Meet Our Team

We are a group of committed individuals who see an urgent need to help Guinea-Bissau and wanted to use our skills and network to bring change to the country.

Co-Directors

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Matt

Matt has worked in IT for over 30 years and for the last 10 has been running his own successful IT consultancy business in London. He has taken part in a number of high profile environmental campaigns at both a national and local level and in recent years has completed two non-stop 100km walks to raise money for charity.

Linda

Linda has taught and trained teachers for over 35 years in the UK, Brazil and Japan. She has presented at many conferences in Europe, Pakistan and Africa, mainly about global issues in teaching from her Easier English wiki New Internationalist. She has also trained teachers in refugee camps, written diverse teaching materials, and, since 2018, been working with many teachers in West Africa, especially Guinea Bissau, remotely and in person.

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Michelle

Michelle has a Masters in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and has taught programming in England, Scotland and Australia. She works in software engineering in banking in London, has volunteered in Sao Tome e Principe and has previously run 2 marathons to fundraise for charity. In 2024 she was made Government Advisor of AI to the Ministry of Education in Guinea-Bissau.

Action Guinea Bissau was founded in 2020 by 5 co-founders Matt Palmer, Linda Ruas, Michelle Ruas, Ali Djau and Bacar Djau.