The Global Collaborative Member Bios

Coumba Toure (Mali/Senegal) feels she is living an exciting life, as always! On a regular basis, she meets people dedicated to work for social change. Currently, as the director of the Sahel/West Africa region of Ashoka Foundation, she is looking for system-changing new ideas and for people with the ethics and commitments to make things happen. This keeps her in touch with positive happenings and wise insights, as well as with the struggles, mistakes and misconceptions people have/make. Coumba is also running the Falia Children’s Program in Dakar, in which children’s brilliance in poetry, theater, visual arts and writing, consistently enchants her. She is running a publishing house, to put more children’s books out to the public. These days, Coumba is learning to live with intimacy, without fear. She dreams of living outside of the city, finding ways to use solar energy, growing food, being more patient with herself and others, trusting her intuitions, and having more time for her writing.

Evon Peter (Alaska and Arizona, USA) is the Executive Director of Native Movement and former Chief of the Neetsaii Gwich’in from Arctic Village in northeastern Alaska. He has served as the Co-Chair of the Gwich’in Council International, on the Executive Board of the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council, and as an alternate area Vice-President to the National Congress of American Indians. Evon is a well-recognized advocate of Indigenous Peoples rights, youth, and a balanced world, active as a speaker, strategist, writer, and organizer. His experience includes work within the United Nations and Arctic Council forum representing Indigenous and environmental interests. Evon is also featured in the 2005 award winning feature film “Homeland: Four Portraits of Native Action,” that follows the work of four Indigenous people who are working on issues of Environmental Justice in North America.

Ibrahim Youssef El-Ali (Lebanon/Palestine) is a Palestinian refugee living in Lebanon. Though he has never set foot in Palestine, its struggle is one of the driving forces in his life. Ibrahim currently works with various international and local NGOs, encouraging Palestinian and non-Palestinian refugees to exchange their ideas and experiences on how they can use their individual efforts as a starting point for community work. Ibrahim’s most present challenge is how to change human suffering into human creativity.

Kiritapu Allan (Aotearoa) is born of the Ngati Ranginui and Ngai Te Rangi peoples, tribes in the northern island of Aotearoa (colonially known as New Zealand). Committed to up-lifiting consciousness around indigenous peoples’ rights, environmental degradation and the interaction of social and environmental politics, Kiritapu likes to keep things streetwize and organizes collectively around any event, especially using hip-hop and reggae as tools to spread the word about what is going down in the world we are living in. Most recently, she has been campaigning against the abuse of state powers in indigenous and other actively aware communities under the guise of 'terrorism'. Kiritapu believes that we need to maintain the balance between cultivating ourselves and our community and resisting against the powers that be where injustice arises. She is the co-founder and co-director of Conscious Collaborations, an indigenous collective that is striving for a world that acknowledges Papatuanuku (Earthmother) by building synergies between indigenous, activist, and creative communities - tuia tangata tuia tumanako!

Malika Asha Sanders–Fortier (Alabama, USA) works with the Grassroots Democracy Commission, the 21st Century Youth Leadership Movement, and the Slavery and Civil War Museum. The Grassroots Democracy Commission attempts to involve people with democratic processes and make it live up to its ideals, as opposed to allowing democracy to be used as a smokescreen to oppress people. The Slavery and Civil War Museum reenacts what it might have been like for stolen Africans in the Middle Passage. Malika helps to host healing circles for the descendants of those who survived the African slave trade, who suffer from ‘post-traumatic slave syndrome’. She also hosts healing circles with the descendants of enslaved Africans and the descendants of slave owners, in order to address the legacy of slavery and racism in our everyday lives. As a resource specialist, Malika reconnects young people to the land and helps heal their relationship to it, through agricultural and organic gardening projects in Tuskagee, Alabama. She is the mother of three children and loves learning and sharing. Malika also loves theater, especially ‘edutainment’, and traveling and connecting with people working for freedom all over the world.

Motaz Attalla (Egypt) has worked for a number of years in education and development in Egypt. He has been fortunate to travel to many parts of the world, where his experiences and the people he has met have made him seek a deeper understanding of the systemic roots of what is called ‘underdevelopment’. In addition to his work exploring alternatives to schooling, he has recently been focused on food and farming, and on supporting responsible enterprise and simple everyday processes that can help anchor healthier, happier ways of living.

Nuttarote Wangwinyoo (Thailand) works extensively in engaging people to reflect and gain self-awareness, so as to enrich spiritual development into modern context. He works with people in various social sectors, from Indigenous groups in Northern Thailand, to public health systems, educational professionals and business organizations, in finding creative ways of ecological and meaningful living. His organization, Kwanmuang Institute, was founded in 2000 and is based in Chiangrai and Bangkok, Thailand.

Ocean Robbins (California, USA) is director of YES! — “Helping Visionary Young Leaders Build a Better World”, which he founded at age 16 in 1990.  YES! has held 100+ week-long gatherings for young leaders from 65+ nations, and spoken in person to more than 650,000 people.  Ocean is co-author of Choices for Our Future, and has served as a board member for Friends of the Earth, Creating Our Future, EarthSave International and on the Global Wisdom Circle for Challenge Day.  He is a 2008 recipient of the Freedom’s Flame Award, and of the national Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service.

Osmar Filho (Brazil) is an environmental educator and analyst, who believes in connecting different people and groups together to create new understandings and creative approaches for social issues. In 2004-05, he organized a national coalition of social movements. Osmar’s campaigns on improving access to public universities for low-income people, University Free Radio, and GM labeling have received government and national media attention. These days, he is most passionate about food justice, building sustainable food systems, and ecological, safe farming practices in and around Rio de Janeiro. He is also a budding filmmaker, recently completing a short film which denounces violence against women, and currently editing his year-long travelogue around South America, interviewing Latin Jammers about diversity and identity in their lives.

