Conference Organizers

Based in Tunisia, her work focuses on Peace Building, Conflict Transformation, and Reconciliation in Libya. Her previous work has focused on managing and coordinating sustainable and humanitarian projects in the realm of reconciliation and peacebuilding, media, health, capacity building, and women’s empowerment in Yemen and Tunisia. She has a range of experience working for local and international NGOs and CSO including, Interpeace, UNDP – Libya, DCA Libya, BBC Media Action – Tunisia, Tamkeen for Development-Yemen, Progressio, and USAID.

Mwanga is an international human rights scholar, activist and lawyer who tries to talk, write, live, work and love the feminist way. She has specialization in access to justice and women’s international human rights. She is a recognized spokesperson and expert in the way law impacts marginalized people’s lives and in women’s rights and violence against women. Ms. Mwanga has over 12 years’ experience working in municipal, regional, national, international, multicultural, urban, and remote contexts. Her area of interest includes human rights, peace & Security, gender studies, sexuality, feminist legal theory, storytelling, and Travel.

IPDS was established in June 2014, is Pakistan-based independent, non- governmental, not-for-profit Research, Advocacy, and Public Diplomacy Think and Do Tank. Farhat Asif is an award-winning human rights and peace activist by choice, a public diplomat by experience, researcher, and writer by profession with work experience in establishing and leading institutions focusing on developing synergies for peace, development, and dialogue. With well-knitted diplomatic engagements in Pakistan and across the globe, Farhat has pioneered the Public Diplomacy initiatives in Pakistan through the promotion of culture, education, and business connections amongst the communities from across the globe. Farhat envisions IPDS as a leading regional University of Peace and established Centre for Women Peace and Leadership, apart from other centers at the Institute. The Centre was inaugurated by Nobel Peace Laureate Mrs. Tawakkol Abdel Salam Karman. IPDS has remained instrumental in building strategic partnerships with regional and international Institutions. Connecting influential people and building synergies amongst leaders and communities have remained Farhat's core strengths. Farhat has recently launched "Global Women Insight" a series of digital conversations with women leaders from across the globe. Farhat has an MA in International Relations and Mphil in Defense and Strategic Studies from Pakistan, while she is Global Change Leaders Fellow Coady Institute, Canada, and NPeace Award winner from UNDP Asia Pacific.

Form representative of Africa Region in CSO PANEL of United Nations Convention to Combate Desertification (UNCCD) Coady international Institute Grad, GCL 2019

Through her down-to-earth style, Dee brings people together in dynamic ways to realise and engage the full potential of their networks and communities. Over 20 years, her work has inspired people at hundreds of events and workshops worldwide where she offers community engagement and development training and also provides professional co-design, facilitation and keynote addresses for conferences, forums and events. Based on two decades of grassroots work, Dee’s background is in youth work, community-based research and community-university outreach and she is a firm believer in the power of tapping into the collective wisdom of a community to strengthen and build on what’s already there.

Lucía Di Poi is the Executive Director of the Haitian Center for Leadership and Excellence – a Haitian foundation created in 2011 by a group of Haitian leaders from civil society, private and political sectors to promote collaborative, civic leadership, with the aim of establishing a self-sufficient and prosperous Haiti. CLE was established in close collaboration with the Coady International Institute, and considers itself Haiti’s preeminent ABCD institute. Lucía has worked with CLE since its inception as the Planning and Development Associate. Since 2014, as, first, the Deputy Director and today as CLE’s Executive Director, Lucía has overseen the establishment of CLE as Haiti’s only leadership development foundation, expanding its programs, team, and institutional capacity, and establishing cornerstone programs targeting youth, women, and local government leaders. Lucía studied International Relations at Tufts University, received an M.S. in Political Science from Southern CT State University, and is a two-time Coady graduate. Lucía speaks Spanish, having been born in Argentina, French, English and Haitian Creole. She considers herself very privileged to be able to work with a team of Haitian leaders dedicated to changing their country.

