Our Team

Martin Dunlea

Chief Information & Operations Officer, GOAL Global

Martin has extensive experience as a CIO/COO, executive technology leader and management consultant. He has over 20 years’ experience working in global organisations, defining, and delivering global business strategies and support in large multi-national organisations in North American, LATAM, Europe and Asia.

Martin holds an MBA from Trinity College Dublin, a B.Eng. from University College Cork and is an Adjunct Professor / Mentor in Cork University Business School, UCC. He is a Chartered Engineer, (IEI), and a graduate of the Executive Development Programmes IMI(IE), IESE(ES) and Cranfield (UK).

His primary focus is to provide strategic direction in the development of GOAL’s business operation processes and optimisation of technology to support GOAL’s Strategy 2025. The diversity of the portfolio includes management responsibility for global IT, procurement, logistics, compliance, and business optimisation.

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John Gowen

Director of Strategy and Special Projects, GOAL Global

John is a business executive with over 30 years’ experience of working in multiple sectors in a variety of operating environments.

John has spent the majority of his career overseas, primarily in Africa, working in the development, finance, fintech and social enterprise sectors. John’s focus is the successful implementation of GOAL’s 2019-2021 strategy across all six organisational goals.

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David Kilcline

Director of People and Organisational Development, GOAL Global

David has 15 years experience across the areas of resourcing & talent, workforce development, and HR operations. He has experience in HR delivery at both field and corporate level. Before joining GOAL David worked with Irish INGO Concern Worldwide and in professional services in the UK and Asia.

David holds a BA (UCD), MA Human Resource Management (National College of Ireland), MPhil Peace Studies (Trinity College, Dublin), and Graduate Diploma IR (London School of Economics and Political Science).

David is committed to placing people development at the heart of GOAL’s work and believes that innovative Humanitarian HR approaches will continue to have a key strategic role in enabling change for the most vulnerable communities.

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Ali Kaya

Country Director, Türkiye

Ali Kaya was appointed GOAL Türkiye Country Director in August 2024.

Ali joins GOAL with 10+ years of humanitarian aid experience from Save The Children where he held several key leadership roles including an overseas post on the Ukraine response. Most recently, Ali served as the Area Manager for the Türkiye earthquake response in Gaziantep, overseeing a diverse team of 100 staff members and an annual budget of US$ 25M. Ali’s experience extends beyond emergency response. He previously worked with NRC and CARE International in Türkiye as Program Manager, where he managed multi-sector programs including CVA, Shelter & WASH, Food Security and Livelihood initiatives. Ali also successfully led a diverse program portfolio and team to deliver high quality and impactful programs working in close coordination with a range of external stakeholders, including the government, partners, and program donors.

Ali holds a Master’s Degree on International Relations from Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary and BSc in Economics from Karadeniz Technical University in Türkiye.

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John Rynne

Regional Director for Africa

John Rynne was appointed GOAL’s Interim Regional Director in Africa in October 2022.

John has worked in senior roles in the humanitarian sector for over 20 years for several aid agencies, including Plan International, Vital Voices, and Self-Help Africa.

He initially joined GOAL in 1996 from Concern, where he was Assistant Country Director for Concern Uganda and over the years, has held a variety of roles within GOAL, including Country Director for GOAL Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zaire, Country Director for GOAL Ethiopia. John has also held the Global Humanitarian Advisor and Emergency Preparedness Advisor roles and was Senior Humanitarian Advisor for GOAL’s Ukraine programme.

John holds a degree in Social Studies from Trinity College Dublin and a Certificate of Qualification in Social Work.

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Colin Lee

Director of Global Programs and Operations, GOAL Global

Colin Lee was appointed Director of Programme Operations in GOAL in July 2023 and re-appointed to the new role of Director of Global Programmes & Operations in May 2024.

Colin began his career in the humanitarian aid sector with Voluntary Services International (VSI) in Croatia in 1993. He worked in logistics for GOAL in Angola and Tanzania in 1994, before becoming acting Country Director for GOAL in Kenya and Cambodia from 1995 to 1998.

Colin also worked for Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) in Tanzania on the Rwandan refugee program before returning to Ireland to work for GOAL as Humanitarian Coordinator from 1999 to 2003. In 2003, he established Plan International in Ireland and in 2006, he became Chief Executive of Plan Ireland.

