We need your help!
Board Members
Mette Lund Sørensen
Mette has an educational background in international development and natural resource management, with a focus on smallholder farming. She spent seven years working as a freelancer in Malawi, where she worked for the Danish Embassy and as a representative for DanChurchAid. Mette has also worked on Africa-focused projects for the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO/FTF) and Danida in Denmark. Since 2004, she has been a senior advisor at DanChurchAid, specialising in method development and quality assurance in agriculture. Besides providing technical assistance to countries in Africa and Asia, she has also worked on the right to food and food security.
Birgitte Poulsen
Birgitte is an independent professional in development work, with 20 years of experience working in developing countries in Africa and Asia. Her specialisation includes child protection, the elimination of child labour, forced labour, and human trafficking, as well as advocacy for education and equality. She has worked extensively with human rights and strategic planning, collaborating with authorities, INGOs, NGOs, CBOs, and employer and worker organisations. Birgitte co-founded Ubumi and has been involved since 2013.
Ida Thyregod
Ida is the Secretariat Director at the LEGO Foundation. She has spent the past 15 years working with the UN and international NGOs, both locally and at headquarters. Ida has a passion for helping the most vulnerable people. She has lived and worked in the UK, USA, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, Mozambique, and Venezuela. Ida now resides in Billund with her husband and three sons.
Steven Jensen
Steven is a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for Human Rights, with extensive experience in health, HIV/AIDS, and human rights. He began his career 20 years ago as a civil servant at the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, working in the Southern Africa Office, and later joined UNAIDS in Geneva. At UNAIDS, he was involved in coordinating and developing strategies for national HIV/AIDS efforts, civil society engagement, and UN reform. Steven has also collaborated with national human rights institutions and has authored numerous works on human rights, health, the UN, and international diplomacy. His publications include The Making of International Human Rights (2016) and as editor of Histories of Global Inequality: New Perspectives (2019) and Social Rights and the Politics of Obligation in History (2022). Steven has been a member of Ubumi for many years and joined the board in 2021.
