Meet the AJNE Team

Irum Ahsan, Principal Counsel and LPR Program Coordinator
Irum Ahsan, Principal Counsel and LPR Program Coordinator

Irum Ahsan completed her legal education from the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK. Prior to joining the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Irum practiced on contentious and non-contentious legal matters in Pakistan. In addition, she taught law at various prestigious institutions. At ADB, Irum provided legal advice on multisectoral development projects in Asia and Pacific and negotiated hundreds of International Finance Agreements with various governments.

Currently, Irum is the Principal Counsel at the Office of the General Counsel, ADB and leads the Law and Policy Reform Program (ADB’s LPR work is based on the premise that a functioning legal system – anchored by the Rule of Law is an essential component of sustainable development) with her projects focused on environmental and climate change adjudication and enforcement, gender equality laws and access to justice for women, corporate governance, energy laws, and regional cooperation. Irum also advises ADB’s Independent Accountability Offices.

Irum’s work includes establishment of the Asian Judges Network on Environment, the first such network in the world, 6+ green courts in Asia and Asia’s first Gender Based Violence Case Court in Pakistan. Irum has been a judicial educator and together with her team, trained around 1000+ judges on environment and climate change laws and more than 500 judges and prosecutors in Afghanistan and Pakistan on violence against women related laws. 

Irum has also published her work in various journals and presented at several platforms. She is a member of ADB’s Governance, Gender, Environment, and climate change Thematic Groups. Irum is an active advocate for climate rights and gender consciousness and passionately steers the gender and climate discussions in ADB and at various international forums. 

Her work lead to winning the 2018 Financial Times Most Innovative In-House Legal Team Award and Innovation in Rule of Law and Access to Justice Award; ADB’s 2019 Governance Award for Outstanding Knowledge Sharing and Collaborative Initiatives; and 2017 ADB’s Vice President Award for Exceptional Contributions to the Law and Policy Reform Work.

 
Ma. Celeste Grace A. Saniel-Gois, Senior Legal Operations Officer

Ma. Celeste Grace A. Saniel-Gois, Senior Legal Operations Officer
Ms. Saniel-Gois is a Senior Legal Operations Officer at the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). She provides technical, analytical, and coordination support for OGC's Law and Policy Reform Program.

Ms. Saniel-Gois has been with ADB for 20 years. Before joining OGC, she was a member of the urban sector team, administering regional technical assistance (TAs) on urban infrastructure projects. She was also a member of the gender and development team of ADB, serving as coordinator for the multidonor Gender and Development Cooperation Fund; which provided resources for regional TAs aimed at building gender capacity and conducting research on emerging and critical gender issues.

Ms. Saniel-Gois holds a masters degree in Social Services and Development from the Asian Social Institute, Manila; academic credits for masters in Women and Development at the University of the Philippines, and a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Arts at St. Scholastica’s College, Manila. 

 
Francesse Joy J. Cordon-Navarro, LPR Program Staff Consultant

Francesse Joy J. Cordon-Navarro, LPR Program Staff Consultant
Francesse is a consultant legal specialist at ADB's Law and Policy Reform (LPR) Program, working on projects focused on environment and climate change, corporate governance, and international arbitration. Outside ADB, she worked as an associate at Siguion Reyna, Montecillo & Ongsiako Law Offices, consultant for the University of the Philippines Law Center, and lecturer on law, children, and the environment at the Oxbridge Academic Programs in Cambridge. She graduated magna cum laude in BS Business Economics in 2007 and with a dean’s medal for academic excellence in Juris Doctor (Law) in 2011 from the University of the Philippines. She finished her masters in Environmental Policy at the University of Cambridge.

 
Maria Cecilia T. Sicangco, Knowledge Management Specialist

Maria Cecilia T. Sicangco, Knowledge Management Specialist (Consultant)
Maria Cecilia T. Sicangco is a Knowledge Management Specialist (Consultant) under the Law and Policy Reform Program of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Her work includes environmental law, climate change law and policy, women’s legal literacy and access to justice in Islamic countries, gender sensitization, and energy and water sector regulation in Southeast Asia and small-island developing states in the Pacific.

Prior to joining ADB, Cecille was a Fellow at the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), an international organization headquartered in Rome, Italy. She edited the publication Consumer Protection and Microfinance – Country Reports, a book that discusses the current state of the microfinance industry in India, Colombia, Kenya, and Cameroon, and sets forth legislative and policy recommendations to better protect microfinance consumers. She also collaborated on an academic research project regarding the international normative and administrative drivers of domestic rule of law. 

Cecille holds a Bachelor of Applied Economics and Accountancy double degree (cum laude) from De La Salle University and a Bachelor of Laws degree (cum laude, salutatorian) from the University of the Philippines. Thereafter, she pursued a Master of Laws in International Legal Studies degree from New York University where she was the Starr Foundation Global Scholar, Hauser Scholar, and Thomas M. Franck Scholar in International Law. She is qualified as an Attorney and Counsellor at Law in the State of New York (United States of America) and the Republic of the Philippines. 

 
Gregorio Rafael P. Bueta, Legal and Policy Specialist (Consultant)

Gregorio Rafael P. Bueta, Legal and Policy Specialist (Consultant)
Grip has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the Ateneo de Manila University. He earned his Juris Doctor Degree from the same institution and was the recipient of the St. Thomas More Most Distinguished Award for his graduating class. As a Legal and Policy Specialist with the LPR program, Grip has been working on environment and climate change law with the judiciaries, as well as, legal and regulatory reforms in South Asia in areas such as energy trade and corporate governance. Prior to joining ADB, he headed the Strategic Initiatives Management Office in the Office of the President of the Philippines focusing on environment and climate change related government policies and programs. He has written several published works on environment and natural resources law and human rights. Grip has also worked with the United Nations Development Programme, the Philippine Judicial Academy, the Ateneo School of Government, the Council for the Welfare of Children, Ayala Corporation, the EcoWaste Coalition, and various NGOs and private companies.