About

Amal Alliance

We believe that we are all global citizens with a social and moral responsibility to ensure that all children have access to the fundamental skills needed to reach their full potential. We seek to engage systems that affect displaced and disenfranchised children by offering holistic, evidenced-based interventions. Our whole child approach stimulates the mind and body through education and integration programs that focus on social emotional learning and address trauma at its root cause. These programs allow children to find inner strength and resilience despite their challenging circumstances.

 

Our Name

Amal embodies our essence with multilingual meanings that include "Hope" in Arabic, "Action"
in Urdu, "Work" in Hebrew, and "Charity" in Malaysian.

 
 

Our Philosophy

We believe in advancing quality holistic learning to empower children to become global learners. Realizing that issues do not occur in a vacuum, we engage the macro structures to ensure the sustainability and effectiveness of our micro interventions. Engaging different system levels increases the effectiveness and ensures the sustainability of our work. Through our strategic partnerships, Amal Alliance advances whole child development, educational equity, gender equality, conflict resolution, and peace-building.

 
  • We believe in the inclusion of innovative Psychosocial Support and Social and Emotional Learning (PSS/SEL) for whole child development.

  • We provide social and emotional learning and psychosocial support programming to enhance mental health and wellbeing of children regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, ability, status, or any other identity.

  • We produce quality educational content and tools under open access learning to reduce inequalities and serve the most marginalized.

  • We prioritize and support the wellbeing and professional development of teachers and caregivers.

  • We advocate to transform systems that reflect more equity and inclusiveness for children to learn the skills necessary to flourish in life.

Core Values

 

Respect & Dignity

Education is a Human Right

 

Upholding Childhood

 

Social Inclusion

 

Hope, Happiness & Opportunity

Thoughtful Advocacy

 

Loving Kindness

Integrity, Honesty & Transparency

Board Of Directors

DANIELLE DE LA FUENTE
FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

  • Danielle De La Fuente has vast experience in peacebuilding and diplomatic efforts stemming from her work at the US Department of Defense and multiple Embassies. Her passion for achieving sustainable development, led her to form the Amal Alliance. Amal is a non-governmental nonprofit organization that provides displaced and disenfranchised children worldwide with social development programs that help cope with the invisible scars of trauma, and the learning fundamentals that guarantee them future opportunities to succeed. As a passionate advocate for childrens’ rights to education and to play, she specializes in social emotional learning. Bridging policy and practice, she sits on the Advisory Board of Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center, a G20Y committee, and forms part of numerous international coalitions and UN task teams for early childhood development and inclusive education. Her work has received many accolades including winning UNHCR’s Humanitarian Education Accelerator COVID 19 Challenge, being a Top 3 Nominee for 2020’s Crisis and Conflict Response, and featured for her COVID-19 Leadership Response in Vulnerable Settings.
    Like her work, Danielle’s own background is rich in culture as she was born in San Diego to immigrant parents from Mexico and Iran, is multilingual, and has lived in 5 countries. She obtained her BA in International Relations from Boston University’s Pardee School of Global Affairs and MLitt in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Danielle is a Kids Yoga Instructor, and Mindfulness Educator.

ROBERT JONES III
DIRECTOR

  • Robert has more than 27 years of experience in corporate and technology transactions. His practice focuses on transactional matters including technology, software, and cloud licensing (from both the customer and the vendor sides), outsourcing, consulting and professional services, and software systems acquisition, integration, and implementation. He provides advice to clients regarding service level agreements, data security/privacy, software-as-a-service (SaaS), and cloud-computing services. Robert has broad experience in the software, retail, travel, logistics, hospitality, transportation, consumer products, electronics, payment card, satellite, cable, and online services industries.

PARISA ELAHI
DIRECTOR

  • Parisa is Business & Human Rights counsel at Cisco. Prior to joining Cisco, Parisa worked on corporate, commercial and Business & Human Rights issues at various in-house roles. Parisa has also worked at an international human rights NGO. Parisa started her career at international law firms working in London and New York. Parisa graduated from NYU Law and has a Masters in International Relations from the London

ANIL KHURANA
CHAIRMAN

  • Dr. Anil Khurana is an experienced business executive with a proven track record in strategy, operations, digitization, sustainability, M&A, and transformation across various industries. He has held executive leadership roles and advised numerous public and private businesses and PE investors, and is currently a board member of multiple organizations. Anil has started and scaled multiple businesses and has worked with senior executives, private equity investors, and government leaders across the world. He received his education from the University of Michigan and is certified by the National Association of Corporate Directors. Anil is passionate about supporting important causes, including sustainability, education, children’s causes, homelessness, and equity.

