Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary

The Crown Princess is a passionate advocate for health, gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. She is committed to creating awareness, respect and ensuring compliance of women and girls´ sexual and reproductive health and rights, including access to family planning and the reduction of maternal and child mortality.

Crown Princess Mary was a member of the High-Level Task Force for the International Conference on Population and Development and serves as patron of several international organizations and agencies, including the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe, but also a number of Danish NGOs: Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and Maternity Worldwide.

The Crown Princess is also an Influencer of Women Deliver’s ‘Deliver for Good Campaign’ and is a member of the ICRW Leadership Council. The Crown Princess was patron of the Women Deliver Conference in Copenhagen in 2016.

In 2007 the Crown Princess founded The Mary Foundation with the mission of fighting social isolation. Under her leadership the foundation brings together untraditional partners to develop and manage projects and programs that focus on prevention, the creation of opportunities and empowering vulnerable individuals and groups who find themselves socially isolated. The foundation’s focus areas are: domestic violence, bullying and wellbeing and loneliness.

Crown Princess Mary is also patron of the Global Fashion Agenda and an advocate for sustainability in fashion. She is a frequent speaker at international conferences and an honorary member of various associations and societies.

Julie Gichuru

Julie Gathoni Sumira Gichuru is a Kenyan entrepreneur and media personality with investments in media, fashion retail and entertainment sectors. She is an Independent Director at Acumen Communication Limited and is a Fellow and trustee of the Africa Leadership Initiative EA. Julie’s career in the media spans over the past 19 years and has seen her work across the fields of broadcast, print and digital media. Julie has also pioneered an impressive number of television shows, from the first Kenyan investigative TV series, The Inside Story on Kenya Television Network to various current affairs shows at NTV (Kenya) including political and current affairs programs Showdown, On the Spot, You The Jury and The People’s Voice, the celebrated news program Sunday Live, peace and reconciliation program Fist to Five at Citizen TV and the celebrated post-election peace special Voices of Reason.

Through Arimus Media Limited Julie now oversees the production of quality African content such as Africa Leadership Dialogues, the Great Debaters Contest and entertainment series such as Maisha, Glam Show, Trading Bell, The Code and Shinda Washinde.

Alison Holder

Alison Holder is Director of Equal Measures 2030, an independent civil society and private sector-led partnership that connects data and evidence with advocacy and action, helping to fuel progress towards gender equality. The partnership is a joint effort of leading regional and global organizations from civil society and the development and private sectors, including: the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Data2X, the International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC), KPMG International, ONE Campaign, Plan International and Women Deliver.

Alison has nearly 20 years’ experience working in international development and the private sector, including leading policy, advocacy and campaigning work on issues ranging from inequality, tax justice, accountability, and corporate responsibility at Action Aid, Oxfam, and Save the Children. She has also worked on livelihoods projects with women’s groups in India and small business development in South Africa. Prior to working in the development sector, Alison worked in corporate social responsibility and business strategy consulting at Accenture.

Alison has an MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and an undergraduate degree from the Richard Ivey School of Business in Canada.

Hon Julia Gillard

Julia Gillard served as the 27th Prime Minister of Australia from 2010-13. As Prime Minister and in her previous role as Deputy Prime Minister, Ms. Gillard was central to the successful management of Australia’s economy, the 12th biggest in the world, during the Global Financial Crisis. Ms. Gillard delivered nation-changing policies including reforming Australian education at every level, from early childhood to university education, and commenced the nation’s first ever national scheme to care for people with disabilities.

Ms. Gillard is the first woman to ever serve as Australia’s Prime Minister or Deputy Prime Minister. In October 2012, Ms. Gillard received worldwide attention for her speech in Parliament on the treatment of women in professional and public life.

In April 2018, Ms. Gillard was appointed Inaugural Chair of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at Kings College, London. In 2014, Ms Gillard was appointed chair of the Global Partnership for Education, a leading organization dedicated to expanding access and quality education worldwide. Ms. Gillard is a non-resident Distinguished Senior Fellow with the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Dr. Ephraim Kisangala

Ephraim is a young Ugandan medical doctor with demonstrated experience providing healthcare in rural and urban parts of Africa. Through a local organization, he initiated mobile medical outreach programs in rural Uganda while mentoring future professionals to embrace community healthcare.

He is a Women Deliver Young Leader (Class of 2016) who has contributed to several policy documents and programs on reproductive health, menstrual health, and public health in general. He was recently credited for his work on menstrual health by The Duchess of Sussex, HRH Meghan Markle. He has also been a recipient of several awards such as the Windle Trust International Scholarship Award and Global Voices Award.

Ephraim has held several leadership positions, including chairing Africa's medical students umbrella body (FAMSA) when he was a medical student. He is currently completing a master’s degree in Public Health from Bangor University, UK under the Commonwealth Scholarship.

Gabriela Ramos

As Chief of Staff and OECD Sherpa to the G7 /G20, Gabriela Ramos supports the Secretary-General’s Strategic Agenda, and is responsible for the Organisation’s contributions to the global agenda, including G20, G7, APEC. She leads the Inclusive Growth and the New Approaches to Economic Challenges initiatives and oversees the OECD’s work on Employment and Social Affairs (including gender).

In recognition of her efforts on gender equality, Ms. Ramos was awarded the Forbes prize for Entrepreneurial Excellence in June 2017. She was decorated with the Ordre du Merit by the President of France in 2013. In May 2018, she was included in Apolitical’s Gender Equality Top 100: The Most Influential People In Global Policy.

Previously, Ms. Ramos was Head of the OECD Office in Mexico and Latin America, prior to which she held positions in the Mexican Government, including Director of Economic Affairs (and OECD issues) in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Technical Secretary at the Office of the Minister for the Budget. She held positions as Professor of International Economy at the Universidad Iberoamericana and at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México. Ms. Ramos holds an MA in Public Policy from Harvard University, and was a Fulbright and Ford MacArthur fellow.

Jayathma Wickramanayake

Ms. Jayathma Wickramanayake was appointed as the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth in June 2017 at the age of 26. In this role, Jayathma works to expand the UN’s youth engagement and advocacy efforts across all four pillars of work – sustainable development, human rights, peace and security and humanitarian action – and serves as a representative of and advisor to the Secretary-General.

Originally from Sri Lanka, Ms. Wickramanayake has worked extensively on youth development and participation, and has played a key role in transforming the youth development sector in her home country.

