OUR PEOPLE

Lora Pappa
PRESIDENTLORA PAPPA
Lora Pappa, after graduating in International Studies (IUHEI) at the University of Geneva, has been working since the early 1990s, focusing on the reception and integration of refugees and asylum-seekers. Through all her extensive experience in the field, Lora Pappa was aiming to find the best possible ways for consolidating efforts and facilitating life conditions of refugees and asylum-seekers, and, particularly, unaccompanied children. She piloted and established the first Reception Centre for Unaccompanied Minors in Greece, in Crete. In 2010, she initiated the opening of a similar Centre for Unaccompanied Girls and Single Mothers in Athens.
In 2010, Lora Pappa founded the NGO METAdrasi aiming at implementing pioneering solutions to critical and long-standing gaps in the reception and integration of refugees and migrants in Greece and the protection of unaccompanied children and other vulnerable groups through innovative activities. In 2015 Lora Pappa was awarded with the North South Prize of the Council of Europe in a ceremony in Lisbon, in recognition of her commitment in the promotion of human rights and democracy. In 2017 the French state honored Lora Pappa for her social contribution and exceptional work with the “Legion of Honour” decoration while The Hellenic Initiative (THI) granted her the THI Leadership Award 2016.

Ioanna Babassika
VICE-PRESIDENTIOANNA BABASSIKA
Ioanna Babassika, one of the founders and members of the Board of METAdrasi, is a trained lawyer who has worked on migration and asylum issues with a specialisation on victims of torture, and written extensively on human rights, refugee protection and torture prevention. Her professional experience in the field includes cooperation with the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) on the legal protection of asylum seekers and 20 years of work at the Medical Rehabilitation Centre for Victims of Torture in Athens and membership in IRCT (International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims).
Ioanna Babassika has also acted as Special Advisor to the Greek Minster of the Interior on issues of Migration and Asylum. She got her Law Degree from the Law School of Athens, followed by post-graduate degrees from the University of Amsterdam and the College of Europe in Bruges. She speaks Greek, English, French and Italian.