From Plan Ireland, Colin moved to the Country Director role for the International Medical Corps (IMC) Lebanon in Beirut from August 2007 to 2014 before moving into the Regional Director role for the Middle East with IMC (Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan & Turkey). He returned to work for Plan International in 2016 from Beirut and established their presence in the Middle East, leading growth and strategy for the organization in the region whilst also covering the Country Director role for Lebanon.

Colin returned with family to Ireland from Lebanon in 2021 and led the integration of the Gorta Group, following a merger with United Purpose by June 2023.

He holds a BA degree in History & Politics from NUIG and Masters in International Studies from UL.

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Gabriella Prandini

Humanitarian Director, GOAL Global

Gabriella Prandini re-joined GOAL in a new Humanitarian Director role in Nov 2022.

Gabriella has worked in the humanitarian and development sector for over 20 years across several organisations including Concern, CAFOD, Terre des Hommes and Gabriella worked for GOAL since 2013.

Most recently, Gaby held the role of Country Director for GOAL Zimbabwe, and supported the country programme through a significant amount of change including scaling up humanitarian responses to Cyclone IDAI and the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing funding from $1.2m to $9.5m over a five year period.

Prior to her role as Country Director, Gaby worked in Ethiopia for five years with GOAL Ethiopia, heading up the Humanitarian Response Programme. This involved overseeing a budget of over €20m, 400+ staff and multiple humanitarian donor programmes that allowed GOAL to respond to severe drought and high levels of malnutrition.

Gaby is a committed humanitarian who has a breadth of experience within the sector and significant knowledge of GOAL operations. This combination of experience and proven track record will serve the organisation well as we implement GOAL’s Strategy 2025.

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Leopold Buhendwa

Country Director, Niger

Leopold has over 25 years of management and senior level technical advisement experience, working in the humanitarian, international development, and public health fields.

He joined GOAL in 2016, initially as chief of party of a USAID-funded project in Malawi, and currently as country director in Niger.

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Helen McVeigh

Director of Development and Communications, GOAL Global

Helen joined GOAL in August 2024 and brings extensive experience of the charity sector, having worked with not-for-profit organizations in Ireland and the UK for over 25 years. Her working knowledge spans fundraising, communications and management gained from the UK Stroke Association, National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), Barnardos and Irish Hospice Foundation. Helen has also worked as a fundraising consultant, driving major events and awareness campaigns, and has volunteered in different fields including adult literacy and community fundraising. She has an Honours Degree in Communications from the University of South Wales.

Helen’s focus at GOAL is to maximize our fundraising efforts with the public across various channels and income streams and to align these with our overall communication strategies. She is committed to ensuring public income continues to support GOAL’s programs in 14 countries and enables us to respond to humanitarian emergencies. She is also ensuring the public are aware of this vital work and the true impact of support for it.

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Janette Macleod

Director of Global Systems, GOAL Global

Janette Macleod is GOAL’s Director of Global Systems. 

Janette joined GOAL in Feb 2016 as Senior Humanitarian Advisor and was in that position for two years. For the last four years, Janette was Assistant Country Director Systems.

Prior to joining GOAL, Janette was Grants Officer and then Programme Supervisor with Cairngorms National Park Authority in the UK and prior to Cairngorms, Janette worked with Merlin (UK based International Charity) in Logistics, Operations and Project Management related roles.

Janette holds an MSc in Disaster Management from Cranfield University in England and an MPhys in Optoelectronics and Laser Engineering from Heriot-Watt University in Scotland.

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Luigi Loddo

Country Director, Honduras

Luigi Loddo is a forestry engineer with over 20 years of experience working in fragile contexts on business development, climate change adaptation, sustainable natural resources management, humanitarian aid, and disaster risk reduction fields.

With more than 13 years working with GOAL, as Assistant Country Director Programmes and as Area Coordinator for GOALs programmes in Northern Honduras, Luigi has played strategic roles in GOAL´s Green and Blue Economy and disaster preparedness programmes in Central America.

Luigi previously worked with UNDP in Honduras, managing a large GEF funded Climate Change Adaptation programme, and with Italian NGOs Alesei (as Country Director) and GVC in the LAC region. Experienced in developing solutions for sustainable natural resources management in multicultural and indigenous contexts, Luigi is an advocate for the implementation of an inclusive and sustainable blue and green economy.

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Alphonsus Martyn

Director of Investigations

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