Panel:

• Beth Chitekwe-Biti is the Director of the secretariat of Slum Dwellers International (SDI) a global network of slum dwellers, driving a collective, bottom-up change agenda for inclusive and resilient cities in the global South. SDI has been active 33 countries and  currently has 18 affiliates in Africa, South Asia and Latin America. Beth founded Dialogue on Shelter a Zimbabwe NGO in 1999 which works in alliance with the social movement the Zimbabwe Homeless People’s Federation both of who are affiliates of SDI. Before moving to the SDI Secretariat in 2019,  Beth was Dialogue on Shelter’s Executive Director. Beth supported the establishment of SDI affiliates in Zambia, Malawi and Botswana, has contributed as an author to articles on the work that the  SDI does, and participates in local national and international events on behalf of SDI occasionally serving on committees for policies on issues impacting the urban poor. A trained urban planner, Beth holds a PhD in Development Policy and Management  from the University of Manchester.
• Naomi Hossain is a political sociologist and Research Professor at the Accountability Research Center at the School of International Service at American University in Washington DC. Her research focuses on the politics of inclusive development, or how people get the public services they need. In international collaborations, she has researched food and fuel riots, the politics of public service delivery, closing civic space, and the politics of Bangladesh’s development success. Some of her work can be seen here.
• Sandra Martinsone is interim Head of Policy,  Advocacy and Research at BOND. Previously Sandra has coordinated RedR’s international humanitarian capacity building programmes in East Africa and Middle East, worked as Politics and Governance Programme Manager at ODI, led one of the largest ever international tax justice advocacy and campaigning projects working with 24 organisations in 19 countries across 3 continents and developed advocacy strategy for ETI to advocate for workers’ rights in UK, Southeast Asia and Africa. She has also worked for UNDP and Foreign Office in Latvia.
• Moderator, Michael Jennings: Michael has degrees from the University of Oxford and London (SOAS), and has taught and researched at Oxford and the Centre for Development Studies at Swansea University. His research interests include: the politics and history of development processes in sub-Saharan Africa: governance, civil society, non-governmental organisations and faith-based organisations; and social aspects of health in Africa.