Prior to taking up her post, Ms. Wickramanayake was instrumental in creating the movement for civic and political engagement of young people, especially young women in Sri Lanka named “Hashtag Generation”. Previously, she advocated for global youth development on an international level including as the first ever Sri Lankan Youth Delegate to the United Nations and as the youth lead negotiator and member of the International Youth Task Force of the World Conference on Youth 2014 where she played a critical role in mainstreaming youth in the Post-2015 Process and in the establishment of World Youth Skills Day.

Juma Assiago

Mr. Assiago is a social scientist and works as an Urban Safety Expert with UN HABITAT assisting governments and other city stakeholders to build capacities at the city level to adequately address urban insecurity and to contribute to the establishment of a culture of prevention in developing countries. He has served in various UN inter-agency coordinating processes and is also involved in developing safety tools in urban contexts, particularly those targeted at social crime prevention. He is involved in the Global Network on Safer Cities, which among others is strengthening the governance of safety and safety in public spaces.

Faridah

Faridah is a young woman who is part of Plan International’s Safer Cities programme. She joined the programme as a way of dealing with low self confidence and improve the lives of girls like her in the community. She is now a Champion of Change trainer leading her peers in advocating with city authorities for better public infrastructure such as street lights so girls can be safer when they walk alone at night. Faridah has represented her vision for safer cities at the UN general assembly in New York, talked to high school students in Denmark and spoken with various media houses on how she manages to advocate for girls rights despite the challenges at home.

Alexander Munive

Alex Munive is a development and gender specialist. Currently, he works for Plan International leading the Gender Equality and Inclusion team. Mr. Munive has experience working in programmes that promote gender equality and social development in several countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa. He has worked as a consultant for the European Union, the Nordic Development Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Finnish government.

Ngo Chi Minh

Dr. Ngo Thi Minh is Vice-Chairwoman of the Committee for Culture, Education, Youth and Children, in the 14th National Assembly of the S.R of Vietnam (2016-2020). She has previously served as Chairwoman of the Vietnam Youth Union of Quang Ninh Province; Member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Youth Union among others.

Maryorie

Maryorie began her journey as an advocate for girls rights in 2016 as a volunteer using dance and crafts to build solidarity with other girls in her community. In 2017 she began working with Plan International’s Safer Cities For Girls programme and has since been able to champion girls safety in cities through the Champions Of Change clubs, lobbying the Municipality of Carabyllo, taking over as CEO of Moviestar for a day in 2018 and being active in girls self organizing in her region.

Gerda Verburg

Gerritje “Gerda” Verburg is a Dutch politician and diplomat of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and trade union leader. She served as Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations organizations for Food and Agriculture in Rome from 2011 to 2016. In this role, she chaired the United Nations Committee on World Food Security (CFS) between 2013 and 2015. Additionally, she was appointed Chair of the Global Agenda Council for Food and Nutrition Security of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2014, and in 2016, she was appointed as Coordinator of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement by UN Secretary-General Bank Ki-moon. Previously, she was an MP from 1998 to 2007 and again from 2010 to 2011, and also served as Minister of Agriculture in the fourth Balkenende cabinet. During her time as an MP, she focused on matters of social affairs, the European Union, and energy and innovation policy.

Gladys Mugambi

Gladys Mugambi worked as a District Nutritionist at Thika District Hospital for 10 years. She has served as the National Coordinator of the Micronutrient Program. She has worked as Deputy Head of the Division of Nutrition and National Food Fortification for the Ministry of Health and is licensed as a Registrar at the Kenya Nutritionists and Dieticians Institute. She currently acts as the Multi Sectoral Coordinator FS & Nutrition in the Department of Health Sector Coordination and Inter Governmental Affairs at the Kenyan Ministry of Health, acts as the SUN Focal Point and a SUN Executive Committee member.

Vivian Onano

Vivian Onano is a social entrepreneur and seasoned humanitarian who is recognized as an emerging woman leader bringing change to the African continent. She is a youth advisor to Global Education Monitoring Report, UNESCO and the Founder/Director at Leading Light Initiative. Vivian is a respected speaker who often speaks on global education, gender equality, youth empowerment, and international development. She has presented at the United Nations General Assembly and the Clinton Global Initiative, among others.

Irshad Danish

Irshad Danish is International Development Practitioner with key expertise in Policy Advocacy and Campaigning. He has been advocating for Women and Child Rights with focus on Nutrition, Reproductive Health & Rights and Right to Survival. He is Steering group member of SUN Civil Society Network and founding Secretary of SUN Academia & Research Network. He also coordinates SUN Civil Society Asia Regional Coordination Group. He has been working with leading International organizations including Save the Children & Nutrition International.

Joel Spicer

Joel Spicer is the President and CEO of Nutrition International. He is a global health leader with a track record of building and leading initiatives and partnerships in nutrition, maternal and child health, TB, HIV, innovative finance and resource mobilization. Over his career he has worked for the Canadian International Development Agency, UNICEF, WHO, Stop TB Partnership, World Bank and in support of governments. Joel is passionate about unlocking human potential for people living in poverty and closing the missed opportunities gap. In September 2016, Joel received the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Emerging Public Health Professional Award.

Sylvia Kasanga

Sylvia Kasanga is a Nominated Member of Parliament in the Senate, representing Affirmative Action, as well as an Active Advocate for the Construction Profession. In this role, she is a champion for the empowerment of youth and women and sponsored an amendment Bill in Parliament to destigmatize & restructure the approach of dealing with Mental Health Diseases. Sylvia is RIBA Chartered Architect, and has been practicing for 16 years. She is the Founder of Sycum Solutions Company Ltd, an Architectural and Construction Management firm based in Nairobi. She also serves as an Arbitrator with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators UK & Kenya.

Anna Gainey

Anna Gainey is the former president of the Liberal Party of Canada. Anna has been an active member of the Liberal Party for over 15 years, as well as worked as a special assistant to Minister John McCallum and as NATO policy advisor to Minister Bill Graham. She has been a key team member on many winning campaigns, including Marc Garneau’s elections in 2008 and 2011, and served as a senior advisor to Justin Trudeau’s leadership campaign. Ms. Gainey also serves as the Executive Director of the Gainey Foundation, which provides funding for environmental and arts education programs for youth.

Razan

Razan self-describes as a committed feminist “Afro-Arab” activist with a strong focus on SRHR and challenging harmful gender norms. She is a Women Deliver Young Leader and a Plan International Global Youth Influencer. Razan is part of the youth network Medicin Sudan, where she mobilises young students around SRHR issues in Sudan. She also participates in the youth network AMNA (Safe), where she leads workshops with young women aged 17-30 on meaningful youth engagement to overcome barriers to equality. She has led several campaigns and community outreach programmes on SRHR, CSE and GBV and has participated in 4 National General Assemblies.