Puma Fredy Quispe Singona (Peru) was born in the mountains of Chinchero community, outside of Cuzco. Since the age of six, he has been trained as a medicine man by his grandfather, the keeper of the ancient Puma lineage. He is actively involved in various international youth organizations like YES! and many indigenous youth councils. Recently, he co-founded Cusi Huayna, Wyñay Huayna, a cultural youth institution that preserves and recuperates the ancient ways of dance, music and wisdom. It hosted the World Jam 2008, where 35 young seeds-of-change gathered and connected with Puma’s family and community in Chinchero. Puma also leads spiritual journeys in the Andes, related to ancestral ways of self-healing practices. Puma is a passionate flute player. With ceremonies, music and ageless wisdom, he is practicing healing at family, community and global levels. He is presently building a sacred space for meetings and cultural events, called Munay Marka, that will serve the community and the world’s youth in intercultural exchange.

Salim Mohammed (Kenya) tries to bring hope, love, possibility and empowerment into peoples’ lives at the most grassroots level and in the most real ways. Originally from Nyeri, the capital of Kikuyu lands, he was abandoned by his parents at an early age. He spent his first four years of life on the streets of Nairobi with his grandmother, and was subsequently taken to Mama Fatuma Children’s Home. While there, Salim set up a youth soccer team, and within a few years, he was chair of the entire youth sports association, with a membership of 16,000 people. He now coordinates a community development, sports and health program for over 4,000 youth in Kibera, the largest slum in East Africa. The program addresses ethnic violence, youth unemployment, and public health. Salim has worked as a consultant to help launch youth sports associations in Ghana and Nigeria. He has been nominated to serve on the Diversity For Peace Advisory Board with Nobel Peace Laureates Oscar Arias Sanchez, Mairead Corrigan Maguire, and Norman Borlaug.

Shilpa Jain (India) is a learning activist with Shikshantar: The Peoples’ Institute for Rethinking Education and Development, based in Udaipur, India. Shilpa has researched, written books and articles, and facilitated workshops on topics ranging from globalization, creative expressions, ecology, democratic living, innovative learning and unlearning, and has been the main coordinator of the Swapathgami (Walkouts-Walkons) Network for the last five years. She is passionate about dance and music, organic and natural farming, upcycling and zero waste living. All of her work seeks to uncover ways for people to free themselves from dominating, soul-crushing institutions and to live in greater alignment with their hearts and deepest values, their local communities, and with nature.

Tad Hargrave (Canada) has been running Radical Business, a marketing consulting business for ‘green’, locally-owned, sustainable, holistic, life-affirming and otherwise conscious entrepreneurs since 2001. He does the majority of his events on a pay-what-you-can basis so that they can be affordable to all. He is a founding member of BALLE Canada and also of Edmonton's green business network <www.E-Sage.ca>. He is also the founder of YES!’s Jams. Tad’s passions include: improv comedy (which he's performed semi-professionally for 16 years), close up card magic, playing guitar, learning Scottish Gaelic and delving into his Scottish Gaelic ancestry. His work has been featured in publications like the Edmonton Journal, The Edmonton Sun, The Globe and Mail, Alberta Report, IONS Review, Ed magazine, React magazine and nationally on CBC Radio. He was recently featured in the book Global Uprising and was chosen as one of 30 leading young visionaries in North America by Utne Reader magazine in their September, 2002 edition.

Tiffany Brown (New Mexico, USA) is a mixed race woman (Black and European American), who is of a working class and lower middle class background.  Since completing her studies at University of California in Santa Cruz in 2002, she has worked full-time with YES! in programs and administration (as middle class values of steadfast employment run deep!). Through her work with a partner organization, Be Present, she has cultivated communication skills that come from an understanding that racism, as well as classism, sexism, homophobia, etc., affects us all.  Tiffany is working to open her heart to be more compassionate for some of the most challenging dialogues of our time. She brings this energy to her work with YES! and to all aspects of her life.   Currently, Tiffany is questioning what life is beyond logistics, organizing and meetings, and how to balance family, food and time to dig her hands in the dirt.  She is dreaming of community spaces that can encompass all of this: on a local level, with friends in Santa Fe, and on a national scale, with Common Fire planning the creation of an intentional learning community of activists. At the same time, international travel and meetings have made her feel like an administrative rock-star.  She has been strongly identifying with inspiring people and new ideas, but feels she is growing farther from her family roots.  Tiffany’s latest experiment therefore is being more grounded and permeable, so that as she is lifted, she lifts her family and community.  

Valentina Campos (Bolivia) is a third-generation artist and mother. She has worked and lived with indigenous peasants in several communities and engaged in projects with the Guaranies, Chiquitanos and Ayoreos tribes, designed to re-affirm old art forms. In 1999, Valentina co-founded "Kunaymana", a co-operative of Aymara women from two communities of Lake Titicaca, to protect and strengthen their culture/agriculture. In 2000, Valentina began creating a series of paintings, entitled "Siembra de Mamalas", reflecting sowing rituals, the role of women-seeds in the Andean cosmovision, and the protection of biodiversity. She has exhibited this series and has spoken internationally, alongside her paintings, at art spaces, conferences and universities. Currently, she is working on "Uywana Wasi" (Casa de la Crianza), a center for mutual learning, cultural affirmation and nurturing local wisdoms, with a collective of local indigenous farmers and artists, in the town of Totorkawa, Cochabamba.