Eleanor Sarpong
Senior Advisor
Eleanor is a Senior Advisor and consultant to GDIP on various areas of focus. She is an experienced public policy and internet access thought leader, working at the intersection of internet, telecommunications and development with over 20 years of experience in the corporate, public and nonprofit sectors. She’s led global public policy and advocacy efforts to increase affordable internet access and use in over 15 countries and her experience includes developing national ICT policies and advising regional governments, (ECOWAS, SADC, COMTELCA, UNESCAP) as well as intergovernmental and multilateral organisations (UN, OECD, UNESCO, ITU, World Bank, EIB ) on strategic ICT reforms for digital development. Prior to joining GDIP initially as its Director of Public Policy, she was A4AI’s Deputy Executive Director & Policy Lead, where she directed policy and had oversight on A4AI’s country engagements in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, working closely with governments and companies on digital inclusion. She’s also worked with the European investment bank providing guidance for its policy in ICT lending to developing countries, consulted for the Commonwealth Telecoms Organisation and worked with MTN where she built and led the Government, Regulatory and public policy unit in Ghana for 5 years. She is an alumnus of the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education Program, has a certificate in Public Policy Analysis from the London School of Economics, and holds an MBA from the Warwick Business School, as well as a Bachelor in Science from the University of Ghana
Yacine Khelladi
Advisor
Yacine is an economist, specialized since 1994 in designing, implementing and evaluating ICT projects and policies for development. He has experience in Digital Transformation, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Social and Human Development, ICT/Digital National Policies and Strategies, Project Monitoring and Evaluation, Telecentres, Culture, Organizational Development, Identity and Community Empowerment, Sustainable and Community Tourism, E-commerce, Knowledge Networking, Haiti and Dominican Republic issues, Organic Agriculture, and ICTs in the Caribbean.
Anju Mangal
Advisor
Anju work focuses on advancing the shared goal of digital inclusion across Asia and the Pacific. She was affiliated with the Pacific Community (SPC) as the Digital Transformation ECM Specialist and Business Analyst Adviser. Anju was recently awarded the Obama Foundation leadership fellowship and the U.S. State Department International Visitor’s Leadership Programme on Digital Economy and Cybersecurity. She is currently the Vice Chair of the Asia Pacific Internet Governance Forum and the Vice Chair of the Pacific Islands Chapter of the Internet Society. Anju was a tutor for DiploFoundation’s ICT strategy course and a research expert in internet governance. She was an ISOC Ambassador, Commonwealth IGF fellow, and APrIGF fellow. She was the first Pacific Islander to be elected as a Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) member of the United Nations Internet Governance Forum. She has also worked for the UN Internet Governance Forum Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland. Anju is passionate about Women and ICT and Cybersafety for women, girls, and persons with disabilities. She was a founding member of the Pacific Women and ICT. She continues to work with key stakeholders in the Asia Pacific region on various areas such as digital rights, digital inclusion, cybersecurity, privacy, and security.
David N. Townsend
Senior Advisor
David N. Townsend is an internationally recognized expert in telecommunications and ICT policy, regulation, economics, and strategic development. He has over 30 years’ experience in the field, including extensive focus on regulatory frameworks, competitive market development, universal access and rural ICT expansion, and broadband/ICT strategy projects in more than 60 countries. Mr. Townsend has managed dozens of landmark projects on ICT development policies and programs, and is author of numerous studies, reports, and papers on the policy and economics of communications development. Among other highlighted roles, he was lead expert on Universal Service Funds and broadband strategy development for USAID’s Global Broadband and Innovations program, he was author of the ITU Model Universal Service Fund, Team Leader for the United Nations WSIS Task Force on Financial Mechanisms, member of the World Bank/Regulatel Universal Access Latin America study team, Project Leader for the ADB/ITU Rural ICT study in Asia-Pacific, and contributing author to the InfoDev ICT Regulation Handbook. He has managed and advised on projects to develop National ICT and Broadband Strategies around the world, and has been a pioneer in the creation of such strategies. He was the Lead Consultant for the USAID Global Broadband and Innovations (GBI) program from 2010 to 2017, which conducted numerous interventions, workshops, training, and research studies on Broadband ICT development strategies. Mr. Townsend has assisted in designing, authoring, and adoption of ICT Strategies in more than a dozen countries, including Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Namibia, Mozambique, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Colombia, and Mexico. Since 2016, Mr. Townsend has served as lead advisor to the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) on establishment of its Digital Development practice and support for the MCC Togo Threshold Program Digital ICT project.
Tira Green
Advisor
Ms. Tira Greene is an attorney-at-law and digital governance policy expert with over 25 years of experience working with governments and public sector organizations as well as with private sector stakeholders. Ms. Greene has undertaken consultancies for the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, the ITU, United Nations agencies and other private and government organizations in the Caribbean and internationally, including in Africa, the Pacific and Southeast Asia. In recent years, Ms. Greene has been actively involved in developing digital government transformation strategies in the Caribbean and other Small Island Developing States (SIDS). She has a wealth of experience in reforming policy, legal, regulatory, and institutional regimes and frameworks relating to data protection and electronic transactions, digitization of government processes and broader ICT initiatives in various jurisdictions, including OECS Protocol Member States, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, St. Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, and Smart Africa Member States. Her work in this area includes redesigning processes to develop capacity and create opportunities that will facilitate high-quality services and allow government agencies to achieve increased inclusiveness, efficiency, and effectiveness.
In that vein, Ms. Greene has undertaken work to support reviewing and revising the legal, governance and regulatory frameworks of countries that wish to introduce Single Electronic Windows to enhance effectiveness and efficiency and has provided legal advisory services in respect of strategies to implement National Identity Card Enrolment schemes to support the implementation of national digital ID systems. Most recently, Ms Greene has undertaken a review of policies, legislations and regulations to develop recommendations on necessary reforms to implement Integrated ID Systems, Authentication Platforms, Digital Signatures, Electronic Entry Permit Mechanisms and Digital Health Administration in SIDS within the Caribbean, among other countries. She has also led a project under the Pan-African e-Commerce Initiative for Boosting African Digital Trade and is leading a comprehensive Digital Law Action Plan and review for the Government of Belize. She has approached her work to enhance digital transformation with an eye on the most recent technological developments, such as those related to AI, and has led research and guided governments on integrating those developments within regional or national legal frameworks. Through her work, Ms. Greene has made substantial contributions to the digitization of public administrations in the Caribbean and beyond.
Ms. Greene holds a Bachelor of Legislative Law (LL.B.) with honors; an Advanced Diploma in International Law; and a master’s degree in Telecommunications Policy and Regulation from the University of the West Indies. She is a member of the IEEE P2863 Organizational Governance of Artificial Intelligence Working Group and the IEEE Tech & Concentration of Power Committee.