Board & Staff

Bernadette Agano, better known as Dety Darba, is a human rights activist, entrepreneur, and singer located in the DRC. Bernadette is committed to using her music and notoriety in the DRC to raise awareness about the issue of human trafficking and modern slavery. Bernadette will be serving Free the Slaves as the DRC County Coordinator.

Adrian Alexander is the Advocacy and Movement Building Country Manager for Free The Slaves based in Trinidad and Tobago. He has been privileged to serve as a volunteer with civil society organizations for the past 20 years. For 14 of those years, he has been involved in the fight against human trafficking. Through this work, Adrian is committed to helping shape a more compassionate, trauma-informed Caribbean.

Mohammad is an impassioned human rights advocate with extensive experience in the non-profit sector. Specializing in human rights advocacy, Mohammad has empowered individuals and organizations to fight for their rights and drive transformative change. He has delivered lectures and workshops from the United Nations to venues across Europe and the MENA region.

Mohammad has authored papers on human rights laws and strategies to uplift marginalized communities, enhancing their legal rights and living conditions. Before joining Free the Slaves, he served as a law consultant for the government and founded numerous organizations in Kuwait. Mohammad is dedicated to passing a world to our children that is safer, kinder, and more fair.

Sonia Adu-Gyamfi is the monitoring, learning and evaluation associate of FTS, based in Ghana. Prior to joining FTS, she worked as a Senior Research Assistant with the Center for Migration Studies, University of Ghana for the past six years.

She has been part of several policy-driven research projects to bring about the needed change in the area of migration in Ghana. Key areas of interest in research have been human trafficking, forced labor, migration & development, child migration and migration & gender. She has also worked as a communications officer for the research project “Migrating out of Poverty” for four years. She collaborated with the research team both locally and internationally to develop and implement communications strategies tailored to effectively engage diverse but relevant stakeholders in academia, government, CSOs, community members and key individuals. She has done consultancy work for the Women’s Health to Wealth NGO in Ghana in the areas of monitoring and evaluation.

Sonia is passionate to see young girls succeed and become strong pillars of hope in society, and she mentors young girls in her community to help them make right choices in life, assist and encourage them to excel academically.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s degree in migration studies, both from the University of Ghana, Legon.

Sonia is passionate about issues that promote the wellbeing of women and children, hence her desire to be part of a team that seeks to end modern slavery. 

As the regional director for Asia, Kuldeep’s mission is to change the conditions that allow modern slavery to exist. He represents Free the Slaves in the region; provides ongoing technical assistance to partner organizations in strategic design, implementation, measurement and reporting; and holds responsibility for the overall management of the regional program, strategy development, business development, and program oversight.

Kuldeep is passionate about human rights, social justice issues, community-initiated solutions, and improving access to opportunities for marginalized, economically-disadvantaged communities. He values the field perspective, builds trust and rapport with stakeholders, and believes in a problem-solving attitude. His pragmatic approach has been forged through years of designing and implementing development programs in several Asian countries.

Kuldeep has worked for over fifteen years managing donor-funded programs, training and capacity building on human rights, empowering farmers and workers and ethical standards in private sector supply chains, stakeholder relations, resource mobilization, and oversight of resources and operations. Prior to joining Free the Slaves, Kuldeep worked with Oxfam, Leonard Cheshire Disability, and Fairtrade in Asia Pacific in various operational and senior leadership roles.

Kuldeep holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and a double master’s in business management specializing in human resource management and marketing.

In his role as Free the Slaves finance officer, Munya not only ensures that day-to-day finances are in order but assists all departments in tracking income and expenditures against a range of different grants, aiding in the budgeting and planning processes for the organization. His work ensures that fund distributions are accurate to the decimal.

Munya Chitambo was born and raised in Harare, Zimbabwe. He joined Free the Slaves in 2015 first as an intern, then as bookkeeper, to his current role as finance officer. His role allows FTS departments to operate at maximum efficiency.

Tsering’s commitment to the betterment of society, as well as her respect for the Free the Slaves approach to ending all forms of modern slavery, motivated her to join FTS in 2018 as the India country program officer. She supports partner organizations technically and by building their capacity to implement anti-slavery programs successfully. She has also managed the FTS India program’s finance and monitoring, learning and evaluation efforts. She has documented success stories of successful interventions in Indian communities.

Tsering was born & raised in a beautiful place called Ladakh in northern India. She earned a master’s in social work from Banaras Hindu University, Uttar Pradesh, India. She started her career with GoodWeave India as an assistant inspection monitoring and certification supervisor.

She is motivated to improve the lives of people and committed to ending all forms of inequality, exploitation and discrimination. She is dedicated to build a world free from all forms of slavery.

Papa Fall is a statistician by training, holder of a Bachelor’s in Computer engineering, and is finishing a Master’s in Big Data and Artificial Intelligence.

Papa has conducted numerous evaluations of early childhood protection programs. Prior to joining Free the Slaves, Papa Worked as a research consultant/data analyst for many NGO projects and program evaluations in Senegal. For instance, Papa has evaluated the midline and impact of the Her Choice program for the Amsterdam Institute of Social Science Research.

As a Data enthusiast, Papa has a keen interest in handling data and measuring in real-time KPIs using dashboards… He aims to apply Big Data and Artificial Intelligence technologies to improve and accurately measure Humanitarian Interventions.

Aline Gaju is a dedicated human rights advocate. She is the Movement Building Coordinator at Free the Slaves where she plays a pivotal role in the planning and execution of the annual Freedom from Slavery Forums, both regionally and globally. In her current position, Aline collaborates closely with FTS’s internal team to ensure that all aspects of the forums are meticulously addressed. She also actively engages with stakeholders and allies in the anti-modern slavery movement, to fostering strong relationships. Before joining FTS, Aline Was a communications specialist at the “Legal Aid Forum” which provides legal aid to vulnerable individuals in Rwanda.

