Team

Roxana Bassi, ICT Specialist

Roxana has over 15 years experience in ICT for development. She has worked for the private, academic, NGO and public (national government) sectors, and in international organisations. Roxana served as the CIO of Educ.ar, the educational portal of Argentina, and was also in charge of the second phase of the telecenter project. A UN Volunteer, Roxana served as deputy CIO in the Afghanistan Mission. She is a founder and secretary of Links, a not-for-profit organisation created to promote the use of Information Technology in Latin America. A strong believer in the applications of technology for education and every other human activity, Roxana received her engineering degree from Universidad Tecnologica of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Niamh Brannigan, Communications and Knowledge Management

Niamh joined GeSCI in February 2007 as Communications Manager. With a broad range of experience in communications, public relations and marketing, Niamh is responsible for the design and delivery of GeSCI’s communications strategy. Prior to joining GeSCI, Niamh spent time in the US and the UK working in green event management and environmental publishing. From Dublin, Niamh was educated at University College Dublin (UCD), where she obtained a BA in English Literature. She also holds a diploma in Public Relations, from the Public Relations Institute of Ireland and an MA in Publishing from the University of the Arts London.

Denise Clarke, Programme Facilitator Ghana 

Denise joined the GeSCI team as the Country Programme Facilitator for Ghana. A Jamaican national, Denise has been working in the sector for over 15 years and spent ten of those years working as an instructional designer at HEART Trust/National Training Agency. Following this Denise was employed by the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD), first as a Capacity Development Officer and then later as the Country Programme Manager for Ghana. Denise holds a BA in International Relations (UWI, Jamaica) and a Masters in Government (UWI, Jamaica) West Indies). Prompted by her interest in technology and education, she completed a second Masters in Instructional Technology and Distance Education (Nova Southeastern University, Florida). Denise has also been a coordinator of distance education programmes for graduate students in Jamaica, studying with Nova Southeastern, and in 2001 was a USIS fellow.

Geraldine Etchingham, Manager of Finance and Operations

Geraldine joined GeSCI in July 2008 as Manager of Finance and Operations with responsibility for all finance, human resources and administration. Geraldine is a Chartered Accountant with over 20 years experience working in the private sector. Having graduated from Dublin City University with a BA (Hons.) in Accounting and Finance, Geraldine trained as a Chartered Accountant with Pricewaterhouse Coopers. Since then she has worked with a number of blue-chip companies including eircom, Fyffes and Statoil. Geraldine brings to GeSCI extensive experience of finance and operations management. Her focus in GeSCI is to ensure that the internal functions of the organisation operate efficiently and in accordance with best practice.

Mary Hooker, Research Manager

Mary Hooker is an education specialist with over 30 years experience working in the educational sector in Ireland and Africa.  Mary worked for ten years as a technical advisor to the Ministry of Education in Mozambique, engaging with Teacher Education institutions on pilot projects for teacher support, linking pre and in-service provision to the challenges encountered by teachers in real classroom contexts. The models of good practice that emerged from these projects were subsequently incorporated into a national strategy for Teacher Education. Since 2007 Mary has been working with GeSCI as the Education Specialist assigned to their Head Office in Dublin, Ireland and subsequently as the Research Manager for Global Programmes. Mary has a Diploma in Primary Education from Carysfort College of Education, Ireland, a Master of Arts Degree in Education from the University of Bath, England, a Master of Science in eLearning from Dublin City University, Ireland. Mary is currently engaged in studies for a Doctorate in Education with Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland.

M KSenthil Kumar, Country Programme Facilitator Rwanda

Senthil, an engineer by profession, with 17 years experience in turnkey project execution and ICT based intervention in teaching learning processes and computer literacy, joined GeSCI from the Azim Premji Foundation in Bangalore. Senthil spent five years as Head of Technology Initiatives, establishing proof of concepts to enhance the quality of teching and learnign through use of innovative technology models and multimedia.Prior to this Senthil spent three years working for Schoolnet India Ltd in Bangalore, where, as Senior Manager for the K-10 Regional Programme, he designed and piloted Virtual Classroom and the K-10 Regional Programme in 300 schools across several Indian states and provided direction for literacy training for 2000 teachers.

Lina Palmer, Bilateral Associate Expert

Lina brings rich experience from the field of change management to her role as Bilateral Associate Expert. Prior to joining GeSCI in April 2010 Lina worked as a change management consultant specialising in behavioural change through blended learning and new media in multinational organisations.  Before this, Lina identified and enabled business opportunities between Latin America and Europe through technology transfer and industrial development. Lina also holds an MSc in Economics & Business Administration from Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden and Escuela de Graduados de Administración y Dirección de Empresas, Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico.

Jyrki Pulkkinen, CEO

Prior to joining GeSCI Jyrki worked as a senior adviser at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland where he was responsible for development policies related to Information Society & ICT, Science and Technology and Innovations. Jyrki has also worked for the South African Department of Education on ICT Integration in Education as an consultant.  He  has contributed to various development cooperation programmes as a team leader and a free consultant advising, appraising and evaluating programmes especially related to ICT and education. His academic background ranges from teaching to research and project management. Jyrki has worked as a project manager, researcher and initiator of many international, EU and national research and development projects and initiatives on ICT integration in education. Jyrki has published several international and scientific articles related to his research activities and completed his PhD at the University of Oulu in 2004. Jyrki is the founder of the Research Unit for Educational Technology at the University of Oulu and has served many years as an Assistant Professor on Educational Technology in the mentioned university.

Patti Swarts, Africa Development Manager

Prior to taking up her position at GeSCI, Patti Swarts worked as Under Secretary: Formal Education and member of the Executive Management Team in the Ministry of Education in Namibia. Patti held several senior management positions in the Ministry of Education, among which was founding Director of the National Institute for Educational Development and Head of Teacher Education. Her background is in teaching (both at school and College levels) and teacher education, research and educational management. Patti chaired and sat on a number of Boards in the education and technology fields. She contributed to a number of publications on educational matters and published articles in international refereed journals on teacher education and educational management. She made presentations at various international conferences in Africa, India, USA and Europe. Patti holds a PhD in Teacher Education from the Oxford Brookes University, UK.

Alex Twinomugisha, Africa General Manager

Alex has extensive experience in ICT for Education and Development in the areas of planning, design, implementation and management. He is currently the Africa Regional Director based in Nairobi, Kenya. Before being appointed the Africa Regional Director, he was the ICT Specialist for GeSCI for three years, a role that entailed providing strategic advice to partner governments on ICT in Education issues. Prior to his work with GeSCI he was a technical consultant to the World Bank in Washington DC for the African Virtual University (AVU) project responsible for setting up and managing the online and satellite infrastructure for eLearning involving 34 learning centers in over 15 African countries. He later established and managed the ICT department of the independent AVU organization based in Nairobi, Kenya. He has undertaken other special assignments providing technical assistance and advice in the acquisition, deployment and use of ICTs in Education for various international organizations.

Esther Wachira, Programme Analyst

Esther earned her Master of Science, specialising in Educational Technology, from the University of Twente in the Netherlands in August 2007. Prior to this, Esther served as Capacity Development Manager to the Computers for Schools Kenya (CFSK) initiative for three years, during which time she was responsible for building capacity among the CFSK's 300 schools. Esther has several years experience working as a consultant for a number of high profile technology firms in East and West Africa, contracting to both large firms, government departments and the United Nations. Esther holds a Bachelor of Education Science (Bed. Sc.) from Kenyatta University in Kenya.