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Farewell to Wemos director Mariëlle Bemelmans
On 4 March, we said goodbye to our director Mariëlle Bemelmans after nine inspiring years of leadership. Partners from organizations, universities and ministries joined for a lovely afternoon. Johanneke de Hoogh, Head of the Global Health and SRHR Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, shared her experience with global health during years of political changes, and Mariëlle reflected on her time at Wemos. Ingrid van de Stadt, chair of our supervisory board, thanked Mariëlle warmly and introduced our new director, Suying Lai (see below). Read Mariëlle's goodbye speech on our website ➔ |
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Welcome to new Wemos director Suying Lai
We are happy to share that on 15 April 2026, Suying Lai will start as new director of Wemos. With almost 19 years of experience working at Oxfam Novib, Suying is an experienced leader in the humanitarian and development sectors. She was present at Mariëlle's goodbye, where she had a chance to meet a lot of our friends and colleagues already. She is looking forward to meeting more people in our network after 15 April. For now, if you are curious, you can read our interview with her on our website. Read the interview with Suying ➔ |
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Make Way booklet of lessons learned
Our Make Way booklet of lessons learned features our insights and best practices from the implementation years of the programme (2020-2025). Make Way aimed to break down barriers to sexual and reproductive health and rights by applying an intersectional lens. We are proud of the impact we made together with our partners in the implementation countries Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia, and at the Eastern African regional level and globally. Read the booklet ➔ |
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Many signatories of open letter for pharma transparency
In the past months, many organizations, health policy experts and healthcare professionals in the Netherlands have signed our open letter to the Dutch government and parliament calling for greater transparency in the pharmaceutical sector. In addition to signing the letter, signatories showed their support for our campaign by calling for signatures of the open letter in videos and social media posts. On March 24, we will hand over the letter to the House of Representatives. See the list of signatories (below the open letter) ➔ |
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New Dutch cabinet: keep your promise for global health
On 23 February, the new Dutch cabinet took office. We analysed the plans in the coalition agreement. It claims that the government will invest in development cooperation: "[...] in young people, education, women's rights, and we will contribute to the global health strategy and food security." However, calculations later showed that the coalition will make no additional investments over the next ten years. On LinkedIn, we called on the new cabinet to keep its promise and invest in global health. Read our response to the coalition agreement (in Dutch) ➔ |
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Wemos tips & picks
Until March 15th, you can watch six films online for free as part of the HER Film Festival, organized by Cinetree and Simavi. The films tell the stories of powerful women from around the world. They inspire and challenge viewers to reflect on themes that women still have to fight for: health, empowerment and rights. To watch the films, you need to create an account. The films have Dutch subtitles. Visit the HER Film Festival ➔ |
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