World Mental Health Conference

Together with a few friends she founded the Foundation For Children’s Rights in 1998. This Foundation had the vision of providing a home for abandoned babies and children and vocational training for single/ teenage mothers. The Foundation identified adolescent girls who were out of school without any skills and arranged for skills training for them. Janet Amegatcher also co-founded the International Youth Shelter Foundation (Ghana) in 2001. The International Youth Shelter Foundation (Ghana) is a non-profit organization that has the mission of positive youth development. One of the objectives of International Youth Shelter Foundation (Ghana) is to educate the youth to fight against the menace – HIV/AIDS. They have organized a number of such programmes at several places including the Budumburam Refugee Camp, schools, churches and the Ga Rural District. Janet Amegatcher was a contributor for the book entitled “The Children of Africa Confront AIDS” published in 2003 by the International Studies, Ohio University Press, U.S.A.

Janet Amegatcher is also a founding member of the Network of Women In Growth (NEWIG) Ghana, a non-profit organization which was founded in 2003. NEWIG has the mission of empowering women through skills and vocational training.

Janet Amegatcher and Naomi Adu-Appeah, both survivors of breast cancer, have together counseled and encouraged many victims and families of victims of breast cancer and in 2004 they founded the Well Women’s Organization to help in the fight against breast cancer as a life threatening disease through education and early detection.

In 2005, Janet Amegatcher joined by two energetic gentlemen founded Mind Freedom Ghana, a non profit, non-governmental organization to fight for the human rights of persons who are mentally ill. In 2004, 2005 and 2006 Janet participated in the negotiations at the UN in New York, USA which culminated in the passage of the international convention for rights of persons with disability.

The areas of focus for Janet Amegatcher are children’s rights, women issues, skills development for the youth and HIV/AIDS prevention. Janet is currently a Legal Practitioner in a law firm – JanMarg Consultancy. She also writes as a free lance writer for a local newspaper on legal issues.

For more than 30 years, Farkas has worked in various capacities in the field of psychiatric rehabilitation, and recovery that have enabled her to promote the use of effective strategies to creatively develop and implement services promoting full health and recovery from serious mental illnesses. From 2006 through 2009, she was the Vice President of the World Association of Psychosocial Rehabilitation (WAPR) and the President of the National Association of Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers ( NARRTC) ( until 05/10). Among her many roles providing training, research and consultation, Farkas was in charge of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center in Psychiatric Rehabilitation, providing training, consultation and research expertise to the W.H.O network around the globe. She has served on a committee for the W.H.O to develop methods of categorizing evidence based and promising practices in the context of international literature. She has developed training, consultation and organizational change methodologies to support programs and integrative systems in their efforts to adopt psychiatric rehabilitation and recovery innovations. She is an Honorary Professor of Social Studies at Hanze University, Netherlands and on a Research Advisory Committee at King’s College, England investigating methods of teaching mental health care professionals how to facilitate the recovery of individuals with serious mental illnesses. Dr. Farkas was charged by NIMH with the task of helping the core disciplines develop curriculum for pre service programs in Nursing, Psychiatry, Psychology and Social Work. She has served on Training Committees and Committees on Serious Mental Illnesses in both APA’s (i.e. American Psychological and American Psychiatric). . She also currently heads an effort to create standards of evidence for disability research and a process for translating the research into practice tools across disability fields.

She is currently on the editorial review board of journals ranging from Psychiatric Services, Community Mental Health Journal, Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal and Implementation Science. As an educator, Farkas received Boston University’s Award of Merit in 1993 and the International Association of Psychosocial Rehabilitation Services John Beard Award in 1998 for her innovations in the field. In 2005 Farkas received both the Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York chapter of in recognition of “...her outstanding contributions to the pre-eminence and practice of psychosocial rehabilitation” as well as the National Commendation Award from the National Association of Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers for “pioneering scientific advances that have helped transform research on mental health and rehabilitation systems and being at the forefront of a paradigm shift that has helped practitioners, families, and society, as a whole, to see capacity and potential in people who were once perceived to be beyond hope”.

Giles White was appointed a Director of Jardine Matheson Limited and Group General Counsel of the Jardine Matheson Group in July 2009. He became a Director of Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited in January 2010.

Mr White was born in South Africa in 1953 and graduated from the University of Cape Town with graduate from the University of Cape Town with a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1975 and 1981, respectively.   He was admitted as a Barrister to the Inner Temple, London in 1979. In his early career, he worked for Sonnenberg, Hoffmann & Galombik (Attorneys) in South Africa and Credit Suisse First Boston Limited in London.

Prior to joining the Jardine Matheson Group, Mr White had worked with the international law firm, Linklaters, for more than 20 years. He has extensive experience in international finance, including capital markets banking and structured finance.

In 1991, he became a partner in Linklaters’ London office. He transferred to Linklaters’ Hong Kong office in 1992 and became head of finance in 1995. In 1996, he returned to the firm’s banking practise in London, and in 2002 was appointed global head of finance and projects. He moved back to Hong Kong in 2007 to become the firm’s managing partner in Asia. He was a member of the firm’s Executive Committee from 2002 until he left the firm.

Mr White is married with two children.