Walking the Talk

Trained as an anthropologist, Marinke has galvanized creating #beautifultrouble worldwide in the quest for social justice. She often introduces herself as a change catalyst having had a wide breadth and depth of roles after 25 years in international development. Marinke worked in leadership roles for MSI Reproductive Choices in Ghana and Madagascar and led the movement Publish What You Pay, a global coalition campaigning for transparency and accountability in the gas, oil and mining industry.

Between 2016 and 2021, Marinke set up and led a €86 million grant facility called Voice, a consortium between Oxfam, Hivos and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs to promote diversity, equity and inclusion. Voice is anchored in the principle of NOthing about us Without Us (creatively abbreviated into NOW-Us!) – a key driver to decolonize and localize aid. Having seen the power of NOW-Us! in action, Marinke localized Voice strategically and programmatically and walked her talk by vacating her role in 2021 for someone with a different, more authentic lived experience. After a two-year stint as a consultant through her social enterprise Sisterhood4Sistergood, Marinke is happy to be back at Hivos leading Walking the Talk, a consortium to advocate for  Feminist Foreign Policies in Europe to  live up to their potential.

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Starting his career as Youth Ambassador for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Gender Equality, and Bodily Autonomy for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jim amplified voices from young people to ensure that Dutch foreign policy aligns with the realities of these young people. Next to his advocacy work, Jim has experience in researching youth perspectives on comprehensive sexuality education in both Dutch and international contexts. Core values for Jim are building bridges, co-creating, and positivity. Jim will lead advocacy efforts at the Dutch foreign policy level within the Walking the Talk program and he is happy to create a positive impact together with the consortium! 

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Gunay, originally from the South Caucasus, runs online campaigns advocating for the cultural and political rights of ethnic groups in the region against assimilation amidst the challenges of globalization and political discrimination. She operates a social enterprise aimed at revitalizing the traditional crafts of indigenous communities and improving their socio-economic well-being.

Additionally, Gunay contributes to TRACK II diplomacy between Azerbaijan and Armenia, focusing on uniting youth-led initiatives. She speaks Azerbaijani, Turkish, Russian, and English, and has some knowledge of Ukrainian. Gunay joined the Walking the Talk program as a Finance Officer.

After briefly working for the Red Cross Netherlands as a program support officer, Laura jumped at the opportunity to continue this kind of facilitating work at Hivos for the Walking the Talk program where, as a Project Assistant, she coordinates meetings, takes notes, books flights, translates Spanish texts or provides any other kind of help needed by the team, consortium or partners.

Due to her dual nationality (Dutch/Bolivian), Laura has been building bridges between diverse groups of people and ideas from a young age and she enjoys co-creating joyous spaces in which people can be themselves and excel in their work. She can best be described as a generalist who knows a little about a lot and as such, her interests are broad. She is looking forward to engaging further with the content of the Walking the Talk program while simultaneously supporting its processes.