Governance
The ISSA Council is the heart of ISSA governance. The Council is composed of all Full Member organizations and guides the Association’s strategy and the work of the Secretariat. The Council holds a General Assembly Meeting annually in which it discusses Association business and elects a Board of Directors.
ISSA's Board members work on a voluntary basis. The Board meets in person at least twice a year. The ISSA Secretariat conducts the official business of the Association and is responsible for delivering services to ISSA members and ensuring that the ISSA objectives are met.
All members of the ISSA Board, the ISSA Council, the ISSA Membership Committee and the Program Committee are unremunerated for their duties.
ISSA Board
Hana Zylfiu Haziri
With a strong background in advancing early childhood services, Hana Zylfiu Haziri brings extensive expertise in program design, implementation, and evaluation. Since 2002, she has served as Program Manager at the Kosova Education Center (KEC), where she has coordinated the Step by Step program in Kosovo and led numerous projects and training programs focused on early childhood education, teacher training, gender equity, and social inclusion.
Hana has also contributed her expertise internationally, serving as a consultant to the Council of Europe in Albania, as well as acting as a researcher and evaluator for several projects in Kosovo. She also served on the ISSA Membership Committee for many years.
Deeply committed to equity and inclusion, Hana is a strong advocate for policies and practices that reduce disparities in access to quality early childhood services. Her vision for the ISSA network is prioritizing marginalized and vulnerable children—ensuring that no child is left behind.
Eva Deak
Éva Deák has been involved with the Step by Step program between 2001 – 2005 as the Executive Director of the Ec Pec Foundation and has served as the Executive Director of the Partners Hungary Foundation since 2008. Following the closure of the Ec Pec Foundation, Partners Hungary assumed responsibility for the Step by Step program in Hungary.
Her areas of expertise include early childhood development, inclusive education, Roma integration, leadership, NGO development, and democracy building. She is a skilled trainer, facilitator, and mediator, with collaboration at the heart of her work. Éva holds degrees as a teacher and cultural educator, along with qualifications as a general and legal mediator.
Under her 17 years of leadership, Partners Hungary has remained a learning organization, continuously adopting innovative approaches in organizational development and the different programmatic areas. She has played a key role in building, supporting and maintaining several national networks, including the Romani Early Years Network, the Network of Roma Mediators, and the Hungarian ECD Network. Éva has also been an active member of ISSA for many years.
Carmen Lica
Carmen Lica is the Director and founder of Step by Step Center for Education and Professional Development (CEDP) Romania. Since 1998, Carmen and her team have worked to expand the Step by Step network of preschools and schools, making a difference in over 500,000 children’s lives in the past 25 years.
Carmen is a recognized expert on teacher training and education programs for children age birth to three in Romania. She has introduced several innovative educational programs, such as the FasTracKids Program — the first ICT program in schools to support the development of life skills — and ReadyNation Romania a business network advocating for increased public and private investments in ECD in Romania. She is also a member of the ECD Working Group with the president’s office.
In November 2019, Carmen was decorated with the title of “Knight” by the President of Romania in recognition of her important contributions to education reform and policies in Romania.
Deepa Grover
Deepa Grover has an extensive experience in the areas of child development and child rights, gender, human development and behaviour change communication. As Regional Advisor at UNICEF’s Office for Europe and Central Asia (until 2019), Deepa provided technical leadership and programming support for strategic responses to ECD in the region.
Deepa joined the Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority in 2020, where as a Senior Advisor she is contributing to the establishment of a comprehensive ECD system in the Emirate. Deepa has an academic background in Child Development and holds a doctorate from the University of Sussex, UK.
Gerda Sula, PhD
Gerda Sula is an educationalist and researcher with a strong focus on improving the quality of education in Albania. She is the Executive Director of Step by Step Center, an NGO focused in quality and equality in early childhood education in Albania. Also, she currently teaches at the Masters' programs of the University of Tirana, where she focuses in preparing teachers for student-centered education.
Dr. Sula's areas of interest include early childhood education, life-long learning, VET, with a passion on inclusion, and equal educational opportunities. Her belief that teachers are the key to a school's success is reflected in her primary focus on quality continuous professional development. Her research skills are complemented by her practice-oriented abilities, making her a valuable consultant for both government and non-governmental organizations, among which World Bank, UNICEF, SwissContact, Open Society Foundations.
Miroslav Sklenka
Miroslav Sklenka holds a Master’s degree in Economics and Management and a PhD. in Social Sciences. He is well known in the field of Early Childhood Development, with a career spanning over two decades. He has been associated with the International Step By Step Association since 1999, initially as a project manager with the Wide Open School Foundation, one of the founding members of ISSA. Presently, he serves as the Executive Director of the non-profit organization Skola dokoran – Wide Open School in Slovakia, a position he has held since 2012.
Throughout his career, he has been instrumental in the establishment of several non-profit organizations and civic associations, focusing primarily on Early Childhood Development. His expertise in capacity development, financial management, and risk management has been pivotal in driving organizational growth and ensuring long-term sustainability.
Miroslav Sklenka has managed numerous projects connected with socially disadvantaged gorups and migrants. His professional experience extends to governmental and international spheres. He worked at the Government Office of Slovakia managing projects financed by the European Union and served as National Project Officer for the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.
Sarah Klaus
Sarah Klaus is an adjunct Assistant Professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Child and Human Development. She was the director of the Open Society Early Childhood Program, prior to its closure at the end of 2020. Over a period of 26 years, the program advanced the rights of young children by supporting ambitious initiatives and advocacy to reshape early childhood development practices and institutions, on the one hand, and scaled up the power and capacity of civil society groups and professionals, on the other. The program aimed to improve services and policies for all children, with a specific focus on Roma children and children in other minority communities, children with disabilities, refugees, and children living in poverty and in remote areas. Beginning in 2006, Sarah expanded its original focus in Central Eastern Europe and Eurasia to include Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. In 1994, Sarah helped launch Step by Step, the Foundations’ flagship early childhood program, and in 1999, the International Step by Step Association, a network established to support early childhood professionals in Central Eastern Europe and Eurasia. She served as the association’s Executive Director from its inception to 2006.
Sarah holds a doctorate in international early childhood education from the UCL's Institute of Education in London, an MA in developmental psychology from Columbia University Teachers College and a BA in Russian studies from Brown University.
Liana Ghent
Liana Ghent is Director of ISSA since 2006. With over 30 years of leadership experience, she specializes in network-development, catalyzing system change and fostering collaboration to mobilize movements. Under her leadership, ISSA expanded its programmatic portfolio and grew significantly, with member organizations from all corners of Europe and Central Asia. ISSA also broadened its scope to address various aspects of Early Childhood Development, with mechanisms and programs to address the needs of young children and families affected by adversity and emergencies. Her career before ISSA, included a senior position in the Higher Education Support Program of Open Society Foundations and serving as Co-President of the Civic Education Project (CEP), an organization working to reform higher education in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. She serves on various boards, global initiatives and movements, such as the Executive Leadership Council of the Early Childhood Development Action Network (ECDAN), the Steering Committee of Moving Minds Alliance (MMA), the High-Level Advisory Group of Act for Early Years Campaign and WHO's Advisory Group for the Nurturing Care Framework. Liana is a certified Kripalu Yoga Teacher.
Languages: Romanian, English, Hungarian and Dutch