Melissa Richmond

Melissa Richmond is Chief Strategy Officer of Running Start, a Washington, DC-based nonpartisan nonprofit that trains young women to run for political office. Melissa previously worked for Senator Mitt Romney over the course of 10 years and is a graduate of Brigham Young University, George Washington University Law School and the Women’s Campaign School at Yale. She speaks regularly and has appeared in/on NPR, POLITICO, US News and The Washington Post, among others.

Citlalli

Citlalli is a member of the National Coordination of Indigenous Women of Mexico, Commission on Indigenous Child and Youth of the Continental Network of Indigenous Women of the Americas. As a dedicated activist of indigenous women in the Americas, since 2014 she has been a volunteer of the National Reading Rooms Program implemented by the Ministry of culture and in 2018 participated in the 1st Regional Workshop on Empowerment and Leadership of Young Indigenous Women for ECMIA.

Adriana

Adriana is a passionate advocate for the rights of indigenous peoples. Since 2016, she has been active at a national and regional level and is a member of the Children and Youth Commission of the National Coordination of Indigenous Women of Mexico (CONAMI) and the Continental Link of Indigenous Women of the Americas (ECMIA). Much of her work focuses on the sexual and reproductive health rights of young indigenous women; the prevention of violence and defending human rights. She works as an assistant in the Civil Court of the Municipality in Mexico.

Helen Clark

Helen Clark was Prime Minister of New Zealand for three successive terms from 1999–2008. She was the first woman to be elected as Prime Minister in New Zealand. Throughout her tenure as Prime Minister, and as a Member of Parliament over 27 years, Helen Clark engaged widely in policy development and advocacy across the international, economic, social, environmental, and cultural spheres. In April 2009, Helen Clark became Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme. She was the first woman to lead the organisation, and served two terms there. At the same time, she was Chair of the United Nations Development Group, a committee consisting of all UN funds, programs, agencies, and departments working on development issues. As Administrator, she led UNDP to be ranked the most transparent global development organisation. Prior to entering the New Zealand Parliament, Helen Clark taught in the Political Studies Department of the University of Auckland, from which she earlier graduated with her BA and MA (Hons) degrees. Helen continues to be a strong voice for sustainable development, climate action, gender equality and women’s leadership, peace and justice, and action on non-communicable diseases and on HIV.

Gary Barker

Gary Barker, PhD, is a leading global voice in engaging men and boys in advancing gender equality and positive masculinities. He is the CEO and founder of Promundo, which has worked over 20 years in more than 40 countries. Beginning in low-income areas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Promundo’s approaches have been incorporated into ministries of health and education around the world. Promundo is a Global Consortium with members in Brazil, the US, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Portugal. Gary is co-founder of MenCare, a global campaign working in 45 countries to promote men’s involvement as caregivers, and co-founder of MenEngage, a global alliance of more than 700 NGOs. He co-created and leads the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES), the largest-ever survey of men’s attitudes and behaviors related to violence, fatherhood, and gender equality. He is a co-author of the 2015 and 2017 State of the World's Fathers reports. He has advised the UN, the World Bank, numerous national governments, and key international foundations and corporations on strategies to engage men and boys in promoting gender equality. In 2017 he was named by Apolitical as one of the 20 most influential people in gender policy around the world. He is an Ashoka Fellow and received the Voices of Solidarity Award from Vital Voices for his work to engage men for gender equality. Gary holds a PhD in Developmental Psychology.

Katja Freiwald

Katja Freiwald has been working with Unilever for more than 10 years and has built her career around a broad expertise in consumer and B2B marketing. She leads on developing the advocacy and partnerships strategies on the areas of gender equality and livelihoods, and has extensive experience in developing and implementing successful partnerships with organizations such as: UN Women, WFP, IFAD, GAIN, PSI, Acumen and governmental organizations such as GIZ and the Dutch Government. Katja uses her marketing expertise to the overall development of partnerships supporting behavioral change campaigns as well as seeking innovative business models to deliver sustainable development for business and communities.

Thalia Kidder

Thalia currently leads Oxfam's work on women's economic empowerment and care, including developing the Rapid Care Analysis exercises for development programs and advocacy. She has coordinated learning initiatives on Women's Economic Leadership in agricultural markets in East Asia and Latin America, and advised Researching Women's Collective Action, as part of Oxfam's Gendered Enterprise and Markets initiative. Prior to joining Oxfam, Thalia worked as a community and labor organizer in the USA and Central America. Thalia holds a Master’s degree in Community and Economic Development from the University of Minnesota, and is a member of the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE).

Florence Mutesi

Florence Mutesi is the Research, Advocacy and Communications Expert at RWAMREC. She works for Prevention+, a global programme that aims at addressing the root causes of Gender Base Violence at the Rwanda Men's Resource Centre (RWAMREC). She is a National and global advocate for engaging men and boys in promoting gender equality, women empowerment, gender justice, and positive masculinities and Gender Transformative approach. She formally worked as the Research Associate/Consultant at the Institute of Policy Analysis and Research; Director of Governance Policy and Practice Research at Rwanda Governance Board and worked in other research, analysis and advocacy capacities with Civil Society Organizations in the USA like Centre on Budget and Policy Priorities through International Budget Partnership and Population Reference Bureau. Ms. Mutesi has a Master’s in Public Policy from the National University of Singapore (NUS), Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy where and a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the National University of Rwanda.

Ugwu Nkechi Uzoamaka

Nkechi Uzoamaka is a 26-year old program officer with LEDAP in Nigeria. In 2017 she implemented LEDAP's project on supporting survivors of sexual and reproductive rights violations in the three North East states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe. In this project they provided counseling and vocational training for women and girls, mostly drawn from IDPs camps and host communities in these states. These women suffered from violations such as child marriages, rape, sexual slavery, sexual exploitation etc. In 2018, Ms. Uzoamaka participated in LEDAP-CRR collaborative project on documenting incidents of SRHR violations in Northern Nigeria.

Kate Gilmore

Kate Gilmore was appointed United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights on 1st December 2015.

She brings to the position diverse and longstanding experience in strategic leadership and human rights advocacy with the United Nations, government and non-government organizations.

Prior to joining OHCHR, Ms. Gilmore was Assistant Secretary General and Deputy Executive Director for Programmes with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Previously she was National Director of Amnesty International Australia and then Executive Deputy Secretary General of Amnesty International.