She is an enthusiastic community development practitioner, facilitator and trainer who love’s working with emergence. She is skilled and passionate about strengthening regional, rural and remote communities, developing community leadership capacity, building community resilience and supporting community members to take action. Michelle is a co-creator of Deadly ABCD with Jodi Sampson and Dee Brooks and contracts to the Victorian Aboriginal Community Services Association Limited training team to deliver cultural awareness and community development training. Michelle utilises participatory leadership practices in her training and facilitation to support community led initiatives; not for profit strategic planning; host community conversations and facilitate community planning.

She is a Mandela Washington fellow, also a fellow of Coady international institute Canada. She is a Public Health Consultant, and a Researcher. She is currently the president of Africa's young female Advisers Initiative. She is a passionate community leader with seven years of experience in project management, community development, and leadership. She is involved in identifying development gaps in society and ways of bridging the gaps. She belongs to the following professional organization: Alumni of Coady international institute Canada, Nigeria global Affairs Initiative, International Association of Professional Writers & Editors, Geneva Foundation For Medical Education and Research, Health education and Promotion Graduate of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria and Reviewer for BMC International Journal on Reproductive health.

She is the Co-founder of Fire Circle, a local advocacy group, which mostly operates online sharing information on Gender-Based Violence, Child Abuse and Human Trafficking. She believes in servant leadership and has served on the board of several youth, women and developmental organisations. Currently she is one of several civil society members on the National AIDS Coordinating Committee (NACC) where she is the Vice Chair of 2 Sub Committees, Advocacy & Human Rights and Prevention. She has worked in the areas of gender, youth, HIV, prison rehabilitation and human rights. She graduated in 2014 from the Coady International Institute Global Change Leadership course.

Catherine joined the Coady Institute in 1992 as an Assistant at the Marie Michael Library. Catherine is now responsible for the overall operations of the library, as well as maintaining the library’s catalogue on the Novanet system. She has taught classes on preparing an independent study, serves as an independent study advisor, and has been a resource person for the Resource Centres for Learning and Change Certificate offered by the Institute. In addition, Catherine has published research on libraries and adult education, and Internet use by women’s resource centres. She has also collaborated on comprehensive literature reviews on gender and adult learning in Canada, and transformative learning. This year, Catherine will facilitate the Research Processes and Methods elective within the Diploma program. Catherine holds a MA in Sociology from Memorial University of Newfoundland, and a BA in Sociology (1st class honours) from St. Francis Xavier University.

Ms. Jaya Luintel is a prominent, nationally acclaimed journalist and women’s rights activist. She is the founder of The Story Kitchen in Nepal, which aims to amplify women's voices and their stories by utilizing both traditional and new media tools. She began her journalism career from Radio Sagarmatha in 1999- the first community radio station in South Asia.

She is a dedicated humanitarian, a feminist and community developer with twelve years of experience in women and girl’s leadership and community development. She is also a dynamic teacher of history and citizenship with 19 years of experience. Adah is a recognized women’s human rights expert and peace leader who been very instrumental in advocating for peace and security issues in Cameroon. She is currently leading the Women’s Peace Builders Network (WOPEN) in the North West Region. She is the Executive Director and founder of Mother of Hope Cameroon (MOHCAM),a non-governmental organization advocating for the women and youths rights, sexual reproductive health rights, peace education, and fights against gender based violence in schools and communities. She is a graduate from at the International Relations Institute of Cameroon (IRIC) where she obtained a masters in humanitarian and developmental studies. She is a Global Change Leader and Fellow form the Coady Institute, Canada and the International Leaders Program (ILP) from the UK. She is a member of the Women Mediators across the Commonwealth (WMC). She is also a member of the MASHAV Alumni-Israel, where she was trained as an expert on violence against women and children, She is also an Equitas Alumni -Canada where she has been trained as a human rights educator. She has been recognized by Plan International Cameroon for the Best Initiative for Girls Award, by the British High Commission Cameroon as a as an agent of change of the Cameroon Women Scholarship.

