Streetnet International
International Alliance of Street Vendors

Team

StreetNet’s head office is in Durban, South Africa, but the team is based all over the world and works remotely! Meet our team members below.

Oksana Abboud (Ukraine)

International Coordinator

Oksana Abboud is StreetNet International Coordinator since June 2019. She joined StreetNet in 2013 in the capacity of Regional Organizer for Asia and Eastern Europe. In 2016 Oksana got additional responsibility of a part-time StreetNet Media Officer and greatly contributed to media and particularly –social media development of StreetNet globally.

In 2005-2012 Oksana used to work as an International Secretary at the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (KVPU). It was her first official working place after graduation from Kyiv National Linguistic University, which in its turn, impacted and designed her future passion to focus on a field of labour movement, namely promoting workers’ rights and interests at different levels; advocating for human & labour rights and values, campaign for social justice and a fair future of work.

In 2006-2007 Oksana won a fellowship opportunity and completed an education course on International and Security Policy; Economic and Social Challenges in the process of Democracy Building at Robert Schuman Institute in Budapest, Hungary.

Since 2005 she was involved in the KVPU youth work – chairing the KVPU Youth Committee and in 2006-2008 she was serving as an elected Member of the Youth Committee of the Pan-European Regional Council, an ITUC wing for Europe.

Email: coordinator@streetnet.org.za

Pat Horn (South Africa)

Senior Advisor

Pat Horn founded StreetNet International with its international base in Durban, South Africa, on 14th November 2002, after three years of preparation from 2000 to November 2002 together with Nozipho Lembethe, founding administrator.  Pat worked as the International Coordinator from the foundation of StreetNet until the end of May 2019 after the Sixth StreetNet International Congress in Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan, where it was agreed to hand over the coordination of StreetNet to her successor, Oksana Abboud.  She drew on her experience as a trade unionist in the formal economy in South Africa from 1976 – 1991, in developing new ways of organizing workers in the informal economy and establishing StreetNet as a new global federation of organized workers in the street vendors’ sector of the informal economy.  She now serves as Senior Advisor to the leadership, members and staff of StreetNet.

Email: advisor@streetnet.org.za

Annelene Shahbaz (South Africa)

Administration and Finance Manager

Annelene Shahbaz joined StreetNet International as a Finance administrator in July 2011. She was retrenched in 2014 and reemployed on a part time basis in 2015. She was employed full-time again in December 2016 and was Promoted to Administration and Finance Manager in June 2019.

Annelene holds a Diploma in Business Studies and Financial Management. Annelene is very passionate about working with figures. She believes that good Financial Management plays a huge role in any organization and helps drive the organization forward.

Prior to working with StreetNet International, Annelene worked as an accountant at various organisations, these raging from a construction company, a printing company and an accounting practice. Annelene  has over 18 years’ experience in Business, Finance Management and Administration.

Annelene  is based at the StreetNet International Head office in Durban, South Africa.

Email: accounts@streetnet.org.za

Jane Masta (Kenya)

Organizer for East and Southern Africa

Jane Masta joined StreetNet International in January 2018 as the Organiser for Africa. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Public Administration and Sociology and a Master’s degree in Public Administration. Prior to Joining StreetNet International she worked with Central Organisation of Trade Unions Kenya (COTU-Kenya) and ITUC-Africa as a gender officer and projects manager. She has also been a member of the African Labour Research Network (ALRN) and Committee of Expert’s Member for East Africa Trade Union Confederation (EATUC). Jane has over 15 years’ experience in the Labour Movement.

At StreetNet International she is involved in assisting the International Coordinator in coordinating StreetNet Internationally, Regionally and Lobbying and Advocacy work. She is also involved in project management.

Email: jane.masta@streetnet.org.za

Maíra Vannuchi (Brasil)

Organizer for the Americas and Communication Coordinator

Maira Villas-Bôas Vannuchi is the organizer of StreetNet International for the Americas, in addition to contributing in the areas of communication and workers education of the organization. Prior to that, she worked with StreetNet between 2011-2013 on the World Class Cities for All Campaign in Brazil. She was a founder with many other comrades of the União Nacional de Trabalhadores/as Camelôs, Ambulantes e Feirantes do Brasil – UNICAB (National Union of Workers Street Vendors of Brazil). Graduated as a sociologist, she has a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the Institute of Urban and Regional Planning – IPPUR at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro-UFRJ. Prior to that, she held the MA Globalization and Labor at TISS India under the ILO Global Labor University-GLU program. She worked in Brazilian Civil Society Organizations and at the Social Observatory Institute of Central Única dos Trabalhadores-CUT Brasil.

