Tino Kreutzer, KoboToolbox
Tino Kreutzer serves as the COO of Kobo, an international nonprofit responsible for creating KoboToolbox—a trusted data collection, management, and visualization platform. KoboToolbox is used by more than 14,000 organizations worldwide and serves as a cornerstone in various sectors, including economic development, humanitarian assistance, environmental conservation, and more. With over 15 years of specialized experience, Tino Kreutzer is a recognized expert in responding to humanitarian crises, natural disasters, and global public health emergencies. His ongoing research focuses on leveraging natural language processing technologies to further enhance the quality and efficiency of data collection to better understand the complex views and needs of local communities. Previously, he worked at the UN Development Programme, creating coordination and data management systems in the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo, focusing on disarmament efforts and combating sexual violence.
Alex Ross, Talk to Loop
Alex has a Master’s in International Affairs and Diplomacy as well as Child Psychology. In New Zealand, Alex worked with recidivist youth offenders using restorative justice and outdoor education methods for reintegration following criminal convictions. She then worked for over twenty years in humanitarian and development contexts as a Child Protection specialist and increasingly in management positions at country, regional and global levels. She worked for a variety of Non-Government Organizations such as War Child and International Rescue Committee and more recently as the Director of International Programs and Partnerships for the British Red Cross. She has lived on every continent and in many different contexts (Haiti, Syria, Iraq, Kenya etc) and been involved in development and emergency responses in most parts of the world.
Loop envisions a world where everyone, including those who are marginalized, vulnerable and underserved, can share their opinion and experience in a safe, open and transparent way, to effect positive social change at the individual, community and global level.
Vijay Sai Pratap, Gram Vaani
Vijay Sai Pratap, Co-founder and CEO of Gram Vaani (OnionDev Technologies) has been a Telecom and Technology for Development professional for over 21 years. Vijay strongly believes that technology is definitely not a silver bullet but can be a great enabler of equitable access to information, services and justice, thus amplifying the impact of human intent and capacity. Gram Vaani has touched over 5 Million individuals, generated 1Mn+ community voices, partnered with over 250+ organizations across domains, by creating inclusive, community led conversation spaces, enabling them to not just access and share life impacting information, but also voice their opinions or ask questions, and collectivize to take positive action. Vijay is an Engineering graduate from the University of Madras and holds a Master’s in Business Administration (Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, AP) and Business Law (National Law School of India Univ, Bangalore). Vijay is an Acumen India 2020 fellow. Vijay, prior to teaming up with Aadi (Dr Aaditeshwar Seth, Associate Prof. IIT-D, Dept of CS), founded and was heading the Life Impacting Services and Mobile Governance business unit at OnMobile Global Ltd. He has played key roles across functions, from account management, business development and strategy, regulatory liaison and support, Project and Delivery management to product ideation and conceptualization in the ICT for development space and has led award winning projects across domains.
Caroline Masboungi, UNICEF
Caroline Masboungi is a Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Specialist at UNICEF, based in Geneva. She leads UNICEF’s GBViE innovations and service delivery workstream at global level. She manages intricate portfolios including pivotal projects like “Laaha,” a virtual safe space platform for girls and women and digital referral pathway app (eRPW), leveraging advanced technologies to protect and empower women and girls. With over 14 years of comprehensive experience, Caroline’s work spans across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, focusing on GBV prevention, response, and fight against impunity of sexual violence. Prior to joining UNICEF, Caroline worked with organizations such as the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and OHCHR which reflects her holistic understanding of humanitarian response to GBV and her unwavering commitment to women and girls through innovative, gender-sensitive, and effective strategies, paving the way for GBV humanitarian innovation.
Christian Resch, CLEAR Global
Christian Resch is language technology expert working for CLEAR Global, currently focused on using language technology to improve access to advice and information for smallholder farmers in Kenya and India. Before this, he worked for GIZ's AI programme helping to build AI ecosystems and language technology and data for low-resourced languages across Africa and Asia. He started his career in the financial sector, working on data science and statistics for the European and German central bank.
