OUR TEAM

By combining gender equality, leadership, communication and advocacy, Ida has for many years played an important role in the Swedish public debate. She has founded several organizations focused on the promotion of gender equality. In 2006, she established the organizations “You Skate Girl” and “No Limit Skate” who both focus on equality in the skateboard culture.

In 2010, she founded the Make Equal Foundation, an organization developing and implementing solution oriented methods to improve equality in Sweden and in 2013 she was one of the initiators of the Fatta Movement fighting for consent as a basic requirement in sexual offence legislation and practice. Ida also started #killmiddag (#globalguytalk) as a way to get boys and men to take responsibility for sexual violence by starting with themselves. She has received several awards for her work such as “Super Communicator of the Year”, “BRIS Award Winner of the Year” and “People’s Educator of the Year”.

Sara Hugosson has a long experience of working within, and with, the civil society. At the Swedish Innovation Authority, Vinnova, she worked particularly with civil society’s prerequisites and capacity for innovation, with a focus on collaboration and a mission-oriented approach.

Sara has a degree in human rights and has previously worked with policy and advocacy, campaign and trainings for volunteers, for the commitment to strengthen human rights.

Her interest in children’s rights issues has followed her throughout her career. Among other things it has resulted in Children’s Think-tank and the cross-sector initiative “All children has the right to pass school”.

Gabriella is one of Sweden’s most influential voices in the field of commercial sexual exploitation of children. At only 19, she co-founded the survivor organization Inte Din Hora, which is a network for and by people with experience of commercial sexual exploitation.

Gabriella has received several awards for her work, including “Changemaker of the Year” 2018 and “Human Rights Defender and Promoter 2020” as well as the “Compass Rose”, an award given by His Majesty the King to young leaders who have shown courage, thought and action (2023).

During 2022-2023, Gabriella worked as ombudsman against commercial sexual exploitation. In addition to her work as an expert at ChildX, Gabriella is on the board of WeProtect, a global alliance against online child sexual abuse.

Elise Thoen is a human rights lawyer with more than ten years of experience working with the promotion of international human rights in the government sector, the UN, the EU and civil society organizations. She is an expert on international human rights law and policy, including the rights of the child.

Elise has considerable experience from the field, working several years in the Balkans both on individual human rights and humanitarian law cases before the courts, as well as on projects concerning human rights, transitional justice, rule of law and gender equality. She has also worked several years in Brussels for the EU External Action Service on human rights promotion, policy coordination and development. She was inter alia responsible for drafting and negotiating EU policies on human rights topics, including the rights of the child, and represented the EU in international fora such as the UN cooperating closely with civil society organizations both in Brussels and in the field.

On parental leave. Faryal combines innovative skills from the business sector with her passion for human rights. She has extensive international experience ranging from the Middle East to Central and South Asia and Europe. In addition to having worked in diverse cultures, she has also worked across multiple sectors, thereby curating her unique multi-sectoral approach to problem solving. She brings strong research and analytical skills into the team through her monitoring and evaluation work from the field, including with UNICEF on peacebuilding and youth empowerment in Tajikistan.

She has also worked in marketing for tech startups and renowned FMCGs like Unilever where she has developed social mission and responsible business campaigns supporting cross-sectoral partnerships and driving brand activism.

johanna@childx.se

Johanna is a behavioral analyst specializing
in neuropsychiatric disorders who combines her commitment to children’s rights with creative entrepreneurship.

Her strong drive to contribute to a better world for children has led her to work in both the public and private sectors as well as to a long involvement in the non-profit sector. Johanna has a master’s degree in social care and has over ten years of experience in supervising and educating professionals that meet children and young people with disabilities of various kinds.

Johanna contributes with her specialist knowledge of children with neuropsychiatric disabilities in the tireless fight against commercial sexual exploitation of children.

ECONOMIC ADMINISTRATOR

Petra Svensson

petra@childx.se

Petra has several years of experience in finance and accounting, with overall responsibility for both large and small organizations. Today, Petra is the Economic Administrator for ChildX and hopes to use her knowledge to best support the organization’s work.

COMMUNICATION OFFICER AND PROJECT LEADER

Hanna Wigerdal

hanna@childx.se

Hanna has a solid experience in communication and advocacy within the non-profit sector. She is a communicator and graphic designer with a particular passion for campaign building.

Her dedication to social justice work has shaped her career. Previously, she has worked as a communications manager in the City of Stockholm, at a youth shelter, at a communication agency, and freelanced for major players in the labor and union world.

JUNIOR PROGRAMME OFFICER/INTERN

Sofia Ekström

hanna@childx.se

Sofia Ekström is an intern at ChildX.

