Our Team

While working as an intern with TAP-EDM, Zenashe is completing her master’s degree in history at McGill University where she is researching local ownership in international development. Fluent in English, French, and Spanish, Zenashe feels fortunate that her studies have led her to travel to many countries including, most recently, Ethiopia. Previously, Zenashe has worked with the Alberta Council for Global Cooperation, carrying out public engagement about sustainable development. She is passionate about her past and ongoing volunteer work with various non-profit organizations supporting youth, newcomers, and international development initiatives.

Demetra Sainas is an intern working on the TAP-EDM project since September 2022 and working out of the Calgary Alinea office. She recently completed her Honours Bachelor’s Degree in Population and Public Health from the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Health Sciences in French. Her education and passion lie in the same place: improving health outcomes, reducing health inequalities, and monitoring and evaluation. She is a former House of Commons Parliamentary Page and has worked with the Government of Ontario in the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development as a Policy Researcher. She served as an elected student representative on UOttawa’s Students’ Union Faculty Board along with other volunteering experiences.

Angela Ma is TAP-EDM’s Finance Coordinator. She joined Alinea in 2019 in support of the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service’s Canadian Education Export Guide and technical service mapping project and Canada’s Venezuelan Task force on the Venezuelan Donors Conference Pledge Tracking and Reporting Project.
In addition to her work on TAP-EDM, Angela has supported the Climate Action Africa - Expert Deployment Mechanism (EDM-CAA) on monitoring, evaluation, and learning. Outside Alinea, Angela has spearheaded many community development initiatives, studied, and worked in Ghana with the Institute of Peace & Development and the Center for Conflict Transformation and Peace Studies (CECOTAPS). Angela was recently named Alberta Top 30 Under 30 in 2022.

Irene brings over 20 years of project coordinating and administration experience working with the Government of Canada, NGOs, and private sector. Her background includes work on projects in Mali, Senegal, Morocco, and Vietnam as well as support on projects in Peru, Iqaluit, and Ukraine. Irene is currently serving as Alinea International’s Project Coordinator on the global Technical Assistance Partnership – Expert Deployment Mechanism (TAP-EDM) Project, mainly responsible for project and program support including logistical and travel coordination, compliance with client requirements, contracting and reporting.

Gabrielle Lepage is known in her work and community circles as a connector, a strategic thinker a passionate communicator, avid implementer, and creative enthusiast. Gabrielle is proudly bilingual, born and raised in the Peace Country, in Alberta. She has an energetic leadership style, committed to community development and a personally engaged health promoter. Her past work focused on improving the health of young children, their families and communities.  Appealing to and mobilizing community stakeholders for collective impact and synergistic partnerships, Gabrielle has worked in communications and project management over the last 15 years in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario supporting the advancement and increased visibility of francophone health and wellness initiatives.

Gayle is Vice President of Alinea International (Canada) and leads education and governance sector programming for Alinea worldwide. In education, Gayle has recently been engaged in technical education projects in Vietnam and Ethiopia, which involve work with universities and colleges; upgrading undergraduate curricula; and strengthening the provision of technical vocational pedagogy. In governance, Gayle developed and directed a project in Ukraine following the Maidan Revolution. Her background also includes work on education sector reform in Jordan, juvenile justice reform in Ukraine, women’s empowerment in Indonesia, and basic human needs in Tibet.

With a background in environmental assessment, sustainability, social safeguards and climate change, Wit has more than 30 years of experience in international project delivery. Wit has worked extensively for the UK Disaster Recovery Rapid Response Plan for Overseas Territories Project, which provides technical expertise to six overseas territories post-hurricane in the Caribbean. Recently, he has been engaged in a Mongolia extractive sector project; Ethiopia agriculture project; Ukraine economic development and reform; and World Bank-financed Kabul solid waste management plan. Wit’s background includes preparing environmental management plans and serving as the environment specialist for GAC-funded projects in Ghana, Egypt and Ukraine.

Tim is TAP's Recruitment Marketing Advisor. He joined Alinea as an Administrator for the Business Development team and quickly moved into his current Alinea role of International Development Recruiter, where his skills in capacity development and networking complement both the growth of the recruitment department and caliber of talent on Alinea’s projects. Within his first year at Alinea, Tim implemented a new global consultant database and tailored training for field recruiters for the PROTECT and SURGe projects in Ukraine. Tim is also a member of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals.

A leader in the international development sector for more than 25 years, Chris has experience at the helm of several long-term overseas postings. He specializes in capacity development with a background as a RBM, GBA+, Triple Nexus facilitator with the Centre for Intercultural Learning. Chris serves as Project Director on the TAP-EDM Project. Previously, he was Project Director of CISAL for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities – a six-year municipal strengthening capacity development project in the Americas. Chris is trilingual – English, French and Spanish – and leads teams from a participatory and inclusive perspective to inspire and maximize development results accountable to project beneficiaries and stakeholders alike.

David brings more than 18 years of experience in international development to his role as Project Manager on Alinea’s TAP-EDM Project. Previously, David held positions with Cuso International, the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa (UNREC) located in Togo, the UN Integrated Office in Burundi (BINUB) and the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre. During his tenure at Cuso, he managed a global volunteer cooperation program in 17 countries and subsequently led the development and implementation of Cuso’s programming in Africa. David holds graduate-level qualifications in international development, and he is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and PROSCI Change Management Practitioner.

For more than 20 years, Morag has designed, implemented and managed projects focusing on gender equality and women’s empowerment. She has extensive experience in gender mainstreaming and gender transformative approaches; capacity development and the creation of training programs; policy development and advocacy; program and project evaluation; and supporting donor coordination mechanisms. Morag has delivered training in gender-based analysis and results-based management to government and civil society partners in both donor and developing countries. Her background also includes work in the areas of sexual and reproductive health and rights; maternal, neonatal and child health; HIV/AIDS; and health systems strengthening.

A development economist, monitor and evaluator, Guy has more than 20 years of experience overseeing and supporting successful, complex, multi-million-dollar projects across six continents. He specializes in designing, developing and implementing utility- and equity-focused, mixed methods summative and formative evaluations, and building robust and practical internal MEL systems. With multi-sectoral experience, Guy has recently been engaged in monitoring the UK Good Governance Fund; GAC’s Comunica Project: and GAC’s Capacity Development Support Facility. He is a long-standing member of the Canadian Evaluation Society and the Outcome Mapping Learning Community.

A Peruvian-Canadian former lawyer, Alexandra has more than thirteen years of project management experience in international development, gender equality, peace, and security projects in Latin America. She started in the international development sector in 2009 with the Pearson Peacekeeping Center (PPC) and in 2015 she joined Cuso International recruiting Canadian volunteers and subject matter experts to provide capacity building, technical assistance and policy advice to worldwide project stakeholders. She took on the role of Cuso’s Security Manager in 2020, developing their PSEA Framework and managed various international PSEA investigations in English, French and Spanish. She joined the TAP project in March 2022.