Ms. Gilmore started her career as a social worker and government policy officer in Australia. She helped establish Australia’s first Centre Against Sexual Assault at Melbourne’s Royal Women’s Hospital and her work over a number of years focused on prevention of violence against women. In Australia, she was granted honorary appointments to provincial and national public policy and law reform processes, including membership of the country’s first National Committee on Violence Against Women.

Ms. Gilmore holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of New England and postgraduate degrees in Social Work from the University of Melbourne and Community Development from RMIT.

Sathya Doraiswamy

Dr. Sathya Doraiswamy, currently the Chief of Health at UNFPA/ Bangladesh, is a senior public health professional with 20 years of experience in the Government, NGOs and in the UN. He holds a BA in Medicine and Masters in Community Medicine from Chennai, India and is pursuing a professional doctorate at the University of Bath, UK—studying provider attitudes behind medically unnecessary cesarean sections. Dr. Doraiswamy has worked in Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and in Europe in various capacities- committing the bulk of his career has been in supporting humanitarian public health responses for conflict affected populations.

Grace Kodindo

Dr. Grace Kodindo is an Obstetrician-Gynecologist who currently serves as the Director of Reproductive Health in Chad’s MOH. She obtained her undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Montreal. Dr. Kodindo served as the head of maternity at the Central Hospital in N’Djamena for many years and received a Distinguished Community Service Award for EmOC from FIGO/ Mailman’s School of Public Health. Dr. Kodindo later worked as the Chief Advisor for the Reproductive Health Access, Information and Services in Emergency Settings (RAISE) Initiative, and was featured in a 2005 BBC film, Dead Mums Don’t Cry, and documentary, Grace Under Fire.

Debora Diniz

Debora Diniz currently serves as the Deputy Director of Rights and Justice at IPPF/WHR. Prior to joining IPPF, Ms. Diniz co-founded and served as Executive Director of ANIS Institute of Bioethics, a feminist organization based in Brazil dedicated to advancing women’s rights through litigation, communications, and advocacy. An anthropologist by training, Debora’s research spans several issues including reproductive and sexual rights, disability, criminal justice and prison reform, and public health. Ms. Diniz has extensive experience arguing cases on abortion and marriage equality before Brazil’s Supreme Tribunal. She was recently engaged in evaluating the SRHR situation and needs of populations displaced from Venezuela.

Martin Gutierrez

Joannie Bewa

Joannie Marlene Bewa is a physician, a global advocate for girls, women and reproductive health, who is passionate about health,gender equality, rights and empowerment. She has over ten years of experience in global advocacy, healthcare, public speaking,international development, community mobilization, and policy. She was appointed in 2018 by the UN Secretary General Special Envoy on Youth as a UN Young Leader for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2016, she was featured on Melinda Gates’ list of six influential women on the topic of global access to contraception and was invited in 2017 by Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeauon a panel during which, he announced $650m for women’s health globally. Joannie is a member of the Global Advisory Board for Merck for Mothers, co-led the creation of the UNFPA Youth Panel in Benin in 2014 and joined in 2015 the advocacy for the creation ofthe Adolescent and Youth Constituency in the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, Children’s Health.

Leticia Pfeffer

Leticia Pfeffer is the Senior Manager of Global Policy and Government Affairs at Global Citizen. She leads Global Citizen's girls and women's policy campaigning, including on women's economic empowerment, gender discrimination in the law and women's sexual and reproductive health. Her background in development and international policy has fueled her passion for gender equality.

Kechi Ogbuagu

Dr. Kechi Ogbuagu, MBBS, MPH, is President and Founder of Conversations For Change (C4C), an international youth empowerment nonprofit. She is Chair of the UNFPA Senior Expert Advisory Board in Nigeria, and CEO of Pistis-K Consulting, a consulting firm that provides strategic, programmatic and technical support to countries and agencies on population and development, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and family planning. Dr. Ogbuagu’s previous positions include: Coordinator of UNFPA’s Global Programme to Enhance Reproductive Health Commodity Security; Advisory Board Member of the Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action; and Head of Department of Community Medicine, Nnamdi Azikiwe, University, Nigeria. She was also a fellow of the West African College of Physicians.

Bitania Lulu Berhanu

Bitania Lulu Berhanu is the founding Executive Director of Youth Alliance for Leadership and Development in Africa, and serves on the Board of Directors of the African Model United Nations. Ms. Berhanu has been widely recognized for her work, including as one of the African Youth Awards’ 100 Most Influential Young Africans in 2016, and 2015 Best Female Personality of the Year. Since 2016, Ms. Berhanu has also served as a young designer in PSI Ethiopia’s Adolescents 360 project, where she has helped to design the Smart Start intervention to support married adolescent girls’ demand for and access to modern contraception.

Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen

A renowned leader in development and gender equality, Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen has worked for over 25 years in international development, human rights, change management and diplomacy.

Ms. Albrectsen has been CEO of Plan International since September 2015. Prior to this she was United Nations Assistant Secretary General and Deputy Executive Director for Management at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Ms. Albrectsen is also Chairperson of the International Civil Society Centre and the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data and a member of the United Nations Every Woman Every Child High Level Steering Group and the Generation Unlimited Global Board.

Ms. Albrectsen has previously held senior leadership positions in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNFPA and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She served with the UNDP from 1997 to 2004, in Indonesia and later as Director of the Administrator’s Office at UNDP Headquarters. She led country operations for UNFPA in Turkey, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan from 2004-2006. From 2007-2009, she led the Danish government’s humanitarian and civil society affairs work as the director of the relevant division in the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ms Albrectsen is Danish and holds a law degree from the University of Copenhagen.

Gonzalo

Gonzalo is a highly experienced and enthusiastic gender equality and inclusion activist from El Salvador. From his work with the Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation, his role as Leader of the Association for LGBTIQ+ Rights and his work leading intersectionality and feminism trainings as Secretary of Gender and Sexual Diversity at the University of El Salvador - Gonzalo is a gender equality champion and expert. Having dealt with discrimination and violence throughout his life due to his identity, Gonzalo works to connect youth-led social justice movements across El Salvador.

Cassandra Hallett

An educator since 1992, Cassie has taught in Nova Scotia, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and, more recently, Tanzania; a teacher to the core, she will happily tell stories of wonderful experiences in each school she taught. In addition to teaching, Cassie’s career in education has included a variety of leadership roles including Professional Development Coordinator in Nunavut  and the president of the Kivalliq regional teachers’ association. She also served on the central executive of both the Northwest Territories Teachers’ Association (NWTTA) and the founding executive of the Nunavut Teachers’ Association (NTA). Cassie is a strong advocate for quality inclusive publicly funded public education.

