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This is an overview of the team in Brussels. You can get into contact with us through the contact form.

Management

Sven Rooms

General Director
sven.rooms@vvob.org
Sven Rooms is leading VVOB as General Director since 2018. He has more than 20 years of experience within the international development cooperation sector, working with governments and partners in more than 25 countries across Africa, Asia and South America. Sven Rooms joined VVOB in 2011 as International Programmes Director. Before he was Programme Director at Plan International Belgium.

Tom Vandenbosch

Global Director of Programmes
tom.vandenbosch@vvob.org
Tom Vandenbosch is an education leader with more than two decades of practical experience in 22 countries on 4 continents. He joined VVOB in 2001, and is currently responsible for the formulation, effective implementation and continuous improvement of the educational content of VVOB's projects.

Koenraad Van Den Steen

Global Director of Finance
koenraad.vandensteen@vvob.org
Koenraad Van Den Steen is responsible for the management of the financial risks, the preparation of the financial administration and the implementation of financial policy within VVOB. He joined VVOB in 2020 after a career of 19 years as financial manager and chartered accountant.

Programme Department

Maud Seghers

Senior Education Advisor

TVET

maud.seghers@vvob.org
Maud Seghers provides technical support to VVOB country teams that are active in secondary technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and contributes to expanding the portfolio by formulating new projects and programmes. She's a driving force behind VVOB's thinking on scaling education initiatives through government systems. Maud joined in 2014, after 2 decades of work with implementers, donors and Ministries of Education.

Inge Vandevyvere

Senior Education Advisor

Secondary Education
Environment

inge.vandevyvere@vvob.org
Inge advises on secondary education programmes at VVOB and is focal point for integrating environment into programming and organisational aspects. She studied pedagogical sciences and joined VVOB in 2020 after several (international) experiences related to education and development.

Hans De Greve

Senior Education Advisor

Early Childhood Education
Gender

hans.degreve@vvob.org
Hans De Greve monitors and provides support to VVOB's early childhood education programmes. As VVOB's gender focal person he also watches over and supports VVOB's gender programming. Before joining VVOB's head office in 2018, Hans managed and implemented education programmes for VVOB in Suriname.

Marije van Breda

Educaid.be Coordinator

www.educaid.be

marije.vanbreda@educaid.be
Marije van Breda joined VVOB in March 2020 as Educaid.be coordinator, the Belgian platform for education and development. Marije is from Rotterdam, but has lived and worked in Belgium for a long time. After a period as external communications manager at Plan International Belgium, a career switch followed as a geography teacher in a French-speaking secondary school. Those different experiences come in handy now.

Soetkin Bauwens

eNSPIRED Coordinator

www.eNSPIRED.net

soetkin.bauwens@vvob.org
Soetkin builds an international dialogue on equity in education through the organisation of guest lectures and learning weeks. She regularly invites international experts and practitioners to share best practices with Belgian educational stakeholders. She intensively works with pre-service and in-service trainers to inspire them with good practices from the Global South. Soetkin joined VVOB in 2014 after working in the education sector at national level.

Emeline Lemmens

SchoolLinks Coordinator

www.scholenbanden.be

emeline.lemmens@vvob.org
Emeline Lemmens supports (pre-)primary and secondary schools in Flanders and countries in Africa, South America and Asia in setting up and nurturing partnerships on educational goals. Before joining the team at head office in 2017, Emeline gained field experience with VVOB in Zambia as a volunteer.

Kristine Smets

M&E and Research Advisor
kristine.smets@vvob.org
Kristine Smets supports country teams in the development of M&E systems and practices. She also overlooks the evaluation process of VVOB’s programmes and projects. She worked as M&E expert in various countries in the Global South for over 10 years, before joining VVOB in 2009.

Sofie Cabus

Research Lead
sofie.cabus@vvob.org
Sofie Cabus is our research lead. In 2013, she obtained a PhD in the economics of education at Maastricht University. She mainly conducted evidence-based research in the field of education, mismatch between education and the labour market, and lifelong learning. She is an expert in conducting impact evaluations in OECD and low-and-middle-income-countries. Her work got published in more than 40 peer-reviewed and popular science journals.

Arne Willems

Professional Development and Partnerships Advisor
arne.willems@vvob.org
Arne Willems coordinates the continuous professional development within the organisation and manages the VVOB Academy, our learning platform. He is also responsible for managing the partnerships in which the organisation engages and he organises and coordinates VVOB's internship programme. Previously Arne worked for UNESCO in sub-Saharan Africa.