Bryon Lippincott is the Head of Communications and Digital Engagment for Free the Slaves.  He is passionate about helping people who are marginalized or vulnerable experience safe and abundant lives within healthy communities, as well as helping organizations represent the people who participate in their programs in ways that honor their dignity and respect their value as human beings.

Prior to working for Free the Slaves, Bryon ran a creative agency specializing in strategic communications and media production for NGOs in Asia. He has partnered with more than 100 organizations and individuals in 13 countries. In this role, he partnered with organizations working with child vulnerability, anti-trafficking, HIV/AIDS, refugees, agriculture, poverty alleviation/community development, and education.

Though Bryon was born and raised in Nebraska, USA, on a family farm, his love for culture and humanitarian causes brought him to Asia, where he has been living and working for more than ten years. He lived in China and Cambodia before moving to Chiang Mai, Thailand, where he lives now with his wife, two teenage children, and two cats.

Bryon holds an M.A. in Strategic Communication from California Baptist University.

Smith Maximé is currently serving as the Caribbean Regional Director since 2021, after spending 10 years as Haiti country Director for Free the Slaves. He is playing a key role in the implementation of the Free The Slaves’ 2021-2031 strategic plan in the region which aims at ending the conditions that allow modern slavery to persist in local communities. A Haitian national, Smith completed his primary, secondary, and university studies in Haiti. Early in his career, he worked in journalism and communication. He later devoted his time to organizational capacity building, promotion of the rights of vulnerable groups, gender equality, and project management.

During the past decade, Smith has worked alongside Haitian non-governmental and community-based organizations to strengthen organizational and institutional systems, conducting organizational assessments, and developing and implementing
programs to strengthen institutional capacity. In his work against discrimination, he has worked with organizations of people living with HIV/AIDS, disabled people, and individuals involved in the sex industry. A strong focus of this work has been in assisting these groups to build networks for the promotion of their own rights.

In 2006, Smith joined the office of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Haiti, where he spent five years as the Gender and Rights Program Manager. In this role, the promotion of women’s rights, especially the prevention of gender-based violence, was an important part of his work. Smith completed his university studies in law and earned a master’s degree in project development at Quisqueya University.

Faith Muthiani is a Program Associate for Engagement and Communication with Free the Slaves, stationed in Kenya. With a deep-rooted passion for eradicating modern slavery and human trafficking, she has dedicated her career to making a meaningful impact on the lives of vulnerable communities. Faith possesses a wealth of experience in humanitarian and development projects, highlighted by her previous roles as a Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning Consultant at Censtar Consultants Ltd and as a Content Writer for Rain Collective.

Faith brings a strong background in project management and communication to her role. She is profoundly committed to witnessing communities transform and become more resilient in the face of adversity. Her journey in fostering community resilience has been particularly remarkable, leading to successful roles as a Project Manager and National Contact Person for an Anti-Trafficking Project with The Salvation Army Kenya East.

Academically, Faith holds an Undergraduate Bachelor of Science degree in Public Health from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, and she is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Public Health with a focus on Monitoring and Evaluation at Kenya Methodist University.

Lauren Rice, a Development Associate, and aspiring polyglot, is on a mission to make a difference in the world. Raised in Belgium, she’s fluent in French, Dutch, and English, and is currently studying for her associate’s degree in STEM with a focus on computer science and mathematics. Lauren’s love for languages and cultures has inspired her to learn Russian, Korean, and Japanese. She’s also a dedicated advocate for charity and is passionate about helping others. A lifelong learner, she’s always eager to meet new people and expand her horizons.

Issa SAKA worked for the last 12 years as a trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants ‘expert within the regional office for West and Central Africa of the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

He successfully coordinated the implementation of several donor-funded programs, training, and capacity-building activities in Senegal and the West African region, especially on trafficking for the purpose of forced child begging and sexual exploitation.

Prior to joining UNODC, Issa worked in the regional office for West and Central Africa of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) from 2008 to 2011. He successfully coordinated the intervention of the regional platform of NGOs and Civil Society actors in the identification and assistance of child victims in West Africa. During that period, 565 children were identified, assisted, and returned to their families of origin thanks to the program.

Issa has also worked in the past with a Senegalese NGO called Tostan, which worked on a community-led project on Human Rights targeting the end of Female Genital Mutilation.

Issa is passionate about human rights and community-led initiatives.

Kevin Bales is professor of contemporary slavery and research director of the Rights Lab at the University of Nottingham, UK. He was a Co-Founder of Free the Slaves in Washington, D.C. and co-Author of the Global Slavery Index. 

Going undercover to meet slaves and slaveholders, Kevin Bales exposed how modern slavery penetrates the global economy in his Pulitzer-nominated book, Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy. The film based on this book, Slavery: A Global Investigation, which he co-wrote for HBO and Channel 4, won a Peabody Award and two Emmys.

*Organizational affiliations are for ID purposes only.

Peggy Callahan’s sense of fairness  has driven her work as a human rights activist, documentary filmmaker, television reporter, director and television executive.

Peggy has spent 18 years fighting modern day slavery and decades reporting and producing films on poverty, the foster care system, the death penalty, farmworkers, racism, homelessness and slavery.

Peggy co-founded two international anti-slavery organizations that have helped free thousands of people from slavery. Peggy’s powerful, award-winning storytelling has
helped change laws and lives. She has worked on five continents and 15 countries.

*Organizational affiliations are for ID purposes only.