Abigail

Abigail is a 23 year old impact-driven young activist from Ghana, who has worked in the area of youth accountability and young people’s access to information on sexual reproductive health and education for over five years now. She has also participated in many youth led advocacy initiatives on gender equality and girls’ rights and is well abreast with issues around girls’ education in Ghana and across the continent. She participated in the GPE’s replenishment conference in Dakar in 2018 and helped developed the Youth Solidarity Statement. She is currently studying communications in the Ghana Institute of Journalism.

Rita Bissoonauth

Dr. Rita Bissoonauth holds a Masters degree in Biochemistry from the University of Lyon, France and a Ph.D. Education from the University of Quebec in Montreal, Canada. She presently heads the African Union International Centre for Girls and Women’s Education in Africa (AU/CIEFFA) based in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Before moving to Ouagadougou, she was a Senior Policy Officer in Education for five years at African Union Commission in Addis Ababa. She also worked as a Senior Lecturer at the Mauritius Institute of Education, Mauritius and the University of Quebec in Montreal, Canada teaching Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Science Education.

Joanna Herat

Joanna Herat is a Senior Programme Specialist on Health and Education at UNESCO (Paris), providing technical leadership and policy support for education sector responses to improve health and well-being. Her areas of technical leadership are HIV prevention, comprehensive sexuality education, school-related gender-based violence, early and unintended pregnancy and gender equality. Before joining UNESCO, Joanna worked with civil society at the International HIV/AIDS Alliance supporting community-based HIV interventions in Africa and Asia. She started her career teaching and managing theatre for HIV education in Tanzania and Cameroon. Joanna has a Master’s degree in Anthropology of Development from the University of London.

Hannah Vaughan Jones

Hannah hosts news programmes across CNN International –including CNN Talk (live streamed on Facebook), Newsroom, Connect The World, The International Desk and Hala Gorani Tonight. She has broadcast live on location across the UK, covering the Royal Wedding from Windsor, London terror attacks, General Elections, referendums and State Openings of Parliament from Westminster, and the Manchester arena terrorist atrocity. Hannah has interviewed leading politicians, thought leaders, activists and campaigners.Previous broadcast credits include work for Sky News, The Associated Press, and LBC radio.Behind the camera, Hannah has vast experience as an executive producer and writer with outstanding news judgement and efficiency. She is a sought after awards host and events moderator, having single-handedly hosted the Malaria Summit London 2018 —attended by HRHs Prince of Wales and Duke of York, Bill Gates, and 15 Heads of State from across the Commonwealth. Hannah recently moderated the opening session of the 2018 World Health Assembly in Geneva, at the personal invitation of the Director General of the WHO.

Anisha Chugh

Anisha Chugh is the Deputy Executive Director of Women's Fund Asia, which is a regional women's fund supporting and women and trans* activists and groups in 18 countries of the region. Anisha has been with the organisation for 9 years and has been part of its transition from South Asia to an Asia wide entity. Anisha also serves on the board of FRIDA – The Young Feminist Fund, as the Treasurer. She has a Masters in History from the University of Delhi (St Stephen’s College) as well as a Master’s in Governance in Development from Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. Her prior experience includes working with a national human rights funder, Dalit Foundation, in India.

Somer Nowak

Somer Nowak is a Program Associate with the Women’s Rights program at Wellspring Philanthropic Fund. She provides programmatic support and manages grantmaking related to building power for the women’s rights movement and women’s land and property rights. Previously, she worked at the International Women’s Health Coalition where she coordinated international advocacy trainings for young feminists and advocated at UN conferences and agencies for young people’s sexual and reproductive rights and meaningful engagement of young people in political processes. As a Fulbright scholar, she built community and organized with black feminist collective, Bonecas de pixe in Minas Gerais, Brazil. She has co-designed and organized digital campaigns including #Comoesermulhernegra and #YoungFeministVisions to visibilize black women’s experiences in Brazil and amplify young feminists’ demands ahead of global UN conferences. Prior to this, Somer worked with Community Advocates Public Policy Institute in Milwaukee, WI, supporting grantmaking in the areas of violence prevention and youth development. Somer graduated from Marquette University with a BA in International Affairs and a concentration in Latin America. She speaks English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Oriana López Uribe

Oriana is a feminist activist for Sexual and Reproductive Rights and Health with 20 years of experience. She has worked in various organizations and networks to develop strategies to disseminate and promote Sexual Rights and Sexual and Reproductive Health for women, youth and adolescents. She is a member of RESURJ (Realizing Sexual and Reproductive Justice) a global feminist alliance and a member of the regional network of feminists “Vecinas Feministas por la Justicia Sexual y Reproductiva en América Latina,” she is the Executive Director of Balance, a feminist organization based in Mexico. Since 2010 she has specialized in training abortion doulas and since 2012 in reducing abortion stigma at the individual and community levels.

Eva Johansson

Eva Johansson is Sida’s Lead policy advisor for gender equality. She has worked in development cooperation and humanitarian assistance for 25 years. She was previously UNFPA’s senior advisor for Gender equality, rights and sustainable development in New York 2014-2017. Eva was Country Director for UNICEF in Eritrea 2007-2009. Eva has worked for the Swedish development cooperation agency, Sida, since 1997 and has served as Head of Sida’s division for development cooperation with Afghanistan 2010-2014, and as Humanitarian advisor for East Africa at the Swedish Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya 1998-2002. Since 2019 Eva Johansson is co-chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee’s network for gender equality (Gendernet).

Miren Bengoa

Miren Bengoa has a degree from Sciences Po Paris and is specialized in Public Health. She has 15 years of experience working in international NGOs, as well as the United Nations (UNFPA and UNICEF) where she managed a number of maternal and infant health projects in Latin America and Africa. She is very committed to women’s rights and gender equality and today is the Executive Director of Fondation CHANEL, which supports women as actors of societal change and is active in 35 countries. Miren Bengoa is also former President and Co-Founder of the French National Committee for UN Women, which was created in 2013 and aims to raise awareness about the work of UN Women around the world and disseminate its international campaigns, such as HeForShe and Orange Day. The organization carries out numerous awareness raising activities with the general public, institutions, media, and companies.