Anna Murru

Partnership Manager
anna.murru@vvob.org
Anna Murru is a development practitioner with over 20 years of experience in project conceptualisation and implementation, particularly in the field of accountability and education. She joined VVOB in 2012, as Country Programmes Manager for Zambia and currently supports VVOB grow its global programming through partnership development, mobilisation and engament both at international and country levels.

Lisse Moons

Support Officer North Operations

Communication & Events

lisse.moons@vvob.org
Lisse Moons is responsible for the external communication of the programmes in Belgium (eNSPIRED, SchoolLinks & Educaid.be). She joined VVOB in 2019 after obtaining a master’s degree in Communication Sciences and gaining experience in the private sector as a communications coordinator.

Sofie Tack

Grants Coordinator
sofie.tack@vvob.org
For projects financed by VVOB's institutional donors, Sofie is committed to coordinate donor compliance and reporting processes accross different VVOB departments. By doing so, she aims to continuously improve the donor readiness of VVOB. Sofie joined VVOB in 2018 after her studies in social work, public management and business economics.

Esther Goldschmidt

Grants Coordinator
esther.goldschmidt@vvob.org
Esther Goldschmidt cooperates with country offices and head office departments in making sure we meet the expectations from our donors on reporting and compliance. She handles projects funded by country donors and international organisations. Esther joined in 2020 after working as a lawyer and legal counsel.

Finance Department

Jan Janssens

Chief accountant
jan.janssens@vvob.org
Jan has been working at VVOB since 2000. He is responsible for monitoring the accounts at our head office. In addition, he is responsible for the organisation of the accounting package worldwide, the preparation of reports and the IT of our head office.

Marie-Neige Umurerwa

Bookkeeper
mn.umurerwa@vvob.org
Before joining VVOB in 2018 as Financial Officer, Marie-Neige has worked in the private sector in various international companies for several years. Marie-Neige is of Rwandan origin but lives in Belgium since her early childhood. A few years ago, she made a career switch. VVOB is her first experience in a non-profit organisation. She is responsible for the control of the financial data of the country offices and also provides support to the finance teams worldwide.

Han Dinh

Bookkeeper
han.dinh@vvob.org
As an accountant, Han does the verification of the financial data and provides coaching and support in accounting guidelines to the finance teams in the countries. Before joining VVOB in 2018, Han gained experience in finance, HR and administration for 15 years in several international companies. Han has obtained different degrees in International Business Management, Human Resources Management, Finance and Accounting.

Erik Crabeels

Accountant
erik.crabeels@vvob.org
Erik has been a financial manager and controller of EU funded programmes in Africa in the domains of rural development, intra-ACP migration and the construction of schools and health care centres for many years. He joined VVOB in 2018 to assist the financial teams at head and country offices.

General Department

Jasmien Claes

HR Lead
jasmien.claes@vvob.org
Jasmien joined VVOB in 2020 as HR Lead after 5 years of HR experience in the private sector. She is responsible for a variety of HR-related topics, both locally & globally, including the HR strategy, HR processes and policies.

Lotte Van Den Eeckhout

HR Officer
lotte.vdeeckhout@vvob.org
Lotte monitors the HR administration for head office and expat staff and supports the VVOB partner countries in their personnel administration. After graduating as a social worker, she gained several years of experience in administrative and personnel work before joining VVOB in 2018.

Koen D'Hooge

HR Officer
koen.dhooge@vvob.org
Koen joined VVOB in 2020 as a member of the HR head office team. After graduating as an anthropologist, he worked in health insurance, payroll services and HR. He is the first point of contact for staff insurances and recruitment.

Els Broothaers

Communication Advisor
els.broothaers@vvob.org
Els Broothaers is responsible for VVOB's internal communication, coordination of the publications and website, and the technical and graphical aspects of our communication channels. Before she started working with VVOB in 2011, she gained experience in the private sector, local governance and social profit.

Katelin Raw

Communication Advisor
katelin.raw@vvob.org
Katelin Raw joined VVOB in 2016 after obtaining master's degrees in EU Studies and Human Rights. She’s a former journalist and now responsible for the formulation and implementation of VVOB’s external communication strategies, content management and social media.

Asmita Rajaram

Policy, Administrative and logistics officer
asmita.rajaram@vvob.org
Asmita Rajaram is responsible for providing support in administrative matters and event logistics at VVOB. She rejoined the organisation in 2019, after a two-year career at VVOB in Suriname as a local M&E/Education Advisor. Her working experience includes quality management in higher education and is currently in the process of obtaining a masters degree in Education and Research for Sustainable Development.