FAIR CANBERRA INC.
Nic Manikis PSM
President
Nic Manikis served as a Senior Manager in the Commonwealth Government from 1980 to 1985 and as a Senior Executive in social policy and community affairs roles in the ACT Government from 1985 to 2016.
In 1998, Nic received the Public Service Medalin the Australia Day Honours List in recognition of his years of service and dedication to government and community. In 2000 he was awarded theCentenary Medal.
In November 2016, Nic retired from government service after a distinguished career of almost 40 years serving the community. Over the years, Nic worked with many local community groups to develop and provide programs and services to those most disadvantaged and vulnerable in our community.
Nic is currently active in the private sector and continues his work supporting local community groups on a voluntary basis.
Toa Takiari
Vice President
Toa Takiari has had long and successful business and voluntary community development careers in the ACT since the 1960s, with extended periods back in Tonga and New Zealand. Toa was educated as a professional hairdresser and established and managed many businesses in Canberra, training promising young hair stylists, and she dabbled in the fashion and music industries.
Over the years, Toa applied her ‘can do’ attitude to advancing the interests of many vulnerable and disadvantaged members of the Pacific Island communities in Canberra opening up opportunities for them to learn new skills and to learn more about their culture. She setup a Hair and Style Salon in Civic to provide opportunities for Canberra’s homeless and low income earners to not only receive services but also training, as a pathway to permanent paid work.
Toa was instrumental in forming The United Nesian Movementas a platform for Pacific Islander young people to learn about and showcase their culture. She has assisted these young people to promote their culture through her program on Radio 2XX and, for several years, she co-ordinated the Pacific Island Showcase at the annual National Multicultural Festival. Toa is the current Public Officer (and Founder) for the Pacific Island Showcase Association, she also founded The Niu Oceanic Cultural Centrebased at the ANU and organised the Pacific Cultural Youth Day in 2017. She also organised many Pacific and Indigenous Cultural Fashion shows.
Toa is a hard working, dedicated and strong community advocate for young Canberrans of Pacific Island background.
Borhan Ahmed
Treasurer &
Public Officer
Borhan Ahmed is an accomplished community leader with over 30 years experience in community sector work in Australia and Bangladesh.
Over this time, he has held several high profile community roles including: President of the Canberra Muslim Community, President of the Bangladesh Australia Association Canberra and President of theBangladeshi Seniors Group.
Borhan holds a Master of Economics (specialising in Development Economics), Master of Economics, Bachelor of Arts(with Honours in Economics) and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Social Science. He is a Colombo Planscholar with over 40 years successful public service experience. Borhan was a member of the Bangladesh Civil Service (Administration) with the Bangladesh Government. He served his final 25 years in the public service with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and AusAID with short and long-term postings and aid project-related visits to PNG, Iraq, Jordan, Indonesia, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Borhan has a life-long passion for advocacy work around issues and challenges facing members of new and emerging multicultural community groups in the ACT. In this context, he has served as a member of several high profile community service provider agencies and on government advisory bodies.
Tareq Mohd
Secretery
Tareq brings more than fifteen years of experience to the operations of Fair Canberra Inchaving worked in the public and private sectors in Australia and overseas. He is a seasoned corporate affairs and office administration professional with expertise in human resources. Tareq is highly skilled in organisational development, corporate management, workforce development and recruitment.
Tareq has gained his diverse professional experience in organisations such as: the Operations Specialist Group Australia; Canada Border Services Agency; ACT Government; Australian National University; European Union, DFAT (Australian High Commission – overseas); Save the Children; Concern Worldwide; and served in IUCAN-The World Conservation Union and ACCENTURE in various capacities.
Tareq has served two consecutive terms as Vice-president of the Bangladesh Australia Association of Canberra. He is also the founding director of Autistic Children’s Welfare Foundation of Bangladeshand Life Member of BIHRM– an affiliated body of Asia Pacific Federation of Human Resources Management and of SHRM (USA).
Tareq is passionate about serving the broader community. He strongly believes in the concept of ‘multiculturalism’ as a unifying force that recognises and empowers allCanberrans to work for the common good of our community.
Sabrina Melo
Executive Member
Sabrino Melo is a first generation Australian who has recently completed her academic studies while incorporating her international travels to better comprehend global societies.
Harbouring a desire to actively apply her knowledge in the global affairs, Sabrina completed a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies at the University of Canberra and a Master of Diplomacy at the Australian National University in 2018.
Sabrina's involvement with the local Latin American and Pacific Islander communities together with her broader understanding of the contemporary world, though her professional work in the diplomatic field and national security policy, education and travel, has further inspired a deeper perspective of the importance of intercultural awareness and relations.
Sabrina looks forward to contributing to the work of Fair Canberra Inc, particularly from a youth and intercultural perspective. One of Sabrina's roles is to manage and engage with our online media profiles and fundraising efforts.
Emie Jiang
Executive Member
Emie Jiang (Australian Citizen): M.Sta. (ANU), B.Actu.& B.Ec. (ANU); Vice President, Australian Guangxi Friendship Association, Director, JZ Property Investments Pty Ltd; Former role as Commercial Analyst, Indigenous Business Australia; Former role as Financial Analyst, ACT Treasury.