Erin Hohlfelder

Erin Hohlfelder is a Senior Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she helped build the foundation's first gender equality advocacy and communications strategy in 2016 and today manages a global grants portfolio to drive progress against this strategy.  Prior to joining the foundation, Erin spent six years at the ONE Campaign, where she served as the Policy Director for Global Health.  In this work, she focused primarily on infectious diseases, maternal and child health, and health financing. Before joining ONE, she worked as the Policy Associate for the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases. Erin has also spent time living in Kenya, where she conducted research on integrated care models for female orphans. 

Jean Kemitare

Jean Kemitare is the Program Manager for the GBV Prevention Network at Raising Voices. Her work involves the coordination of a regional Network spread across the Horn, East and Southern Africa. She holds a Masters in in Social Sector Planning & Management and Bachelor's in Social Work from Makerere University. She has worked in the gender-based violence/ gender equality field for over ten years and was previously engaged in chronic poverty research and policy advocacy. She has expertise in GBV program strategy development, implementation & monitoring; capacity building for NGOs involved in GBV programing, advocacy and research. She is an active member of civil society in Uganda and serves as board member to some. She has authored a range of approaches and articles including the Get Moving! Process for strengthening individuals and organizations addressing GBV. Her dream is to see a world where women and men are valued and access opportunity/resources in equal measure.

Humberto Carlo

Humberto Carolo is the Executive Director at White Ribbon in Canada and the Global Co-chair of the MenEngage Alliance. He is a men and masculinities and gender-based violence prevention expert with 20 years of experience in the not-for-profit sector. He has strong cross-cultural experience in developing and overseeing large-scale, multi-national programs and strategies involving diverse stakeholders in multiple sectors. Humberto's current work is focused on developing educational strategies to engage men and boys in promoting gender equality, healthy masculinities, and preventing all forms of gender-based violence.

Sophia Wanjiku

Sophia is a gender expert with a Master's degree in Gender and Development, Master's in International Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid and a BA in Sociology. Currently working at International Rescue Committee (IRC) as Women's Protection and Empowerment (WPE) as Technical Advisor, she provides technical support for WPE programs in Horn and East Africa (Uganda, South Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe). She has 18 years' professional experience working in different national and international NGOs in East and Horn of Africa in humanitarian and development context. She has worked at technical and managerial positions thematic areas of Gender mainstreaming, gender based violence, young women and adolescent girls programming, governance, peace building and HIV/Aids. Her previous work has been with different INGOs including Mercy Corps, Women for Women International and other Kenya National NGOs.

Ramatu Bangura

Ramatu serves as a Program Officer for the NoVo Foundation’s Advancing Adolescent Girls’ Rights initiative. Prior to joining NoVo, Ramatu served as Program Director at the Sauti Yetu Center for African Women in the South Bronx, where she founded and managed a program designed to meet the educational, developmental, leadership and college readiness needs of immigrant young women from West Africa. She engaged in advocacy and research on a host of issues impacting transnational girls, including early and forced marriage, sexual violence, trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation, and educational access for English Language Learners. While working in community-based organizations, Ramatu earned both a Masters of Education (EdM) and Doctorate of Education (EdD) in International & Transcultural Studies Teachers College, Columbia University.

Moufeeda Haidar

Moufeeda Haidar is the Gender Integration Specialist at the Arab Institute For Women. She joined the Institute in 2015 and is a master trainer in the Qudwa: Basic Living Skills Program that targets illiterate to semi-literate women in the community along with a previous experience as a national consultant and trainer on human rights and intercultural citizenship. She holds a Bachelor Degree in Law from the Lebanese University.

Lily Kak

Dr. Lily Kak is Newborn Health Team Lead at U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington DC. She received her PhD in Anthropology from the State University of New York and a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in health education and behavioral sciences from Johns Hopkins University. During her 18 years at USAID, she has led the development of the Agency’s global development alliances with the private sector, health professional associations, and NGOs to scale up newborn health interventions through innovative private sector approaches. She provides leadership and guidance to expand and ensure technical excellence of USAID’s newborn programs worldwide.

Winnie Mwebesa

Dr. Winnie Mwebesa is Associate Vice President, Technical, at Save the Children US, with more than 25 years of clinical and programming experience in reproductive health. Dr. Mwebesa manages technical experts supporting the design, implementation, management and evaluation of Maternal Newborn and Child Health programming in low resources settings. A native of Uganda, Winnie grew up in Belgium where she earned her M.D. and ObGyn residency at the Catholic University of Louvain in Brussels. She also holds a Master in Public Health in population and reproductive health from Johns Hopkins University.

Malika Ndlovu

Malika Ndlovu is an internationally published South African poet, playwright, performer and arts project manager. Via her poetic memoir, “Invisible Earthquake: A Woman’s Journal through Stillbirth,” published by Modjaji Books in March 2009, she has become a passionately vocal advocate around pregnancy-related loss, bereavement support and maternal health through a wide variety of community interventions. Malika’s voice has featured in the Lancet Medical Journal, SANDS (Miscarriage, Stillbirth & Newborn Death Support) newsletters, BBC World Service, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimist” blog, and WHO’s April 2017 World Health Day online campaign focused on mental health issues.

Sandra Oyarzo Torres

Registered Midwife Sandra Oyarzo Torres is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile. Since taking that position in 1998, she has taught across the five-year degree curriculum of the Midwifery School. With a Master’s degree in Health Science Education, she currently teaches in the Department of Education in Health Sciences to students seeking Postgraduate Degrees. Additionally, she is the coordinator and Professor in the Multidisciplinary Teams Formation Program. Sandra has been a member of the Chilean Midwives Association since 2007, working in the Scientific Committee. She was elected Secretary General in 2015, and in 2018 she was elected as the Vice President in the new Board. She became an ICM Board Member representing Central and South America in 2014 and the same year she trained to be a Master Trainer CBE TOT. During 2017, she was reelected as an ICM Board Member for her second term. As an ICM Board Member, Sandra has devoted herself to strengthen ICM’s three pillars: Education, Association and Regulation in the Americas.

Joy E. Lawn

Professor Joy Lawn is an African-born, British-trained pediatrician and perinatal epidemiologist, now Director of Maternal, Adolescent, Reproductive & Child health (MARCH) Centre at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. She has >25 years of experience including: clinical care, epidemiological burden estimates, design and evaluation of maternal, newborn and child care services at scale, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, including a decade with Save the Children. Her Masters of Public Health is from Emory University and PhD in perinatal epidemiology from UCL. She has published >250 peer reviewed papers including several Lancet series on newborn survival and stillbirths. Joy is a champion for women’s leadership.

