Governance and MMM Teams

Board 2024-2026

Anne-Claire de Liedekerke, President of MMM

President: Anne Claire de Liedekerke (Belgium)
Secretary-General: Marie-Liesse Mandula (France)
Treasurer: Anne del Marmol (Belgium)
Vice-President: Valérie Bichelmeier, Head of Advocacy at the UN (Switzerland)
Vice-President: Johanna Schima, Head of Advocacy at the EU (Belgium)

Laurence van den Abeele, MMM in Belgium
Aliette Abraham, President, Otitsara (Madagascar)
Farah Arabe, Representative to the UN in New York; Founder of itotheN | Intergenerational Impact (USA)
Françoise Cardoso, Expert in Sustainability, Health & Planet, Social Innovation & Inclusion, Women empowerment & CSR (France)
Alain Englebert, President, En Avant les Enfants – EALE (Belgium/DRC)
Jean Bolly Kouassi, President, AJAD (Côte d’Ivoire)
Stephania ter Hark (Spain)
Roland Vaxelaire, Consultant (Belgium)

International Secretariat (SGI)

Afaf Abounouadar, Executive Director

Marie-Liesse Mandula, Secretary General

Shahnaz Pakravan

Shahnaz Pakravan, Communications Manager

Angela Garcia Romero

Angela Garcia Romero, Project Director

Ariane de Liedekerke, MMM Network Coordinator

MMM UNESCO Team – Paris

Marie-Liesse Mandula

Brigitte Marais

Read about the advocacy work of the UNESCO Team here

MMM European Union Team – Brussels

MMM Brussels team

MMM Brussels team – from the left: Angela Romero Garcia (Project Director), Anne-Claire de Liedekerke (President), Johanna Schima (EU Advocacy Team Leader), Véronique de Vaumas (EU Team), Sarah Krimi (Former Network Coordinator) – Missing: Anne-Michelle de Mathelin (EU Team)

Read about the advocacy work of the EU Team here

MMM UN Team – New York, Geneva, and Vienna

In New York: 

Jacqueline Leduc

Jacqueline Leduc

Farah Arabe

+ Aurélie Cole
In Geneva: 

Valerie Bichelmeier

Valerie Bichelmeier, UN Advocacy Team Leader

Karen Thorsen

Karen Thorsen

Melanie Nedelec

Mélanie Nédelec

In Vienna: 

Irina Palffy, UN Vienna

Irina Palffy

Read about the advocacy work of the UN Delegation here

MMM at the National Level – Belgium & France

Laurence Vanden Abeele Bosteels, MMM in Belgium

Jocelyne Le Pivain, MMM in France

MMM teams – Brussels January 2024

 

 

Latest News from MMM and its Network

Maternal Psychological Wellbeing: What We Heard — and What Comes Next

31.01.26

On 28 January, Make Mothers Matter, in partnership with event host Care Policy Evaluation Centre (CPEC) at LSE, brought together policymakers, health professionals, researchers, campaigners, and advocates to ex

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Maternal Psychological Wellbeing: A Challenge and a Unique Opportunity

13.01.26

Wednesday 28 January 2026 | 15:15 – 17:30 GMT London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) – Live broadcast #MaternalWellbeingLSE Maternal mental health is one of the most pressing - and most overlo

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Unlocking the Power of Care: Skills, Equity, and Social Transformation

09.01.26

UN New York – Join us online on 5th February for an official side-event to the 64th UN Commission for Social Development, which will focus on how harnessing the skills developed through the unpaid work of car

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Care, the overlooked dimension of social development and justice

08.01.26

UN New York – In a written Statement submitted ahead of the 64th UN Commission on Social Development, Make Mothers Matter highlights a crucial yet still largely overlooked dimension of social development and

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The Future of the Right to Education: Make Mothers Matter at UNESCO to Bring Parents’ Voices Forward

15.12.25

UNESCO, Paris – On the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the 1960 Convention against Discrimination in Education, UNESCO brought together the global community at an International Symposium on the Future of

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Protect the Ambition: MEPs Must Safeguard Funding for the EU Child Guarantee

09.12.25

MMM together with its partners of the EU Alliance for Investing in Children, welcomes the recent vote by the European Parliament’s EMPL Committee, which firmly supports substantial and dedicated funding for t

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