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The Executive Secretariat Team

Barbora NOVOTNA SVOJSE

Partnership Officer
barbora.novotna@wapes.org

Bio:
Before joining WAPES in January 2024, Barbora’s been deeply involved in the dynamic world of Public Employment Services (PES), both at the Member State and European Commission levels. She’s worn many hats, from representing the Czech Ministry of Labour and social Affairs in the PES network and WAPES, to being a policy officer and program manager in DG EMPL. Serving in the European PES network secretariat team, she was facilitating the implementation of the PES network and EURES work programmes. As part of the Czech and Slovak Country teams, she was actively involved in bringing the EU 2020 Strategy and European Semester to life.

Along the way, she’s gathered a wealth of expertise in employment, social, skills, youth policies, mobility and ESF+ programme management. Building partnerships and networks, and coordinating activities at the EU and international level, like mutual learning events and conferences, has been both a joy and a privilege. Joining the WAPES executive secretariat feels like closing the circle of the exciting parts of her professional journey.

Pierre-Alain Vandewalle

Communication Officer
+32 2 235 72 57
+32 2 235 72 59
communication@wapes.org

Bio:

Pierre-Alain joined WAPES Executive Secretariat in February 2015.

Initially Pierre-Alain went for a three-month internship in Venezuela for his degree in Communication. However he decided to stay in this country for 12 years.

In 2014 he returned to Belgium. Developing a passion for audiovisual and cultural work, Pierre Alain first collaborated on the creation of a community television in a popular district of Maracay in Venezuela. Then together with his Venezuelan wife, he created a non-profit Socio-Cultural organization called “Fundación Socio-Cultural AUTANA” of which he was the director for 10 years. The Fundación organizes free workshops for audiovisual production, films and documentaries projections in popular neighborhoods called “barrios”, produces video reports and helps other organizations to emerge.

Pierre-Alain also holds a degree in education with mention in Cultural Development from the Experimental Nacional University “Simón Rodríguez” in Caracas, Venezuela. In his last position he worked for two years as a communication expert for the National Experimental University for Security “UNES” for the Aragua and Carabobo regions in Venezuela.

Pierre-Alain spends his leisure time with his two children helping them discover the Belgian culture.

Nicole CLOBES

Consultant
+32 2 235 72 50
nicole.clobes@wapes.org

Bio:

Nicole joined WAPES Executive Secretariat in March 2023.

Nicole is seconded by the German Federal Employment Agency.

In the German Public Employment Service (Bundesagentur für Arbeit) she has been working in various positions such as Placement Officer, Vocational Advisor, Team Lead and most recently at the European Representation of the German Federal Employment Agency.

Nicole has been living and studying in the USA for a couple years. Since 2021 she lives together with her family in Belgium.

Nicole holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communication and a Master’s degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Amandine MOIGNARD

Projects Director – Executive Secretary ad Interim
+32 2 235 72 55
amandine.moignard@wapes.org

Bio:

Amandine joined the WAPES Executive Secretariat in June 2023 as Projects Director.

After studying international relations in Paris (France), Amandine chose Madrid (Spain) to complete her studies with a Masters in international cooperation and project management. It was here that she began a career in managing development projects with a consulting firm and then with a Spanish public foundation that promotes peer-to-peer technical cooperation for public administration. She then worked for 2 years in Bamako (Mali) for a family planning NGO, before finally returning to Europe, first in Paris with an experience with France Médias Monde and then in Brussels.

It was her experience at SOCIEUX+ that introduced her to the work of public employment services and made her want to join the WAPES family.

Minako TAKASAKI

Joint-Project Coordinator
minako.takasaki@wapes.org

Bio:
Ms Minako TAKASAKI is a Joint Project Coordinator seconded by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), Japan in October 2024. She has a professional career at the MHLW for more than 20 years covering public employment service programs, employment measures for foreign workers, job counseling, employment statistics and employment insurance since she started her career as a job counselor at PES office (Hello Work). Before current position, she was first-ever female Head of the Employment Service Department at the Okinawa Regional Labour Bureau. She also worked for the Embassy of Japan in Republic of Korea as First Secretary of Economy. She holds Bachelor of Education and Master of Public Studies.

Thierry HUORT

Consultant
+32 2 235 72 54
thierry.huort@wapes.org

Bio:

Thierry joined the secretariat at the beginning of January 2020 .

Thierry HUORT has been seconded by Pôle emploi, the French public employment service, to WAPES since January 2020.

For more than 35 years in the employment service, he has held various positions from employment consulting to management to human resources project management.

Since 1997, Pôle emploi has also entrusted him with missions in the context of international cooperation. In this respect, he has been involved in various countries/regions: Albania, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, New Caledonia and Morocco, for which he led a Morocco-European Union institutional twinning project for the benefit of ANAPEC (Morocco PES) in cooperation with Arbetsformedlingen (Sweden PES) and GVG (Germany Assoc.).

Born in Algeria, he lived in Ivory Coast until the age of 18. After initial technical studies (Electronics), and resuming on-the-job studies, he holds a University Diploma in Educational Sciences (DUPHA “Human Potential and Learning”).