RemittancesGateway.org

Leila Rispens-Noel (INAFI Int.)

Saturday, 13 December 2008 03:22

Leila Rispens-Noel works as Remittances Programme Manager at International Alternative Financial Institutions (INAFI International) effective March 1, 2009. INAFI is a network of more than 300 microfinance institutions located in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. She manages the three-year project titled “Harnessing the Potentials of Migration for Development by Linking Microfinance Institutions and Immigrant Associations”. This EU-funded project isimplemented in 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and 10 European countries.

Before joining INAFI, Leila was a Programme Officer at Oxfam Novib, a Dutch development agency based in the Netherlands. She provided technical assistance to Netherlands-based, Dutch non-governmental and diaspora organizations with projects in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Cameroon. She was the focal person on microfinance, remittances and migration and development. She also designed and implemented capacity building programs tailored for diaspora organisations and assisted in the formation of diaspora networks. Since joining Oxfam Novib in 2001, Leila has been advocating for the inclusion of migration in development strategies and the active participation of diaspora organizations in decision-making processes in the field of migration and development.

Leila was a member of International Advisory Committee of the Civil Society Global Forum for Migration and Development (GFMD) 2008. She is presently a member of the Migrants Advisory Board (MAB) of the EC-UN Joint-Initiative for Migration and Development. Leila regularly gives presentations on the themes “engaging diaspora in development” and “microfinance and remittances” in various national and international conferences.

During her free time, Leila is actively involved in assisting various projects in the Philippines. She is the present president of Association of Bansaleños Worldwide (ABW) - a virtual hometown association of former residents of Bansalan (Davao del Sur, Philippines) who now lives in USA, Canada, Australia, and various Asian and European countries. Leila earned her degree in Bachelor of Science in Commerce (Major in Accounting) at the Holy Cross of Davao College (Philippines) and diploma in Rural and Agricultural Project Planning at the Institute of Social Studies (The Netherlands).