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

Invisible Violence: Why Mothers Must Be Recognised in the Fight Against Gender-Based Abuse

25.03.26

UN Geneva – Violence against women is widely acknowledged. Yet the specific forms of violence linked to motherhood remain largely overlooked. Drawing on grassroots evidence from across the globe, Make Mothers

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Parental Leave: A Global Imperative for Gender Equity and Economic Prosperity

25.03.26

UN New York – At the event MMM organised on the margins of the 70th UN Commission on the Status of Women, experts and policymakers converged to argue that parental leave is far more than a workplace benefitâ€

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Job Sharing: A Promising Solution for Working Mothers

24.03.26

By Ariane de Liedekerke, Network Co-ordinator, Make Mothers Matter While many women are still sidelined professionally after becoming mothers, leading to a lose-lose situation, some companies are testing new wa

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Recognising Care
The Relevance of Parenting Skills in the EU Skill Portability Initiative

16.03.26

Make Mothers Matter (MMM) responded to the Public Consultation on the European Commission’s upcoming Skill Portability Initiative. We submitted a paper outlining our views and provided feedback on the need to

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Hidden in Plain Sight: The Mental Health Crisis Facing Young Mothers in Europe

14.03.26

UN Geneva – An MMM submission to the OHCHR call for input on the impact of mental health challenges on the enjoyment of human rights by young people highlights a critical, often overlooked human rights issue:

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Climate finance must prioritise mothers and care

13.03.26

UN Geneva – Responding to the OHCHR Call for inputs on Climate Financing and Human Rights MMM argues that climate finance must prioritise mothers, unpaid caregivers, and maternal health in order to be truly e

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