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The Africa Alliance headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, is headed by the General Secretary and supported by senior professional and other support staff. Its operations are overseen by an Executive Committee which meets annually. The Executive Committee, composed of 15 members, is elected from national movements at the Ordinary General Meetings held every four years.
Carlos Sanvee is the General Secretary of the Africa Alliance and is based at its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. He joined the Africa Alliance full time in September 2007, with the aim of working with Africa YMCAs to better position themselves and for the continental movement to be able to contribute actively and successfully in world agendas.
He served as Executive Secretary of Finance and Administration at the World Alliance, Geneva, from 1999-2007. Here he was centrally involved in the development of strategic direction of the World Alliance and the subsequent Global Operating Plan, was responsible for the Inter-Movement Support Services ( IMSS) and instrumental in the introduction of a new policy and management of the John R. Mott Fund as well as launching a serious Review of the World Movement Fair Share formula.
Carlos began his journey with the YMCA as a volunteer for the Togo YMCA to recruit new members as part of the revitalisation of the movement. He joined the staff of the Togo YMCA in 1987 as a Leadership Development Secretary, and worked his way up to Deputy General Secretary, in which position he served for five years, before working for the World Alliance.
He holds a first degree in Physics and Chemistry from Université du Bénin in Togo and a Masters in Sociology from Université Lyon Lumière II, France.
“In Africa, as YMCAs we need to shift our mindset from being everything to everybody and focus on what we can be the best at: empowering our young people to take charge of their future. Only then, can meaningful change happen.”
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As the Executive Secretary for Leadership and Organisational Development, Simon Lazarre Badiane has a particular focus on establishing YMA Renaissance Universities. Based in Dakar, Senegal, Simon joined the Africa Alliance team in January 2008 to assist in the renewed efforts to enhance individual movements in Africa, as well as zonal and continental co-ordination of YMCAs.
His experience with the YMCA dates back to his tertiary education years when he joined the YMCA as a volunteer in 1990, before taking up volunteer leadership positions in the Senegal YMCA. Simon spent a total of two years working with YMCA Metropolitan of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the Ridgewood YMCA, New Jersey, before taking up the challenge of National General Secretary of Senegal YMCA. In this position, he contributed to transforming the movement from that of a struggling YMCA to a thriving sustainable YMCA with increased membership and branches.
Simon began his career with a brief stint in teaching Business English in a private college in Dakar, Senegal. He holds a BA in English Literature, a Masters in Human Resource Management and a Post Graduate degree in Project Management.
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Gil Harper is the Executive Secretary: International and Corporate Affairs and is working with movements in Africa to develop the strategy and skills to increase the revenue base, brand, profile and impact of YMCAs locally, at a continental level and within the global arena.
Her professional experience involves corporate public relations; editorship of Agenda Feminist Journal and various South African business and black business publications; media and dispute prevention at a parastatal labour organisation. She was schooled in journalism at technikon in South Africa.
She joined the South Africa YMCA as a volunteer after being contracted to handle the media management of the 16th World Council of YMCAs which was held in Durban, South Africa, in 2006. In February 2008, after two years as a volunteer, she joined the staff of the Africa Alliance.
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Sonia Rasugu works as the Executive Secretary for Programme Innovation and Capacity Development.
Sonia has a good experience in the public, private and development sectors and she has been closely involved in Kenyan policy development work around the Poverty Reduction Strategy and youth development processes including the National Youth Policy and National Youth Council. Both of which are now endorsed by Government.
Sonia has also participated in a variety of institutional development activities including: strategic planning for government and non-governmental agencies; procurement for a large donor project; institutional assessments and strengthening for national and grassroots development organisations; and programme and grant management in the development sector.
Sonia’s work experience began in 2001 when she worked as a programme assistant for a local nonprofit organisation. She then joined KPMG, an international audit and advisory firm, as a consultant. She has also worked as a programme coordinator/grants administrator for a public community foundation based in Nairobi.
Sonia brings with her, strong experience in programme management and donor relations which she has drawn from her current work in funding community initiatives.
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Christian Martyn Kamara fills the role of Western Zone Facilitator, in his position of National General Secretary(NGS) of Sierra Leone YMCA. This primarily involves supporting movement strengthening efforts in the zone, such as the Global Operating Plan (GOP) activities and Peer Review. This strengthens the zonal structure and at the same time, it is in line with our strategic direction to focus secretariat energies on technical house approach.
Christian holds a Masters Degree in development Studies (MSC) and Business Administration (MBA). He is a trained environmentalist and a community development practitioner. Before his appointment as NGS of the YMCA five years ago, he served as the Development Secretary and prior to this served as programme manager and project officer for various community and youth development projects in Sierra Leone.
He is a member of other professional bodies like Child Right Coalition of Sierra Leone, The Rotary Club of Freetown and an executive member of the World Urban Network of CEOs.
Guenter Ozdyk will be working as AAY’s IT expert over the next two years. He will be improving the AAYMCA's IT infrastructure and developing an intranet network to connect all the National Movements across Africa. Guenter has served as the IT expert and coordinator of the ICT Assisted Development project for the World Bank in Ethiopia and has volunteered with YMCAs for over 25 years, even serving a term as the chairman of his local YMCA in Germany.
Guenter believes that it was a combination of his training as a computer and electrical engineer, his long-held interest in Africa and his dedication to YMCA’s that motivated him to join the AAYMCA team.
Guenter's positio has been sponsored by the Church Development Service, an association of Protestant churches in Germany.
Nelly Lamba is a Secretary at the Africa Alliance and is based at the headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, where she is responsible for office administration and logistics. With more than ten years experience working for Africa Alliance, Nelly has a variety of portfolios, such as organising events and facilitating relations with NGOs in Nairobi.
Her strengths are in Personnel Management, Logistics, Communications and IT. Nelly has assisted in the development of the Africa Alliance website and is responsible for updating of content, with a focus on national movement web pages.
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Francis M. Indangasi is the an Accounts Assistant at the Africa Alliance of YMCAs, He has worked at the Alliance for over 13 years and handles the accounts of the Alliance and related matters. He describes himself as focused and God fearing.
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