Board & Advisors

WLP benefits from the guidance of its board, its expert advisory council, and Global South program advisors.

Board

Hafsat Abiola - Treasurer

Hafsat Abiola (Nigeria) is Founder of the Kudirat Initiative for Nigerian Democracy (KIND), which seeks to help restore democracy to Nigeria, strengthen civil society, and enhance public accountability in all public institutions. Ms. Abiola has spoken at universities, churches, labor unions, and solidarity organizations throughout the U.S. She helped organize the National Day of Student Action in the U.S. involving over 200 Amnesty groups in support of Nigerian youth. Ms. Abiola's other efforts in the U.S. include campaigning for the successful passage of several resolutions and sanction bills in major American cities and towns. Her articles have been published in the New York Times, International Herald Tribune, and leading Nigerian magazines.

Mahnaz Afkhami - President and CEO

Mahnaz Afkhami (Iran/U.S.) is Founder and President of the Women's Learning Partnership, Executive Director of the Foundation for Iranian Studies, and former Minister for Women's Affairs in Iran. In exile in the United States, Ms. Afkhami has been a leading advocate of women's rights for more than three decades, having founded and served as director and president of several international non-governmental organizations that focus on advancing women's status. Most recently she was President of Sisterhood Is Global Institute. Ms. Afkhami also serves on advisory boards and steering committees of a number of national and international organizations including Commission on Globalization, The Global Fund for Women, International League for Human Rights, Women's Human Rights Net, Women's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch, World Movement for Democracy, and Youth Employment Summit. Her numerous publications have been widely translated and distributed internationally.

Leila Ahmed

Leila Ahmed (Egypt) is the first Professor of Women's Studies in Religion at Harvard Divinity School. Previously she was Professor of Women's Studies and Near Eastern studies at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, where she also served as director of the Women's Studies Program (1992-5) and the Near Eastern Studies Program (1991-2). Her latest book, A Border Passage, has been widely acclaimed. Her other publications include the books Women and Gender in Islam: The Historical Roots of a Modern Debate and Edward William Lane: A Study of His Life and Work and of British Ideas of the Middle East in the Nineteenth Century, as well as many articles, among them "Arab Culture and Writing Women's Bodies" and "Between Two Worlds: The Formation of a Turn of the Century Egyptian Feminist." Her current research and writing centers on Islam in America and issues of women and gender.

Zainah Anwar - Secretary

Zainah Anwar (Malaysia) is a women's rights activist, well-published freelance writer, and Board member and former Executive Director of Sisters in Islam (SIS), a group of professional Muslim women committed to promoting the rights of Muslim women. An advocate for women's rights under Islam and the possibilities for alternative interpretation of the Qur'an, she was formerly a member of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, a Chief Programme Officer for the Political Division at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, and a Senior Analyst at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies. She was also a political and diplomatic writer for the The New Straits Times in Kuala Lumpur. Her book Islamic Revivalism in Malaysia: Dakwah Among the Students is a standard reference in the study of Islam in Malaysia. Ms. Anwar was educated at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, Boston University, and the MARA Institute of Technology in the fields of international relations and journalism.

Marian Wright Edelman

Marian Wright Edelman (U.S.) is Founder and President of the Children's Defense Fund (CDF). The first black woman to be admitted to the Mississippi Bar, her involvement in the civil rights movement began with her directing the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund office in Jackson, Mississippi in the mid-1960s. In 1968, she served as counsel for the Poor People's March that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. began organizing before his death. Later she founded the Washington Research Project, a public interest law firm and parent body of the Children's Defense Fund, which was established in 1973. Ms. Edelman presently serves as Goodwill Ambassador for the 2001 World Conference Against Racism, and has in the past served on Graça Machel's Commission on Children and War and co-convened the State of the World Forum for four years. She is the author of several books including The Measure of our Success: A Letter to My Children and Lanterns: A Memoir of Mentors.

Yakin Ertürk

Yakın Ertürk (Turkey) is a professor in the Department of Sociology and Chair of the Gender and Women's Studies Program at the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara. Previously, she taught at the Centre for Girls at King Saud University in Riyadh (1979-1982), serving as its chair from 1979 to 1981. During her tenure at the United Nations, she served as Director of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (Oct.1997- Feb.1999), then as Director of The Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) at UN Headquarters in New York (Mar. 1999 – Oct. 2001). She most recently served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, submitting thematic reports on violence against women, its causes and consequences to the UN Human Rights Council. Ms. Ertürk received her PhD in Development and Rural Sociology from Cornell University in 1980 and both an MA and BA in Sociology from Hacettepe University.

Anne Gahongayire

Anne Gahongayire (Rwanda) is secretary general of the Supreme Court, former secretary general of the Ministry for Gender and Family Promotion, and head of the Women’s Leadership Caucus. From 1997 to 2002, she worked with the Ministry of Education where she was in charge of a girls' education program, and was coordinator of the Forum for African Women Educators. Prior to that, Ms. Gahongayire was responsible for coordinating and facilitating women empowerment programs as commissioner of Women Affairs with the Rwandese Patriotic Front. She serves as chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Center for Innovation and Technology Transfer at Kigali Institute of Science and Technology. Ms. Gahongayire holds a B.Sc. in mathematics, zoology, and psychology from Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. She is currently pursuing advanced training in management at the Hifab International School in Stockholm, Sweden.