Email: maira.vannuchi@streetnet.org.za

Evelyn Benjamin-Sampson (Ghana)

Organizer for West and Central Africa

Evelyn Benjamin-Sampson holds master’s degree in Development Economics, in the area of “Social Economy and Labour” from the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas (SP), Brazil (where she conducted her research on Informal Economy Workers and their Socio-economic Contributions); as well as Bachelor of Arts from the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Ghana. She initially trained as a Professional Teacher and taught for 15 years before joining the Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU) as Gender and Youth Coordinator/Expert, upon studying Gender and Development/Gender-sensitive Planning and Implementation courses at the ILO International Training Center in Turin, Italy. She has trained on Labour and Social Policies for Decent Work (ILO, Geneva), Result-Based Management of Projects, Monitoring and Evaluation, Social Justice for Fair Globalisation and Global Development Agenda. She has repeatedly represented OATUU at International Labour Conference in Geneva; and at High Level Consultative Meetings at the international levels including UNCTAD, AU ECOSSOC, UNECA and ILO. She has worked as Resource Person at international workshops and trained many trainers in Unions across Africa. As Gender and Labour Expert she has offered guidelines to new Gender and Youth Officers. She has written many articles for newspapers and co-authored “Visibility and Voice for Union Women” for Global University Researchers.

Evelyn: evelyn.sampson@streetnet.org.za

Kateryna Yarmolyuk-Kröck (Germany)

Organizer for Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Dr. Kateryna Yarmolyuk-Kröck is a labour lawyer and a researcher on labour and social issues. After studying law at the National University “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” in Ukraine, she has obtained her PhD in law at the International Center for Development and Decent Work / University of Kassel, Germany. She is also a graduate of the GLU Master Programme “Labour Policies and Globalisation” (2007-2008, University of Kassel and Berlin School of Economics and Law). Prior to that, Kateryna worked as a legal advisor to trade unions in Ukraine. Before joining StreetNet International, she has worked as a project coordinator at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Ukraine from 2018 to 2021, where she has effectively implemented a series of projects on workers’ rights, strengthening social dialogue, labour protection, occupational safety and health and gender equality with multiple stakeholders, including global union federations (such as BWI, IndustriALL and IUF), national employers’ and workers’ organisations and NGOs.

Her scientific interests are focused around the implementation and application of international labour law in the national legislation of states, occupational safety and health standards and social protection, particularly in the informal sector, and the role of labour inspection in enhancing labour legislation at work. Besides, Kateryna is actively researching on occupational safety and health in Europe, specifically on work-related psychosocial risks as well as the implications of COVID-19 on the world of work.

 

Nash Tysmans (Belgium, Philippines)

Organizer for Asia

Nash Tysmans is a writer, teacher, and community worker. She joined StreetNet in 2021 as a consultant for social protection but currently serves as its organizer for Asia. As a development practitioner originally based in the Philippines, she has had over 8 years of experience working in government, NGOs, and independently as a researcher in far-flung communities. She received her master’s degree in Development Studies from the University of Antwerp where she specialized in governance and conflict. At StreetNet she is most excited to work on extending social protection to informal economy workers, engaging in participatory research, and working with young people in practicing communications for social change.

Email: nastasia.tysmans@streetnet.org.za

Pilar Balbuena (Canada, Colombia)

Global Advocacy and Urban Policies Specialist

The early part of Pilar’s career was in business and marketing with the pharmaceutical and IT industries, both in her native Colombia and in Canada, her place of residency. Pilar also worked with the recycling industry in Canada, managing, designing, implementing and evaluating recycling programs, including with the Federal Government of Canada and major private companies in the Ottawa region. Pilar holds a degree in chemistry, is fully fluent in Spanish and English and has a working knowledge of Portuguese and French. Originally contracted by WIEGO as a consultant working with the communications and global projects teams. She currently works with WIEGO’s Urban Policies Programme team, dedicating part of her time to documenting and analyzing the global media coverage of workers in the informal economy and WIEGO’s. Pilar also works with global partners in joint urban advocacy activities. From 2014 to 2016, Pilar played an active role in preparing WIEGO for Habitat 3 as part of WIEGO’s Urban Advocacy Team.  Since the year 2020, Pilar has been working in collaboration with the StreetNet International team in several areas, such as advising and facilitating the advocacy work in the American Region,  developing, implementing and facilitating Urban Policies capacity building activities with SNI team and affiliates across the globe, as well as playing an active role on the Informal Cross Border Trade (ICBT) Project and helping to develop SNI upcoming Public Spaces project.

 

Margarida Teixeira (Portugal)

Media Officer

Margarida Teixeira joined StreetNet International as Media Officer in June 2020. With an academic background in Cinema, Philosophy and Human Rights, she is passionate about communication for development and social change. Previously, she worked mostly with organizations devoted to migrants’ and women’s rights and has continued to be involved with grassroots feminist groups in Europe. Margarida is based in Portugal and she  holds a Master’s degree of Communication for Development from Malmö University.

Email: media@streetnet.org.za

Mduduzi (Mdu) Phenyane (South Africa)

Caretaker and Receptionist

Mdu lives in Durban and is working in a part-time position as a caretaker and receptionist in StreetNet’s office.