She is pursuing a master’s degree in International Relations at Stockholm University. She is interested in deepening her knowledge in the production of human security, particularly in promoting children’s rights, to actively contribute to positive change. Sofia leverages her interest and prior knowledge in international relations to learn more about the subject and contribute as much as possible to ChildX

Jacob Flärdh has an extensive experience of international work for children’s rights with a collaborative impact approach. He has spend most his career on multi-sectoral partnership; academia, business industry, civil society and public sector working together to strengthen the rights of the child. Jacob is the initiator and first Chair of the World Anti-Bullying Forum, and as a former Head of Research he has led several research projects on impact and implementation of interventions to protect children from violence. Besides working as the Chair for ChildX, Jacob is a Board Member for Friends, Youth 2030 Movement and Chairman of The Swedish Platform Civil Society against Human Trafficking.

Hugo Stenbeck has a lifelong commitment to ice hockey, and he has invested in several Swedish sports clubs over the years, including Malmö Redhawks and IK Pantern. As part of his commitment to sports, Hugo has initiated and run philanthropic initiatives with the aim of improving the situation for young people in southern Sweden. In addition to being part of ChildX’s board, Hugo has also been a board member for the Stenbeck Foundation since 2018.

Sara Damber is one of Sweden’s most prominent social entrepreneurs. In 1997, she founded Friends, the largest organisation in Scandinavia working against bullying and discrimination in schools. A little more than 10 years later, she teamed up with international investment group Kinnevik to create Reach for Change, an organisation that provides support to social entrepreneurs across the world who fight to make life better for children. To date, Reach for Change has supported more than 1,200 social entrepreneurs in 18 countries on three continents.

In parallel to her career as a social entrepreneur and founder, Sara has led a number of change management projects within the government and public institutions on local, regional and national level. Besides working as CEO for the Stenbeck Foundation, Sara is the Chairman of the Board for Friends, and an active board member of 29K and ChildX.

Sophie is an active investor and a dedicated philanthropist. She is the founder of the SEA Foundation, which makes early investments in health, environmental and education companies, and a co-founder of Imperative, a company that creates a more meaningful and human working life.

Through her private foundation, the Sophie Stenbeck Family Foundation, Sophie supports initiatives that prevent human trafficking and strengthen the rights of children. She is also a co-founder of the ChildX foundation and a co-founding board member of the Swedish Queen’s World Childhood Foundation.

In addition to her role as board member for ChildX Sophie is also on the board for the Stenbeck Foundation, investment fund Max Ventures and media company Penske Media Corporation.

Britta is the Program Director and Deputy Secretary General of Childhood. She is a political scientist with focus on eastern europe and slavic languages, and also holds a master degree with focus on the best interest of the child and human rights. Britta has extensive experience in international development work from her years at Sida and School of Social Work´s international unit.

Daniel is an entrepreneur that has had great success in the real estate business as well as in the tourism and hospitality industry. He has a passion for business but also a strong passion for making everyday life better for children and families. In the past 20 years he has started several initiatives to make the world better for children such as The holiday trip and the Children’s Party. In addition to his involvement in ChildX, he runs the association Our Beloved Children, which among other things supports children in financial vulnerability. He has also started several initiatives to provide support for child refugees.

Malin is a consultant and researcher focused on strategy, innovation and leadership. She has worked with company strategic challenges and development for more than 20 years. Today Malin runs her own company MOOV that works with both Swedish and international companies and organizations – ranging from family owned to listed companies. She holds a Ph.D. from Lund University where she remains active as part-time lecturer and senior researcher in business strategy, strategic change and innovation management.

Merly Åsbogård is a political scientist with an international focus and a degree from the University of Gothenburg. She has previously worked with project management and project support and has an extensive network of organizations working with social issues. Today Merly works as a national and international lecturer on men’s violence against women focusing on prostitution and the structures behind it. Her clients include social services, higher education institutions and various organizations. Merly is a survivor of commercial sexual exploitation and is one of the most prominent voices in Sweden on survivor rights and inclusion.

Therese is driven by creating collaborations between different sectors to enable more effective and positive social change. In 2010, she founded Sime Social Impact, a philanthropic part of one of the most impactful Tech conferences at the time in Europe. She is an experienced moderator/curator and has, among other things, restarted Non-Violence Project Sweden as its head of Sweden. In addition, she has worked with the IFRC in Geneva and is one of the co-founders of the global organization Catalyst2030. Currently Therese is the Director of Operations at H.M. Queen Silvia’s Foundation “Care About the Children”.