Focus Staff

Afsar Jafri has been a Senior Associate with Focus since 2005 and is based in New Delhi. He coordinates Focus’ research on food sovereignty and has over 15 years of work on agriculture and food policy. He is closely linked with farmers groups in India and outside. He has a Masters in Philosophy (International Law) from Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Email: a.jafri@focusweb.org

Clarissa V. Militante finished AB Literature at the De La Salle University, Manila (1985) as her undergraduate course. Professionally she started as a journalist, having worked as a reporter-writer for the Philippine-based news agency, Philippine News and Features,  in the mid-1980s and early 1990s. She also became Special Reports Editor of www.gmanews.tv in 2006.  Before Focus Philippines, she worked mostly with non-government organizations as editorial consultant; her first novel was long listed in the 2009 Man Asian Literary Prize.


Email: cvmilitante@focusweb.org

Joseph Purugganan joined Focus in February 2003 to help coordinate the nationwide campaign of the Stop the New Round Coalition to derail the WTO-Doha round negotiations.  He currently coordinates the trade sub-programme of Focus and is also the co-coordinator for Southeast Asia of the EU-ASEAN FTA Campaign Network.  Joseph also spearheads Focus' climate work in the Philippines. 

Email: josephp@focusweb.org

Lyn Cacho-dela Cruz the current Finance officer of Focus on the Global South, Philippines Programme. She is tasked to ensure proper recording of financial transactions, and prepare accurate regular financial reports.  With 11 years of experience working with the peoples organizations, Lyn works well on her own initiative. She graduated from Polytechnic University of the Phils, with a degree on Bachelor of Accountancy and Law  She joined FOCUS in January 2010.

Email: lyn@focusweb.org

Mary Ann Manahan is a research associate with Focus on the Global South, Philippines Programme. She joined Focus in March 2003 and works on the commons (land, water, and freedom of information issues), including issues  as they relate to international financial institutions such as the ADB, and the WB,  issues of privatization and  regulation of public utilities, resource management, and imagining and building alternatives at the macroand micro levels. She has a background in sociology and women and development studies.

Email: mbmanahan@focusweb.org

Jacques Chai Chomtongdi has an MA in Development Studies from the University of East Anglia, United Kingdom. He joined Focus on the Global South in July 2000. For nearly two years, he worked at the Catholic Council of Thailand for Development (Caritas Thailand). As an Education Programme Coordinator he was in charge of planning and developing policies and activities for Caritas Thailand and its Social Action Centres, which work with people at grassroots level in all regions of Thailand. In addition, he was also a "resource person" for Caritas Thailand and other Church organizations on subjects concerning macro-economic policies, political economy and social changes. He is now a Research Associate at FOCUS.

Email: jacques-chai@focusweb.org

Raffy Simbol or Qiqo is the current IT/Librarian of Focus. He joined focus in 2008 but prior to that, he has been an intern of the Philippines Programme for two years. Qiqo takes care of the websites under the focusweb.org domain. He is also incharge of the Focus mediatheque and resource center. He graduated from the University of the Philippines with a degree of Bachelors of Library and Information science. He has a lovely cat named Berlin Richter

Email: qiqo@focusweb.org

Shalmali Guttal is the Coordinator of the Defending and Reclaiming the Commons programme, and also has specific responsibility for Focus' mainland Southeast programme. She comes from an NGO background and over the past 15 years has worked in India, the United States, and most recently, in the Lao PDR and mainland Southeast Asia. Her academic background is in the social sciences with particular emphasis on participatory education and qualitative research.

E-mail: s.guttal@focusweb.org

Soontaree Nakaviroj has a BA English and History of Arts degree from the Faculty of Archaeology at Silpakorn University, Thailand. She is a former administrative assistant of SARCS Secretariat at the Environmental Research Institute, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. She joined Focus since 1998 as an administrative assistant.

E-mail: soontaree@focusweb.org

Walden Bello is a senior analyst of Focus and a representative in the 14th and 15th congress of the Republic of the Philippines.  A 2003 recipient of the prestigious nobel alternative Right Livelihood award, Walden is considered the most respected anti-globalization thinker in Asia by the Belgian newspaper “Le Soir”. Walden together with UNDP senior adviser Kamal Malhotra, founded Focus in 1995.

E-mail: waldenbello@yahoo.com