Meggie Mwoka

Meggie is a young global health specialist and physician with special interest in global health policy, governance and health systems strengthening. She has over 4 years’ experience in the NGO sector especially in the field of sexual and reproductive health. Meggie has been involved in the #Youth4UHC movement through her active engagement as an organizing committee member for the the Africa Health Agenda International Conference –Youth preconference 2017 and 2019, where she was contributed in development and delivery of the youth communique and UHC youth agenda respectively. She currently works at African Population Health and Research Centre (APHRC) as a policy research officer. Meggie Mwoka holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of Nairobi and a Masters in Global Health from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, University of Barcelona.

Dr. Veronica Magar

Veronica Magar (Dr. Ph, MPH, MA) leads WHO’s work on Gender, Equity and Human Rights (GER). She heads an organization-wide mainstreaming initiative to ensure a coherent, systematic and sustainable approach for integrating these critical dimensions across WHO’s technical programmes at the headquarters, regional offices and country level. To support member states with implementation of the GER Criteria, WHO offers a country package, training and support to build capacity supported by her team. Since 2000, she has worked with UN agencies, NGOs, and governments in more than 30 countries across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East to address gender inequality and human rights. Prior to that Dr. Magar worked at international NGOs including CARE where she led work on gender mainstreaming, violence against women, research and community-based evaluations. Dr Magar earned her MPH and MA at UCLA and DR PH the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Elisha Dunn-Georgiou

Elisha oversees the programmatic work of PAI, ensuring that the organization’s research and advocacy agendas are in alignment with PAI’s mission and strategic plan. Elisha has more than 15 years of experience in the fields of sexual and reproductive health and international development. She holds a master’s degree in epidemiology and a JD from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Elisha is also a returned Peace Corps volunteer, having served in Morocco.

Dr. Belinda Afriyie Nimako (MD, MPH)

Belinda serves in the Policy, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Division of Ghana Health Service. In this role, she supports efforts to generate evidence as well as translate existing evidence to strengthen Ghana’s Health System, particularly at the Primary Health Care level. She has a wide breadth of experience, including serving as director of health in one of Ghana’s rural districts, as a departmental head in a regional hospital, and as a Board Member of Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority. Alongside her work, Belinda is pursuing doctoral studies with the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute. 

Dr. Githinji Gitahi

A passionate advocate for a pro-poor Universal Health Coverage (UHC), Githinji Gitahi is Group CEO of Amref Health Africa and Co-Chair of the UHC2030 Steering Committee, a global World Bank and World Health Organization initiative for UHC. Amref Health Africa, founded in 1957, is the largest African-led international organization on the continent reaching more than 9 million people through over 150 health-focused projects across 35 countries.

Dr. Gitahi has received the Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear (MBS), a commendation from the President of Kenya, for promoting health in Kenya. He has a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Nairobi, a Master’s in Business Administration, majoring in Marketing, from United States International University and a Certificate for Strategic Perspectives for Nonprofit Management from Harvard University.

Raj Kumar

Raj Kumar is the founding President & Editor-in-Chief of Devex, the media platform for the global development community. A social enterprise dedicated to ensuring global development efforts do more good for more people, Devex was born in 2000 when Raj was a graduate student at the Harvard Kennedy School. Today, there are 100+ Devexers around the world serving a global audience of more than one million aid workers and development professionals. Beginning as a kid in Kerala, India, Raj has witnessed firsthand determined and courageous development work in over 50 countries – it’s what drives the Devex mission to “Do Good. Do It Well.” He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a media leader and former humanitarian council chair for the World Economic Forum, and has interviewed on-camera and on-stage hundreds of global luminaries on the most important challenges of our time. Raj is the author of the book "The Business of Changing the World," a go-to primer on the ideas, people, and technology disrupting the aid industry.

Dr. Taiwo Oyelade

Dr. Taiwo Oyelade, MD, MPH is Advisor, Gender, Women's Health and Ageing in the WHO Regional Office for Africa. He provides expert leadership and specialist technical support to Member States of the African Region for the development, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and promotion of equity-oriented, rights-based, and gender-transformative approaches to strengthening health policies, plans and programmes. In addition, he collaborates with relevant WHO/AFRO Clusters and WHO/HQ Departments and partners to build capacity, develop tools and guidelines and support implementation of evidence-based policies, strategies and plans. Dr. Oyelade has been working in the field of public health for more than 20 years. He started as a clinician in Lagos, and later the Federal Ministry of Health, UNFPA and WHO country offices in Nigeria providing leadership in population, reproductive health and gender.

Chiseche Salome Mibenge

Chiseche Salome Mibenge is a Board Member of Episcopal Relief & Development, and the Director of Community Engaged Learning in Human Rights at Stanford University. She has published widely on human rights, armed conflict, transitional justice and gender-based violence, and has been recruited as a gender expert by UNIFEM and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and worked with local NGOs in Rwanda. She is passionate about the influence the intersect of faith and culture has over local contextualized understandings of victimhood and justice. Her book “Sex and International Tribunals: The Erasure of Gender from the War Story” was published by University of Pennsylvania Press (2013).

Reverend Josephine Ogola

Rev. Josephine Ogola is a passionate advocate for the rights of young women and girls and addresses stereotypes and misconceptions among faith leaders and communities about gender roles, healthy timing and spacing of pregnancy and child protection. She uses the platform of a trainer and facilitator in Channels of Hope to empower a community of faith leaders to advocate for family planning services. She also ensures adolescents and youth have access to essential information about sexual and reproductive health. Her efforts have led to youth making responsible decisions about their sexuality, strengthened family dialogue and girls returning to formal education.

Reyhana Patel

Reyhana Patel is the Head of External Relations at the NGO Islamic Relief Canada, where she leads the women and girls portfolio. She's also a fellow at the Institute for Global Engagement and a former BBC News journalist. Reyhana has spent the last few years leading program and advocacy initiatives to end violence against women and girls in Muslim communities. She has authored research on female genital mutilation and produced a learner's manual, which re-evaluates mainstream Islamic understandings.

Maihan Wali

Maihan Wali is from Afghanistan and currently lives in the U.S. She founded the Women’s Empowerment Through Sport in Afghanistan, empowering 700 women in eight provinces, creating the first women’s basketball team in Kandahar, and the first basketball camp for women. She led a social media campaign, #BanthisUniform, to stop a restricted uniform being imposed on school girls. Awards include the Linnaean Award (2017), Silent Leader Award (2018), G. Ronal Couchman Endowed Diversity Award (2017), Global Citizenship Award (2018), and the Women of Distinction Award, which has given her the opportunity to encourage more girls to advocate for gender equality.