She has been a researcher on issues of Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) in Kenya and her work includes; Gendered Risks, Relocation initiatives and their impact on home communities-a case study of Kenyan human rights defenders among others including HRDs working on extractives. As an alumnus of Global Change Leaders of Coady Institute in Canada, she has created a program for Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) that focuses on developing knowledge to meet the unique needs of WHRDs and marginalized groups. Salome sits on the board of trustees of the human rights organization Haki Africa and is the winner of the inaugural Scottish Bar International Award for human rights defenders 2018, an initiative of the Faculty of advocates in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Her work is grounded in the beliefs that people are peace-able, and that conflict can be an opportunity and catalyst for learning and change – at the individual, community and society levels. She has taught Conflict Resolution, Adult Learning and Education, and women’s leadership at the university and community levels. As a peace ethnographer her research focuses on local, everyday peacebuilding; in particular, the lived experiences of women in conflict, social movements (nonviolent action), conflict transformation and peacebuilding. Her research and teaching span Canada, the Caribbean and Europe. She has volunteered with initiatives in migration and settlement, human rights, indigenous rights, family literacy, and culture. Robin is also a mother and fibre and visual artist. Robin holds a PhD in Peace and Conflict Studies (University of Manitoba); Master of Education in Adult Education (Mount Saint Vincent University), and a Bachelor of Arts in Conflict Resolution and International Development (Menno Simons College/University of Winnipeg).

Her work focuses on the design and implementation of strategies and action plans in the field of Communication for Development, seeking to promote and strengthen capacities in climate resilience as well as to support adaptation and development in communities known to be extremely vulnerable to climate change. A key element of her work in the above also aims to establish an effective recognition of gender equality, a challenge she faces by developing a variety of communication tools that help to raise awareness and address gender mainstreaming more proactively. She has worked in areas such as climate change, food security and disaster risk management for more than 15 years. She is currently working on wildlife trafficking matters. Passionate about women's leadership, she also works on the economic and social empowerment of women as well as on promoting a greater participation of women in media. In 2017, she graduated from the Global Change Leaders Program at the Coady International Institute in Canada.

Oksana also has experience working in international development organizations (the British Council, Canadian Development Cooperation Program, Pact, Inc) as a project coordinator and a gender focal point. In 2014 Oksana co-founded «Theatre for Dialogue» NGO where she has been working with communities affected by conflict, internally displaced and other marginalized groups of women, to build dialogue and cohesion within communities and to advocate the rights of vulnerable groups of women at the national and international level. The tools of her work with communities include: community-based theatre, nonviolent communication, emancipatory pedagogy and feminist theory in practice. Her research is based in action-oriented methods, and her advocacy is rooted in stories backed by data. Oksana's work with women led to creation of a women's initiative «One of Us», a group of community activits rooted in intersectional feminist approach, dedicated to culture of nonviolence and promoting peace. Oksana combines her dialogue work with activism and advocacy for gender sensitive peace. In 2019 she became one of the co-founders of the Women's Network for Dialogue and Inclusive Peace. The network brings together women's organisations as well as individual activists from government-controlled and uncontrolled areas, and aims to amplify voices of women affected by conflict in the policy and peace processes at all levels. In 2019 the Network contributed to the parallel CSO report on implementaion of Beijing Platform for Action (chapter on peaceful and inclusive societies). Oksana believes that our life experience is the best source of our knowledge about ourselves and the world, and that we can always learn something from each other if we know how to be curious and ask the right questions. She is also convinced that a truly just and peaceful world is only possible if we manage to create spaces where everyone’s voice can be heard and can be included in decisions we make collectively as communities.

As part of this position she provides technical support for Moodle and Webinars, organizes orientation and fieldtrips, and support facilitators with classroom requirements. Kate holds a Bachelor of Computer Science degree from Acadia University and a Certificate in Environmental Practice from Royal Roads University.