Our people
Our Patron
Ambassador Matthew Neuhaus
Ambassador Neuhaus is the patron for Great Lakes Agency for Peace and Development International.
He has many African connections and in 2011 he became Australia's first Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo. He grew up in Tanzania, the child of Australian Anglican missionaries and after many years as a career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT), he is currently the Australian Ambassador to The Netherlands.
Before that, Ambassador Neuhaus was the Assistant Secretary of DFAT's Africa Branch. He has served as Australian High Commissioner to Nigeria from 1997-2000, accredited also to Ghana, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and Senegal as well as more recently from 2011-2015 as Australian Ambassador to Zimbabwe, accredited to the DRC, Zambia and Malawi. His earlier postings included the United Nations, New York, Papua New Guinea, and Kenya. He was also Director of the Political Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat in London from 2002-2008.
Dr Valentina Baú
Board Director
Dr. Valentina Baú works as a Senior Research Fellow at Western Sydney University, Institute for Cultural Studies. Both as a practitioner and as a researcher, her work has focused on the use of the media & communication in international development.
Valentina has worked in different African countries, Asia, the Caribbean and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. She has collaborated with international NGOs, UN agencies and the Italian Development Cooperation, both in a research and communication capacity.
Her experience involves the implementation of both research and media projects with victims and perpetrators of conflict, displaced people, refugees and people living in extreme poverty.
Robert (Rob) Arcidiacono
Board Director
Robert (Rob) Arcidiacono is a humanitarian and development practitioner with 10 years’ professional experience, currently undertaking a PhD with the University of Queensland and CSIRO (Commonwealth Science & Industry research Organisation). As a critical sociologist his research focuses on how digital agricultural technologies are being promoted to address food security challenges in the face of a changing climate.
Prior to this doctoral research, Rob completed a Masters qualification in Development Practice which included a research projects on food sovereignty in East Africa, after starting his career with a Bachelors degree in Industrial Design from QUT (Queensland University of Technology) where he was also employed in toy industry in Hong Kong and Southern China.
Robs development experiences have included the promotion of South-South Cooperation with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in Vienna, Austria, in addition to coordination roles for rural development projects on energy access and food security in the central highlands of Afghanistan. In addition to these longer-term development roles, Rob has worked in Jordan as part of the Syrian humanitarian response with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on renewable energy access, and also INGO’s on protection and gender initiatives in both Za’atari and Azraq Syrian refugee settlements in Jordan. Rob is currently part of the RedR’s Humanitarian Response Team (HRT), a specialised team engaged on behalf of DFAT to provide humanitarian support post natural disaster or conflict in the Asia-Pacific region.
Dr Sithembinkosi Dube
Board Director
Sithembinkosi Dube is an Australian resident born in Zimbabwe. She is an Honorary Research Fellow and Tutor in the Linguistics Department at Macquarie University, and a Sessional Linguistics Lecturer at the University of New South Wales, Australia. She holds a PhD in Linguistics from Macquarie University, an MSc in Clinical Linguistics from Potsdam University- Germany and an MPhil and Hons in Linguistics from the University of Zimbabwe. Dr Dube is an inspirational academic, language and culture advocate. In 2020, she was nominated for the Vice Chancellors (Student nominated) Learning and Teaching awards at Macquarie University for her passion in teaching and mentoring her students. Her recent research focuses on emerging African languages and their speakers, seeking to make them visible and included in the social justice agenda, in Australia (see: Under-review, Decolonizing African Migrant Languages in the Australian Market Economy; 2023 Publication, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1076418).
Dr Dube is also a Co-Founder of LangDentity, a hybrid language school that offers Ndebele and Shona lessons to Zimbabwean-Australians. The outcomes of the language school have been recently recognised in the NSW State Parliament where one of LangDentity students’ poem on Identity, Cultural Pride and Racism was read during a Parliament Session on the 29th of November 2023. She has also been awarded the NSW Zimbabwean Community Champion Award for 2023, in recognition of her community service. Dr Dube also has more than 5 years’ experience as a Committee Board member in the African Youth Initiative Centres (AYI). AYI is an organisation that offers youth mentoring programs and seeks to engage the African youths and their families through programs that promote mental well-being and value of their dual cultures. Overall, Dr Dube’s social enterprise and academic work seek to empower and uplift young people to become great and proud citizens, grounded by UBUNTU.
Our Executive
Emmanuel Musoni
Executive Manager
Emmanuel Musoni is the Executive Manager of Great Lakes Agency for Peace and Development International (GLAPD pronounced ‘glah-ped‘)). He has been engaged in community leadership and development for many years both in Australia and overseas. Emmanuel has settled around 158 people in regional Australia since mid-2016. Emmanuel‘s work has enlightened and changed perceptions towards refugees within the Australian population and brought new debate into State and Federal politics.
Emmanuel was raised in a refugee camp in Uganda until he was 16 years old. This has led him to be strongly committed and passionate about advocating for better settlement and integration of refugees and migrants who are yearning to call regional Australia home.
Dr Nadine Shema
Co-Founder and Settlement Operations Manager
Dr Shema is the co-founder of the Great Lakes Agency for Peace and Development International (GLAPD). She serves as the agency‘s Settlement Operations Manager and Public Relations Officer.
Dr Shema is an overseas trained medical doctor, a public health professional and a refugee advocate. She holds a double master‘s degree in Public Health and Health Management (UNSW). Since her 2011 arrival in Australia, she has devoted herself to the welfare of refugees and migrants from the troubled Great Lakes region of Africa (mainly Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and the D.R. Congo) by promoting peace, harmony and development among those people, both in Australia and internationally.
Her success in creating positive intercultural exchanges led to her being acknowledged by Celebration of African Australians Inc. as an influential African Australian and at the 2017 Rotary Inspirational Women‘s Awards. Dr Shema is also a member.
Moses Abaho
Financial Accountant
Moses Abahov
Community advisory group
Burundi – Community Adviser - Sylvestre Mugemancuro
D.R Congo - Banyamulenge – Community Adviser - Moise Mwungura
Ethiopia - Community Adviser - Emebet Assefa
Eritrea – Community Adviser - Samson Tekle
Equatorial community/South Sudan – Community Adviser - Anizia Sogora
Kenya – Community Adviser - Patrick Muraguri
Rwanda – Community Adviser - Vivens Mutaga
Somalia – Community Adviser - Maryam Omar
Sierra Leone – Community Adviser - Tubak Lekembeh
South Sudan - Equatorial community – Community Adviser - Anizia Gilo
Uganda – Community Adviser - Rehema Nakimuli Talaka
Meet Nadine
She’s one of the Founders of the GLAPD and the Operations Manager.
