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WHO WE
ARE.

The ISGA comprises Supporters, Leadership Council members and an Executive Committee.

The Leadership Council includes almost 70 members from around the globe, who bring knowledge and expertise in supporting outdoor learning and outdoor play in a myriad of educational settings.

The ISGA's Executive Committee oversees the organisation's business with powers delegated by the Leadership Council.

MEET THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

Ching-fen Yang, Taiwan

Ching-fen has long been interested in issues around schools. Her Master’s thesis explores the role of schools in gender construction, while her Doctoral dissertation discusses the importance of the participatory design process in building schools.
Ching-Fen also participated in several school-building projects while working with the Building and Planning Research Foundation.
Recently, her work has focused on the role of schools in community development, such as school ground projects that pass on indigenous techniques and wisdom.
In 2021, Ching-Fen's paper “Greening school grounds: Schools’ role in a biodiversity process” was published in "Urban biodiversity and ecological design for sustainable cities", edited by Prof. Keitaro Ito (Springer, 2021).

Jaime Zaplatosch, USA

Ms. Zaplatosch works with partners around the world to develop and implement city-wide, equity-based nature connection initiatives and policies to support thriving communities. She is part of Children & Nature Network's leadership team, creating and supporting the implementation of organization strategy. Ms. Zaplatosch's career has focused on engagement with residents and youth where they live to create the communities that they want. Jaime has extensive knowledge in the field of urban greening and community development projects with experience in strategy, community engagement, partnership building, program development, fundraising, and conservation.

Matluba Khan, Bangladesh / UK

Trained as an architect and a landscape architect, Matluba is a lecturer at Cardiff University. Her research focuses on participatory and evidence based design of children’s outdoor learning environments, child-friendly cities and communities and the relationship between place, pedagogy and play and its impact on children’s learning, health and wellbeing. Matluba is passionate about working towards reducing the gap that exists between academia and practice and between different disciplines, and the increasing spatial inequalities by creating outdoor learning opportunities for children in the most marginalised communities.

Laís Fleury, Brasil

Laís Fleury has twenty years of experience as a social entrepreneur and has been a Fellow of Ashoka Social Entrepreneurs since 2003. She co-founded the NGO Associação Vaga Lume, dedicated to promoting reading in rural communities in the Amazon region. Over the last 8 years, Laís has been working for Alana, advocating for the right of every child to connect and have access to nature. She has coordinated Instituto Alana's Children and Nature program for 6 years and currently serves as the Head of Partnerships at the Alana Foundation. Laís is credited as the signatory of the argument for the film "The Beginning of Life 2: Outside" and holds the position of Co-chair US for the global movement #Natureforall. She also holds a postgraduate degree in the theme "The Time and Voice of Children: Anthropological and Poetic Listening to Childhood."

Marwa El-Aasar, Egypt

Marwa El-Assar is an architect from Egypt with a profound commitment to transforming outdoor learning environments. With over 20 years of experience, she holds a Master's degree focused on creating Outdoor Classrooms and a Ph.D. dedicated to employing these environments as a 3D Textbook for teaching Sustainable Development Goals in Egyptian schools. Marwa is a certified "Green Classroom Professional" by the U.S. Green Building Council and has contributed significantly to academic literature on children’s environmental awareness. In 2024, Marwa’s paper “Outdoor Learning Environment as a Teaching Tool for integrating Education for Sustainable Development in Kindergarten, Egypt” was published in Ain Shams Engineering Journal, by Elsevier. As a co-founder of Barrani, she merges architecture and education to promote outdoor learning and sustainable development through school building projects. Marwa is passionate about empowering children and believes education is paramount in addressing global challenges, utilizing her expertise to enrich their lives through nature-based learning experiences that help prepare children for future life endeavors.

Susana Morais, Portugal

Landscape Architect, with a master's degree in Environmental Planning and Landscape Architecture from UC Berkeley, California, USA, specialized in Landscaping and Environmental Planning and Spatial Planning. She has been a member of the Executive Committee (EC) of the International School Ground Alliance (ISGA) since 2020 to date. Founder and Managing Partner of the company Outras Paisagens, since 2005, where she collaborates with various bodies and entities, public and private, in the scope of the preparation and assessment of Landscape Integration and Planning Projects, and in the scope of the environmental component of plans and projects.
As a landscape architect she has worked with school grounds and found it one of the most challenging line of work in her life, as it is an opportunity to re-think how these spaces can be special for children!

EXECUTIVE COMMITEE
SUPPORT

Lois Brink, USA Treasurer/Ex Officio Member & Fiscal Agent

Ms. Brink is one of ISGA's founding members and served on the first ISGA Executive Committee. She has served as ISGA treasurer for the past 12 years and coordinates with ISGA's fiscal sponsor, The Big SandBox. She is a landscape architect and tenured professor at the University of Colorado. Professor Brink’s knowledge and experience of children’s development and play, coupled with her 45 years as a landscape architect serves schoolyard redevelopment nationally & globally.

Katie Fillenwarth, USA Administrator

Meet the
Leadership Council

Explore the ISGA community

Provinciaal Natuurcentrum Limburg

NGO Estonian Green School Grounds

Leadership Council
Origin Story

It all started in 2011…

...when the first ‘official’ International School Grounds Alliance Conference took place in San Francisco and Berkeley, California. Following the hugely successful and invigorating conference, an exploratory retreat took place at Westerbeke Ranch, and the Leadership Council was formed.

The fledgling Council’s first task was to create the Westerbeke Declaration, which set parameters for the ISGA’s work, including defining the role of a wide, diverse and representative Leadership Council.

Today, the Council includes almost 70 members from around the globe, who bring knowledge and expertise in supporting outdoor learning and outdoor play in a myriad of educational settings.

We welcome applications to join the Leadership Council from individuals and organisations that in their country are leading outdoor learning, outdoor play, school grounds development.

Or, become an ISGA supporter to share your knowledge and expertise with a friendly, supportive, enthusiastic and skilled network of schoolyard champions.

Join th ISGA

WHO WE ARE.

MEET THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

EXECUTIVE COMMITEE SUPPORT

Meet the Leadership Council

Leadership Council Origin Story

It all started in 2011…

SUPPORT ISGA

WHO WE
ARE.

EXECUTIVE COMMITEE
SUPPORT

Meet the
Leadership Council

Leadership Council
Origin Story