Jacqueline Pitanguy - Board Chair

Jacqueline Pitanguy (Brazil), a sociologist and political scientist, is Founder and Director of Cidadania, Estudo, Pesquisa, Informação e Ação (Cepia), a non-governmental organization based in Rio de Janeiro. At Cepia, Ms. Pitanguy coordinates research on gender issues, and facilitates advocacy and educational programs relating to violence against women and reproductive health. She held a cabinet position as President of the National Council for Women's Rights (1986-1989) where she designed and implemented public policies to improve women's condition in Brazil. Ms. Pitanguy serves on a number of international boards including Inter-American Dialogue, UNESCO's Institute for Education, Society for International Development, The Global Fund for Women, and the Carter Center's International Human Rights Council. She is also on the editorial board of several health journals and has published numerous articles and co-authored four books. She has been awarded the Medal of Rio Branco, the highest decoration of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Inger Elisabeth Prebensen

Inger Elisabeth Prebensen (Norway), one of the most prominent businesswomen in Norway, has held several senior management and board positions in Norwegian financial institutions. She is former Deputy Director of the Technology and General Services Department at the International Monetary Fund. Previously she was Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Postbank of Norway. Among her many appointments over the years, Ms. Prebensen served as chairwoman of the Norwegian State Lottery for 16 years, on the Board of the Norwegian Post Office, and on the advisory boards of Orkla A/S and ASEA Brown Bovery, Norway. ASEA Brown Bovery is a multinational corporation based in Zurich that operates mainly in power and automation technology. Ms. Prebensen joined the Board of Trustees of Women’s World Banking in 1994, and now serves as Vice Chairperson. Women’s World Banking works to expand the economic assets, participation, and power of low-income women entrepreneurs by helping them access financial services and information. She holds a law degree from the University of Oslo.

Advisory Council

WLP works in collaboration with an international network of experts that includes heads of U.N. agencies, leaders of international NGOs, and scholars and activists representing diverse professional, cultural, and religious perspectives. They help us analyze the social, cultural, political, and gender implications of our programs and fine-tune them accordingly.

Members of WLP's International Advisory Council (IAC) are:

• Hafsat Abiola
  Founder and Executive Director, Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND)
• Afifa Dirani Arsanios
  Advisor to the Minister of Culture and Education, Lebanon
• Suheir Azzouni-Mahshi
  Former Director General, Women's Affairs Technical Committee (WATC), Palestine
• Charlotte Bunch
  Executive Director, Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL)
• Thais Corral
  Coordinator, CEMINA - Comunicação, Educação e Informação em Gênero (CEMINA), Brazil
• Nancy Flowers
  Human Rights Education Consultant
• Khadija Haq
  President, Mahbub ul Haq Human Development Centre, Pakistan
• Noeleen Heyzer
  Executive Director, United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
• Ayesha Imam
  Founding Member, BAOBAB for Women's Human Rights (BAOBAB), Nigeria
• Zahira Kamal
  Minister of Women's Affairs, Palestine
• Farhad Kazemi
  Vice Provost, New York University
• Joanna Kerr
  Former Executive Director, Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID)
• Asma Khader
  Coordinator, Sisterhood Is Global Institute/Jordan
• Amina Lemrini
  Executive Committee Member, Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc (ADFM), Morocco
• Afaf Mahfouz
  Former President, Conference of Non-governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CONGO)
• Ann Elizabeth Mayer
  Associate Professor of Legal Studies, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
• Rabéa Naciri
  President, Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc, Morocco
• Kumi Naidoo
  Secretary General and CEO, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
• Thoraya Obaid
  Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
• Ayo Obe
  President, Civil Liberties Organization (CLO), Nigeria
• Regan Ralph
  Executive Director, Fund for Global Human Rights
• Aruna Rao
  Coordinator, Gender at Work
• Kavita Ramdas
  President and CEO, Global Fund for Women (GFW)
• Bouthaina Shaaban
  Minister of Expatriates, Syrian Arab Republic
• Zenebewerke Tadesse
  Founding Member, Association of African Women for Research and Development, Ethiopia

Program Advisors

WLP's program advisors in the Global South include:

Maria Chin Abdullah (Malaysia) is the Executive Director of the Women's Development Collective (WDC), a non-governmental organization in Malaysia focused on research, education, and training. Established in the early 1980's, WDC's programs focus on gender analysis, worker health and safety, awareness and understanding of Malaysian laws, and leadership and grassroots organizing.

Aziza Abemba (Zimbabwe) is the Executive Director of the Women’s Self-Promotion Movement (WSPM) in Zimbabwe. WSPM provides training and education for Zimbabwean women and girls and for refugee women from African countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, and Burundi. Their programs promote women’s leadership, micro-enterprise, and political participation, as well as provide training in conflict resolution skills and domestic violence prevention.