Mouhammed Cherif Diop

Imam Mouhammed Cherif Diop leads Tostan's strategy of aligning religious leadership to human rights. His decade-long contributions to social norm perspective and religious leadership have been recognized by the Carter Center, Skoll Foundation and United Nations, among others. With his guidance, Tostan has held catalytic training and consensus building seminars, reaching more than 230 religious leaders at the Tostan Training Center in Thiès, Senegal, since 2015. In this setting, participants consider religious guidance on such topics as gender-based violence and child protection. Tostan’s strategies have led more than 9,000 communities to declare their abandonment of child marriage and female genital mutilation.

Dan Irvine

Dan Irvine has directed the health and nutrition department in World Vision International since 2007. During this time he has advised development of interventions and programmes focused on primary health care in developing, fragile and humanitarian contexts. He has led a health system strengthening approach from the community perspective resulting in the support of 220,000 community health workers. He is an advocate of social capital, and social accountability, and advised the development of World Vision’s core local level advocacy approach, as well it’s global campaigns focused on maternal and child health and nutrition, and violence against children.

Jacob Thomas

Jacob Thomas is a 29 year-old nonbinary person living in Melbourne, Australia and uses the pronouns they/them. In 2016 Jacob was one of two Australians to receive The Queen’s Young Leaders award for their work in suicide prevention and creating accessible pathways for queer people. Jacob is the Coordinator of the Commonwealth Youth Gender and Equality Network (CYGEN) and has represented the network at the 61st session of UN Women’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York, to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the 11th Commonwealth Youth Forum in London, and at AIDS2018 in Amsterdam.

Tanzila Khan

Tanzila Khan is a wheelchair user since birth from Lahore, Pakistan. She wrote her first book, ‘A story of Mexico’ when she was 16 and then went on to publish her second book, ‘The Perfect Situation’ later. She has sold her books to fund community projects in the fields of disability, women empowerment, education and environment. Her NGO is Creative Alley that trains and empowers the community through events and projects. She launched her company, Iwish to create sustainable solutions to achieve the SDGs which includes a mobile application, Girlythings that delivers sanitary products to women with disabilities. Tanzila has also been a public speaker and has spoken across 15 countries. Her day job is serving as Manager Entrepreneurship Development Program at Hashoo Foundation.

Jude Thaddues Njikem

Jude Thaddues Njikem is founder and executive director of Community Centre for Integrated Development; a Non-Governmental Organization registered in Cameroon. Jude is an advocate for girls and women’s right with over 11 years’ experience in the promotion of human rights, gender activism, policy advocacy/engagement, community development. Presently, Jude is working on Cameroon Human Rights fellowship as project manager since March 2016. Jude recently launched www.youthsrhrdistrict.org a platform that collects and share evidence on the role of young people in promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Sarah Gammage

As Director of Gender, Economic Empowerment and Livelihoods, Sarah Gammage leads the organization’s work on women’s economic empowerment with a particular focus on the care economy, time use and time burdens and intra-household processes. She has more than 25 years of experience as researcher and feminist economist, providing policy advice and supporting strategic advocacy on gender equality in Latin America, Africa and Asia. She has written about and led research and policy innovation on gender, economic empowerment, livelihoods, labor markets, migration, unpaid care and poverty.  She has worked with and for the United Nations, bilateral and multilateral agencies and civil society.

Shannon Kowalski

Shannon oversees IWHC’s work on international and US foreign policy advocacy. She is an experienced and effective advocate for sexual and reproductive rights and health, is very familiar with UN negotiations, and is an expert on HIV and AIDS, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and programs to advance youth sexual and reproductive health. Prior to IWHC, Shannon was director of the global health financing initiative of the Open Society Foundations. In this role, she oversaw a $1.6 million grantmaking and operational initiative to ensure that global health donors and financing mechanisms are transparent and accountable, and meet the needs of communities and marginalized groups. Previously, Shannon worked for Family Care International and the Center for Reproductive Rights. She has been featured in several media outlets, including The Guardian, Associated Press, Reuters, and Huffington Post.

Lopa Banerjee

Lopa Banerjee is the Director of the Civil Society Division at UN Women. She leads UN Women’s work on partnering with, supporting and strengthening women’s rights groups and civil society networks as well as their contribution, participation and influence in policy discussion at global, regional and national levels. Lopa’s work focuses on partnership development with civil society organizations to influence global action on gender equality, in particular related to standard setting, policy discussion and stakeholder accountability.A gender and human rights thematic expert with substantive experience in social policy and governance issues across Asia and Africa, Lopa has worked for over 3 decades on international development, policy advocacy, communication and partnership building, across the UN and in the private sector in different countries. Lopa’s areas of specialization include feminist policy advocacy and analysis, and inclusive partnership development and engagement. She lives in New York City.

Jessica Stern

Jessica Stern, Executive Director of OutRight Action International, specializes in gender, sexuality and human rights globally. At OutRight, she has doubled the budget, supported the legal registration of LGBTIQ organizations globally, helped secure the mandate of the United Nations Independent Expert on Discrimination and Violence based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, and advanced the UN LGBTI Core Group. She is frequently quoted by the media in The New York Times, The Guardian, and Time. She has provided expert opinions to governments globally and UN mechanisms, including UNWomen where she serves as a member of the LGBTI Reference Group and Women Human Rights Defenders Reference Group. Her writing has been cited by the Indian Supreme Court in its seminal judgement decriminalizing homosexuality (Navtej Singh Johar versus the Union of India) and featured in a new chapter in The Oxford Handbook of Women, Peace and Security (2019). She is an adjunct associate professor at Columbia University.

Stephanie Lum

Steph Lum is a poet, lawyer and intersex advocate from Australia and a Women Deliver Young Leader. She is co-Chair of Intersex Human Rights Australia and spent most of last year working with the Australian Human Rights Commission on a project looking at medical interventions on intersex people.

Kamanda Bosco

Kamanda Bosco (alias Amanda) is a transgender activist and human rights defender advocating for gender, LGBTI rights, sexual and reproductive health rights. Working in these areas, she reaches out to grassroots communities, particularly including young key populations through the African Queer Youth Initiative. Kamanda is the co-chair of inclusion and diversity with the Society of Gender Professionals. Kamanda is currently finishing an undergraduate degree in Business administration and working at Transgender Equality Uganda as a programs assistant. Kamanda is a civic graduate of the Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) and part of the Commonwealth Youth council on committee representing special interest groups. Kamanda has also worked with the youth coalition for sexual and reproductive Rights and Lancet standing commission on adolescent health and well-being.