Our Team

Luigi Loddo

Deputy Regional Director for Latin America and Caribbean (Venezuela, Colombia & Honduras)

Luigi Loddo is a forestry engineer with over 20 years of experience working in fragile contexts on business development, climate change adaptation, sustainable natural resources management, humanitarian aid, and disaster risk reduction fields.

With more than 13 years working with GOAL, as Assistant Country Director Programmes and as Area Coordinator for GOALs programmes in Northern Honduras, Luigi has played strategic roles in GOAL´s Green and Blue Economy and disaster preparedness programmes in Central America.

Luigi previously worked with UNDP in Honduras, managing a large GEF funded Climate Change Adaptation programme, and with Italian NGOs Alesei (as Country Director) and GVC in the LAC region. Experienced in developing solutions for sustainable natural resources management in multicultural and indigenous contexts, Luigi is an advocate for the implementation of an inclusive and sustainable blue and green economy.

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Andy Buchanan

Middle East Programme Director

Andy Buchanan joined GOAL as Middle East Programme Director in July 2024. He brings over 20 years of experience across humanitarian aid and development, including a decade working in the Middle East with extensive experience in Syria, Türkiye, and Iraq. His wider career also spans senior roles in Pakistan, Somaliland, Afghanistan, and China.

Throughout his career, Andy has led large-scale, complex emergency responses supporting populations affected by conflict, displacement, and natural disasters. His experience includes leadership of the 2023 earthquake response in Türkiye, long-term conflict-driven displacement operations in northeast Syria (2015–2020), flood response in Pakistan (2012), and responses to multiple natural disasters in Afghanistan (2010).

Andy returned to the UK with his family in 2023. He holds an MSc in Applied Development Studies from the University of Reading and a BEng in Civil Engineering from Swansea University.

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Ali Kaya

Country Director, Türkiye

Ali Kaya was appointed GOAL Türkiye Country Director in August 2024 .

Ali joins GOAL with 10+ years of humanitarian aid experience from Save The Children where he held several key leadership roles including an overseas post on the Ukraine response. Most recently, Ali served as the Area Manager for the Türkiye earthquake response in Gaziantep, overseeing a diverse team of 100 staff members and an annual budget of US$ 25M. Ali’s experience extends beyond emergency response. He previously worked with NRC and CARE International in Türkiye as Programme Manager, where he managed multi-sector programs including CVA, Shelter & WASH, Food Security and Livelihood initiatives. Ali also successfully led a diverse programme portfolio and team to deliver high quality and impactful programmes working in close coordination with a range of external stakeholders, including the government, partners, and program donors.

Ali holds a Master’s Degree on International Relations from Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary and BSc in Economics from Karadeniz Technical University in Türkiye.

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Neva Khan

Country Director, Ethiopia

Neva Khan joined GOAL as new Country Director for GOAL Ethiopia on 1st April 2025, from World Vision, where she was Senior Programme Manager, based in the UK. Prior to her four years at World Vision, Neva held CD positions for VSO and Oxfam in Pakistan and with Merlin in Ethiopia.

Neva is also a former GOALie, having spent ten years, working in a variety of roles in our aid agency from 1994 – 2004. During this period, Neva spent time as a HIV Coordinator, as a Regional Coordinator for India, the Philippines, Vietnam, Bosnia, Kosovo, Honduras, and El Salvador, as a Donor Liaison Officer and as a Project Officer for Cambodia, India, the Philippines, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Sudan & Uganda.

Neva originally trained as a Registered General Nurse and then Midwife in the George Eliot Hospital, Nuneaton, UK.

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Gashaw Mekonnen

Country Director, Zimbabwe

Gashaw was appointed as CD of GOAL’s Zimbabwe programme in April 2022.

Gashaw brings over 20 years of experience to the role, including time as a Roving CD and CD across Haiti, Niger, South Sudan and Malawi and across various other positions in our South Sudan and Ethiopia programmes. Gashaw was CD in Sierra Leone for the last three and a half years.

Gashaw’s background is in rural development and development management. He is a trained advocate on Community Development Approaches and a ToT trainer on participatory tools. Over the years, he has managed humanitarian and development programmes in a challenging political environment.

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Dawit Beyene

Country Director, Uganda

Dawit was appointed Country Director for GOAL’s Uganda in February 2023.

Dawit brings over 19 years of experience to the role, including time as GOAL Country Director in Sudan and Interim Country Director in South Sudan. Prior to joining GOAL, Dawit served as Head of Office for Mercy Corps in Darfur and Assistant Country Director – Programmes for Action Against Hunger (ACF) in Yemen. Prior to that, Dawit worked with Tufts University/ Feinstein International Centre as a consultant in various roles in Ethiopia.

Dawit’s educational background is in Rural Development (MA) and Sociology & Social Administration (BA). Over the years, he has managed humanitarian and development programmes in complex and protracted humanitarian settings.

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Leopold Buhendwa

Country Director, Niger

Leopold has over 25 years of management and senior level technical advisement experience, working in the humanitarian, international development, and public health fields.

He joined GOAL in 2016, initially as chief of party of a USAID-funded project in Malawi, and currently as country director in Niger.

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Matt Knight

Country Director, Haiti

Matt Knight was appointed Country Director for GOAL in Haiti in June 2023. He has over four years’ experience at GOAL, having previously served as Emergency Systems Director, Emergency Response Logistics, and Procurement Advisor in different GOAL locations. Matt has extensive experience from his roles at Public Health England and from other roles in Field Logistics and Logistics Management in Sierra Leone. He holds a Master’s degree in Psychotherapy from the University of Sheffield and a BSc in Psychology from the University of Hull, UK.

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Phyllis Jepkorir

Country Director, South Sudan

Phyllis Jepkorir was appointed Country Director for GOAL South Sudan in January 2023. With over 15 years’ experience at GOAL prior to this appointment, Phyllis held previous roles such as Systems Director in Ethiopia, Assistant Country Director for Systems in Malawi and South Sudan, and Logistics Coordinator. Phyllis holds an MBA in Strategic Management from Texila American University in Guyana. She has extensive experience in systems implementation, procurement, logistics, and strategic planning.

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James Riak

Country Director, Sierra Leone

James Riak was appointed as Country Director for GOAL in Sierra Leone in April 2022.

James has worked for GOAL for 15 years, most recently as Programmes Director in SL for the last four years. Prior to this, James served as Area Coordinator in Kenema and as Programme Coordinator in Bombali. James has been based in Sierra Leone since 2015, moving there after many years of service to our South Sudan programme.

James holds a Master’s in Sustainable Development and a Master of Science in Public Health.

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Ben Reynolds

Country Director, Sudan

Ben has held various humanitarian leadership roles, starting with refugee response in Greece, and moving to work with organisations in South Sudan and Yemen, before taking Country Director roles in Afghanistan, Turkiye, and then returning to South Sudan. Ben subsequently joined GOAL in December 2024 within the Emergency Response Unit, before then moving to a Roving Country Director role where he is currently supporting the Sudan programme. 

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Jorge Tejeda

Country Director, Colombia

Jorge Tejeda, Country Director of Colombia.  Jorge specialises in computational design, with a particular focus on renewable energy, critical structure design, early warning systems, risk management, and resilience.  He has experience in coordinating multidisciplinary teams and managing funds with international cooperation donors in humanitarian aid and development projects.
He is currently developing skills in the implementation of artificial intelligence projects applied to social problems, finance, administration, and innovation.

On a personal level, he is passionate about design and innovation processes to address current challenges and social issues.

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