Advisory Board

Listed by Order of Country Affiliation

 

MS. GIORGIA NAGALLI
Associate, Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Brazil

MS. ANDREA GORDILHO
Co-Founder & CEO, Fintech Startup

Brazil

MS. CATALINA MARTINEZ
Attorney Advisor, US Small Business Administration

Colombia

 

DR. SHANE SZARKOWSKI
Executive Director, World in 2050

Croatia

MRS. MARIE-SOLENE PRUDHOMME
Director, Kantar Public

France

MRS. NELE FELDMANN
Associate Director - PSR for Refugee Students, Community Sponsorship Hub

Germany

 

MR. THEODORE BATIS
Finance Associate, Davis Polk

Greece

MS. SOUZANNA KLIMENTIDI
CEO, A.A.K. Law Firm

Greece

MS. ANA ROCIO MONZON WOC
Associate, Eversheds Sutherland US LLP (New York)

USA / Guatemala

 

DR. TARA RAAFAT
Semantic/Metadata Architect- CTO Office, Bloomberg LP

Iran

MS. MONICA KINYUA
Deputy Director, Children Peace Initiative Kenya

Kenya

MS. AIZAT ZHAKYBALIEVA
Advisor, Aretera Public Affairs

Kyrgyzstan

 

GENERAL (RET.) HANY NAKHLE
Lebanese Army

Lebanon

MR. MAURICIO TORRES
Director, Regulatory & Quality Affairs, Suneva Medical

Mexico

MRS. VANESSA RINGEL
Founder, Gravitas

Mexico

 

MRS. BERTHA DE LA FUENTE
Philanthropist / (Ret.) Primary Teacher

Mexico

DR. NISHCHAL PANDEY
Director, The Centre for South Asian Studies (CSAS)

Nepal

DR. ELOR NKEREUWEM
Adjunct Lecturer/ Project Supervisor, The Johns Hopkins University - Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)

Nigeria

 

AMBASSADOR (RET) HUSAIN HAQQANI
Director for South Asia and Central Asia, Hudson Institute

Pakistan

MR. FAHD BASIR
Managing Director, Capital Markets

Pakistan

MRS. CYNTHIA GUYER
Senior Advisor, Global Dignity

Portugal / USA

 

DR. ASMAA E. AL-FADALA
Director of Research, World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE)

Qatar

MR. EDUARDO JOSE CARRILLO MARQUEZ
Senior Manager, KPMG

Spain

MR. MARCELO GARCIA
Founder, Broadlights & Wisdom Accelerator

Switzerland

 

MR. ALP ARMUTLU
Agency Director, Active Events Istanbul

Turkey

MR. DOMINIC REGESTER
Director, Salzburg Global Seminar

United Kingdom

DR. MARGARET SINCLAIR
Co-Convener, NISSEM

United Kingdom

 

MRS. PARISA ELAHI
Human Rights Counsel, Cisco

United States/Iran

MR. JUDSON DEAN
Director of Development, S2 Global

United States

MS. LINDSAY HOLLIDAY
Analyst, The Walt Disney Company

United States

 

MRS. CHRISTINA BARBARIN
VP Sales & Operation, Heartland Meat Co., Inc.

United States

MRS. JOANNE MYERS
Fr. Director of Public Affairs, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs

United States

MS. ERIN ROBERTSON
Public Affairs Attache, US Department of State

United States

 

MRS. JOANNE LLOYD, LICSW
Clinician, Therapeutic Kids Yoga Teacher, Yoginikids!

United States

MS. DIANE KALDANY
Co-Founder / Chief Strategy & Relationships Officer, Capitalism & The Social Good Group

United States

MR. RASHAUN WILLIAMS
General Partner, The All-Star Fund, Managing Partner, Value Investment Group, Inc.

United States

 

MR. JEFFREY HADDAD
Director, Cost & Pricing and Company, Winrock International

United States

MRS. ANNIE McGINNITY KUBES
Executive Director, McGinnity Family Foundation

United States

MRS. ANN RAKOFF
Certified Human Potential & Accredited ACC Coach in the Non-Profit Sector

United States

 

MS. MARY SHACKELTON
Research Specialist, Kirkland & Ellis LLP

United States

MR. ROB NOVEMBRE
Founder & CEO, Clarity Market Holdings LLC

United States

MS. PANKTI VORA
Associate, White & Case LLP

United States

 

DR. JANE McCALL POLITI
NGO Committee on Migration, Subcommittee for Children

United States / Italy

MRS. THELMA ROCHA
W South Beach Director of Revenue, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.

USA/Mexico

 

Team

 

REA HYSTUNA
Program Coordinator

MEGAN ZAGORIC
Policy & Programs Associate

RENEE VARGA
Accounting

 

MICHELLE PATTERSON
Bookkeeping

BONK CUSHMAN EAGLE
External Audit

Our Partners

Academic Affiliates

Our Sponsors