co-Chair of the Board of Directors, and now chair of the advisory team of the Nigerian Women’s Trust Fund;  and technical advisor to the EU RoLAC program on a web-based sexual offender database for Nigeria. Amina is a member of the Governing Council of Ekiti State University and an independent non-executive director on the board of GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc. Amina is Chair Board of Trustees of Hadis Foundation for voice, accountability, and safe spaces.

Ousseynou leads and supports an extensive portfolio of grants aimed at increasing responsive governance and creating the conditions for evidence-informed policymaking in Africa and Mexico.

Ousseynou comes to Hewlett after spending the past two years at the Open Government Partnership (OGP) as a senior regional coordinator for Africa and the Middle East, based in Senegal. In this role, he worked closely with governments and civil society in advancing transparency, participation, and accountability, while supporting the development and implementation of relevant and ambitious OGP country action plans.

Ousseynou’s expertise covers open contracting, extractives, aid effectiveness, open data, and public service delivery. As a senior associate at Development Gateway in Senegal, his work was instrumental in developing data strategies and policies, creating evidence-based advocacy and decision-making tools, and leading hands-on initiatives to inform national planning and drive global conversations.

Previously, Ousseynou was a research coordinator at Dalberg and a lecturer at the University of Bordeaux (UB), France. He holds a master’s degree in quantitative and qualitative research and a bachelor’s degree in sociology from UB.

Erin has been with MacArthur since 2009. She is the co-director of the Foundation’s On Nigeria program and director of the Population & Reproductive Health program. Prior to her current position, she was a program officer for Population and Reproductive Health and Girls’ Secondary Education grantmaking.

Before joining MacArthur, Erin worked at the Population Reference Bureau, a Washington, D.C.-based non-governmental organization, where she provided strategic guidance and technical assistance to help policymakers in Ethiopia, India, Kenya, and Mongolia use data to make policy and program decisions. Earlier in her career, she worked on adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Latin America and conducted research on maternal and child health in the US.

Erin has an M.P.H. from Columbia University and received her B.A. in Spanish and International Politics from St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

She serves on the board of advisors of the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region.

Erin Sines works on the following MacArthur programs and projects:

On Nigeria

Population & Reproductive Health

Erin joined the TAI Steering Committee in 2017.

Prior to joining the Chandler Foundation, Leslie was on the executive team of Microclinic International, a global health non-profit. Leslie started her legal career at the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell before moving into the non-profit and philanthropic sector. Prior to law school, Leslie spent a year at the World Bank working on financial sector development in Africa. She has been honored as a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, and a TEDx speaker. Leslie received her law degree from Harvard and her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

As international program director for Natural Resources and Climate Change, Anthony “Tony” Bebbington leads the team that works to ensure natural resource governance serves the public interest and reflects the aspirations of rural, low-income, and indigenous communities who claim customary rights to their land or have secured land rights.

He also serves as the foundation’s representative on the Board of the Climate and Land Use Alliance. With over 35 years of experience, Tony’s work has addressed the impacts of extractive industries on community rights and territories, the role of social movements and NGOs in social and political change, and the factors driving inclusive rural development in Latin America and Indonesia.

Before joining the foundation in 2021, Tony was Higgins Professor of Environment and Society and Director of the Graduate School of Geography at Clark University, and an Australia Laureate Professor at the University of Melbourne. In addition to holding academic positions, he has worked for non-profit think tanks in the United Kingdom, as a social scientist at the World Bank, and as a research associate with NGOs in Peru and Chile. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, was a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and sits on the board of Oxfam America.

Tony holds a PhD in geography from Clark University in the USA, and a bachelor’s degree in geography and land economy from Cambridge University in the UK.

An expert in political economy with decades of experience in economic and financial policy, strategy development, research design and implementation, grant making, and managing multi-stakeholder coalitions.

Justin Sylvester is a senior program officer based in the foundation’s Southern Africa office in Johannesburg. He is part of the Natural Resources & Climate Change team.

Justin has 15 years of experience in the democracy, governance, and human rights arena. His work focuses on public participation, accountability, social justice, and human rights. From 2011 until he joined Ford in 2015, he was based at the Open Society Foundation for South Africa, where he was the program manager for human rights and governance. He also managed the program in freedom of expression and was critical in building the private and public sector accountability program. Justin also served as a senior political researcher in Cape Town for the democracy think tank Idasa. He has a keen interest in the governance and human rights challenges faced by democracies in the Global South, especially those hosting large-scale extractive activities/industries and transitioning their energy systems.

Justin earned a bachelor of social science in governance and political studies and a master of social science in international relations from the University of Cape Town. He has also completed an advanced human rights course at the University of Pretoria, focusing on comparative African human rights systems and Executive Training on Extractive Industries and Sustainable Development at Columbia University.

Amira leads Luminate’s global Participation & Dissent work, focused on making political power more inclusive and ensuring those who challenge power can do so safely and effectively. She previously managed the foundation’s global Civic Empowerment grants and investments. 

Amira was previously Director of Programs and Strategy at Reboot, leading its New York-based Programs Team and working to advance civic participation and social action with a variety of philanthropic, government, and private sector partners. She also worked on Reboot’s theory of change and organisational strategy.

Prior to this Amira was a Programme Manager at Transparency International – Defence and Security. Amira first led the Africa Programme and later managed an initiative to develop global norms for responsible defence governance, as well as the Government Defence Anti-Corruption Index, TI’s flagship publication on defence and security. 

A former Tahrir Square activist, Amira started her career in non-profit organisations in Egypt. 

As a Principal on the Skoll Foundation's Portfolio & Investments Team, Jessica seeks to better understand innovative models for impact and surface opportunities for Skoll engagement and investment. In particular, She explores solutions that will help advance healthier information ecosystems and mitigate the harms of mis/disinformation. 

Previously, Jessica led convening programming for the Skoll Foundation, including the Skoll World Forum, a convening platform for social entrepreneurs, philanthropists, artists, and other innovators. 
 

Jessica has extensive experience in program and experience design, strategy setting and execution, project management, partnership cultivation, and team leadership.

Based in Nigeria, Toyin focuses on sourcing, evaluating, and managing grants for Luminate in Africa.

Toyin brings experience in international development with a focus on media development, advocacy, monitoring and evaluation, civic engagement, and broad stakeholder capacity development to her position. 

Prior to joining Luminate, Toyin was Africa Program Officer at Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) where she helped develop and deliver initiatives aimed at advancing the organisation’s resource governance goals in Nigeria. She also served as NRGI’s Communications and Advocacy Officer for Anglophone Africa, managed media programs across the region, and contributed to the global media Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning framework and online platform.

Previously, Toyin helped improve Nigeria’s investigative journalism landscape through her work at the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.