Australian Guangxi Friendship Association (AGFA) - formed in October 2015. The AGFA is a non-profit, non-denominational, and non-political organization, which aims to cultivate and foster the friendship and relationship between the Australian Capital Territory and the Guangxi Province of China. It advocates the cooperation and collaboration in the Education, Culture and Tourism of the two regions.
Role as the Vice President of the Association: successfully undertaken and completed works include negotiation with Governments, managing members, organising and chairing local events, attending important meetings and overseeing Association's financial performance; required to chair and organise the internal Association’s routine activities, as well as participating local Government and Chinese Community events.
In the past two years, our Association has provided valued contribution to the annual National Multicultural Festivals. I’m also a showcase coordinator for the Chinese community, and have taken two important roles at the Festival, being one –the volunteer team leader, two - the stage manager, recruited and managed close to 100 volunteers, assigning them tasks, as well as monitoring music and sound controls.
Our Assiciation also run weekly cheongsam practice and tai-chi classes, and conducting aged care seminars for the Chinese community.
Sunita Dhindsa
Executive Member
Sunita was born in India but has lived for most part in Australia, primarily in Canberra. Sunita has a PhD from Punjab Agricultural University, India and also decided to undertake Graduate Diploma in Public Sector Management from Macquarie University North Ryde in 2003-04.
From 1990 to 2014, Sunita worked in a range of roles in various government departments, and also worked for a short time in scientific research, and in private sector. Sunita retired as Director (Senior Executive Service 1) in a Federal government department.
Sunita has continued to positively support the Indian diaspora and to contribute to the broader Australian society and economy in various capacities. She is a member, Founder member, patron and Life Member of various community organisations as well as holding positions of Secretary, Coordinator and Executive member. Sunita is the Coordinator of AusIndia Fair, a platform for interacting, trade and showcasing shared values of Australia and India.
Sunita’s passion is to work for, and with people, enable meaningful interactions, and encourage positive empowerment while fostering constructive and harmonious outcomes at all levels. Her vision is to make Canberra and the surrounding region more progressive, inclusive, culturally vibrant, environmentally sustainable and economically strong.
Rod Little
Executive Member
Rod Little, is Yamatji and Nyoongar from the first nations peoples of the Geraldton and Perth regions of Western Australia. He has lived in and contributed to the Canberra community since the mid 1990’s.
Rod is member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, he is also a Director on the Boards of Wellways Australia, the Burbangana Group and the Chain Reaction Foundation, and a certified organisational coach. He has previously held positions as the Vice President of ACT Council of Social Services, Chairperson of the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body, and Director and Co-Chair of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples.
He has international experience representing the rights and interests of first nations peoples at forums, including the United Nations, Commonwealth Peoples and Indigenous Peoples Education and Finance.
Has a long employment history in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs holding senior leadership positions across several social policy areas, including Indigenous Education in the Australian Public Service for over 15 years; and held positions on a number of community organisation boards.
Daisy Matsika
Executive Member
Daisy is a young changemaker with a passion for youth representation in government policies and business. She is the Director of ‘The influencers’ Network (now United Legends) which focuses on collaboration with professional industries, events and digital marketing, with many sequence projects in line for 2021. She was a Nominee for Australian of the year 2019. Daisy has served as a Youth Advisor for Senator David Smith and Nicole Lawder MLA, bringing the voice of youth to both federal and ACT government.
She is also a member of the marketing and performance management Committee in the South-Fest Planning Team 2018 and 2019 and an Executive Member for the Tuggeranong Community Council in which presentation for young people with ‘Beautiful minds’, been a special guest for various awards ceremonies ‘ A night of opulence’ and multicultural events across Canberra such as Chinese Pageant, Sing China, Alliance de Frances; French film festival, Indian Australian events, Fair Canberra Inc. Kava Forum, Hellenic Fest, National Netball day (Fair Canberra initiative) and many others.
Daisy was previously involved in TEDx Canberra talk and is working towards ‘life up skills’ programs for school students. She also acts as the Chair of the Committee for Youth Engagement. She has also, done Daisy brings her experience from working internationally and representing youth internationally into each of her roles. She is passionate about her work, which can be seen through her incredible work ethic and dedication to inciting change.
Dr Ahmed Imran
Executive Officer &
Chair of PPA
Sub-Committee
Dr Ahmed Imran is an Information Systems researcher at the University of Canberra and leads the Research cluster of Digital Inequality and Social Change (RC-disc). Ahmed’s research interests include the strategic use of IT, eGovernment, ICT4D and the socio-cultural impact of ICT and organizational transformation impacted by ICT. Ahmed has garnered over a decade of academic experience in two of Australia’s leading Universities (ANU and UNSW) before moving to UC and has published in top-tier journals in the field.
His transition to academia was motivated by passion and personal experiences in developing countries, which became invaluable for research and understanding and providing a rich insight into the socio-cultural context.
Ahmed’s research has proven to bring real-world applications to the table, something that cemented its importance and relevance in the eyes of the research community. This recognition was further reflected through the ANU Vice Chancellor’s award, Fellow of Australian Computer Society, followed by numerous invitations to national and international forums.
