Secretariat Staff

Rose Koenders
Executive Director

Rose manages the APA Secretariat and coordinates the day-to-day work of the Alliance. Rose was formerly Executive Coordinator of CHOICE, and worked as an advocacy officer at the World Population Foundation, the Netherlands. She also worked at a refugee organisation in the Netherlands coordinating campaigns to stop violence against women and female genital mutilation. Rose is committed to promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), HIV prevention and meaningful participation of young people. Rose has a Master degree in gender, health and development from the Centre for International Development Issues at the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands. She volunteered with a midwife in Ghana and in 2002, conducted a gender analysis for Kenya's Family Planning Association on the sexuality of young women and their vulnerability to HIV. Rose has advocated for sexual & reproductive health and rights at a range of international meetings, including the UN Women's Conference, Beijing + 5 and Beijing + 10. She was involved in setting up the youth led international NGO, Youth Coalition. In 2006, she was part of the Dutch government delegation at the High Level Meeting on AIDS. After the International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, she joined the Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS as a Western European focal point. In 2007, she was invited to join a committee to advise the Dutch Ministry of Health on coordination mechanisms for SRHR.

Alexandra Johns
Advocacy and Communications Officer 

Alexa coordinates APA's advocacy and communications work. Alexa has been in Thailand for 3 years, and her experience in the population and development field includes issues of sexual and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS and gender equality.  Prior to joining APA, Alexa was Editorial Associate with the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD) and  also worked with the Center for Human Rights Studies and Social Development (CHRSD) at Mahidol University in Thailand.  Holding an M Sc in International Relations with a specialization in Global Poverty from the Universiteit van Amsterdam (The Netherlands),  after completing her degree she spent time in Costa Rica with the International Organization for Migration (IOM)  Regional Office for Central America, under the Health and Migration team.

Benchawan Pongurgsorn
Finance and Administration Officer

Benchawan coordinates financial reporting and activities for APA and manages projects for governance and registration. She has worked for several international organisations, such as the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Oxfam Great Britain, USAID/Mission Asia. Holding a Bachelor in Business Administration, with a major in Marketing,  she is passionate about the field of health and development.