Maria Gabriella Lay – Programme Manager in the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, International Labour Organization

Maria Gabriella Lay serves as a Programme Manager in the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) of the International Labour Organization. She is responsible for the “Global Campaign to Raise Awareness and Understanding on Child Labour”, aimed at mobilizing key sectors of society in the fight against child labour and in the promotion of human rights based education. Her belief in the extraordinary potential of children’s participation and youth empowerment in social mobilization led her to the creation of a large-scale programme named SCREAM – Supporting Children’s Rights through Education, the Arts and the Media – which has now been translated into 19 languages, created innumerable offshoot initiatives and become active in every continent. Because of its far-reaching impact, SCREAM has helped shape policies in national education systems, champion inclusive education, and concretely combat the social exclusion and exploitation of the poorest.  She holds advanced degrees in Education.

Maria Gabriella Lay is participating at the Geneva Forum for Social Change as a panelist for “Sustainable Measures to End Child Labour”.