Lina Abou-Habib (Lebanon), a gender and development specialist, is Executive Director of the Collective for Research and Training on Development-Action (CRTD-A), a non-governmental organization that creates opportunities for women to learn and exchange information about women's rights through networks of grassroots NGOs across the Middle East and North Africa. CRTD-A conducts trainings for women and works collaboratively to develop communication material and resources in Arabic that focus on women’s human rights, gender, and development.

Sengul Akçar (Turkey) is General Director of the Foundation for the Support of Women's Work (FSWW), a Turkish non-profit that works with poor women and local governments to support women's equal participation in social, economic, and political decision-making processes. FSWW's programs include a micro-credit program, community-run child-care centers, training and technical support of other women's NGOs, and a Grassroots Women's Resource, Training and Networking Center in Istanbul.

Mehrangiz Kar (Iran) is a leading Iranian attorney, writer, and activist working towards the promotion of democracy, rule of law, and human rights within the framework of Islamic law of the Islamic Republic of Iran since the 1979 Revolution. She is among the first women attorneys who opposed the Islamization of gender relations following the Revolution. She has been an active public defender in Iran’s civil and criminal courts and has lectured extensively, both in Iran and abroad, on political, legal and constitutional reform, promotion of civil society and democracy, and dismantling of legal barriers to women’s and children’s rights. Her books have received international critical acclaim.

Asma Khader (Jordan) is Coordinator of Sisterhood Is Global Institute/Jordan, former Minister of State and Government Spokesperson for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and former President of the Jordanian Women’s Union. She is a member of the Arab Lawyer’s Union, the Arab Organization for Human Rights, and the Executive Committee of the International Commission of Jurists. She was instrumental in creating a Legal Literacy/Legal Assistance program for Jordanian women. Elected to the Permanent Arab Court as Counsel on violence against women, she is a leading advocate of the campaigns to strengthen legislation outlawing honor killing.

Odilia Kukah (Cameroon) is the Coordinator of Community Education and Development Services, a Cameroonian women’s NGO that implements empowerment and leadership development programs for women in Anglophone and Francophone Cameroon. She joined CEDS in 2001 and has actively organized leadership training workshops and HIV/AIDS education programs. She draws from a background working as a family planning practitioner and trainer, nurse and mid-wife in Cameroon and Britain.

Amina Lemrini (Morocco) is a Founder of the Moroccan Human Rights Organization, and a Founder and Executive Committee member of the Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc (ADFM), a non-governmental organization working on the promotion and defense of women's rights in Morocco. She is also on the Board of Directors of Collectif 95 Maghreb-Egalite, a women's regional NGO working in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. Ms. Lemrini has lectured and published on a variety of issues dealing with human rights, particularly on the rights of the child and women's rights.

Sindi Medar-Gould (Nigeria) is Executive Director of the Nigeria-based organization BAOBAB for Women's Human Rights, a non-profit organization working for women's human rights and legal rights under customary and religious law in Africa. BAOBAB also coordinates programs for Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) in Africa and the Middle East. Ms. Medar-Gould has been a women's human rights activist for over 20 years, and is an experienced teacher, trainer, and researcher.

Aminetou Mint El Mokhtar (Mauritania) is President of the Association des Femmes Chefs de Famille (AFCF). AFCF works to promote and defend the rights of women and children, support women in precarious situations, create a network of associations working to improve living conditions of women heads of household and their children, and contribute to the emergence of an active solidarity amongst women of different social classes.

Malena de Montis (Nicaragua) is a Nicaraguan feminist with a doctoral degree in Education from the University of Massachusetts. She is the founder of the Center for Democratic Participation and Development (Cenzontle) and the Women's Development Fund (FODEM), both non-governmental organizations that seek to support the economic and political empowerment of women and earned the Central American award for Best Practice from INTERCAMBIO. She is a pioneer in the Autonomous Women's Movement and founder of the Women's Coalition in Nicaragua.

Mishka Mojabber Mourani (Lebanon) is Senior Vice President of International College in Beirut, Lebanon, one of the largest international schools in the world. A member of the board of the Machreq/Maghreb Gender Linking Information Project, she is involved in developing and running educational leadership training programs and facilitating leadership training workshops. She has worked as an educator and educational consultant to establish schools, develop curriculum, and train staff in numerous countries in the Middle East and Africa.

Rabéa Naciri (Morocco) is President of the Association Démocratique du Femmes du Maroc (ADFM), and founding member and former Executive Director of the Collectif 95 Maghreb Egalite, a network of women's associations and women researchers from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia committed to preventing violence against women. Ms. Naciri is also a Professor in the Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines at the University of Rabat in Morocco.

Anna Pinto (India) is Director of the Gender Program at the Centre for Organization Research & Education (CORE) in Guwahati, India. CORE works with indigenous women’s groups in the India’s northeast region on issues such as land rights, conflict and violence, sexual abuse, the sex trade and trafficking, and governance.

Lina Quora (Jordan) is the Executive Director of Sisterhood is Global Institute/Jordan (SIGI/J), an NGO that works to promote women's human rights education, develop strategies to eliminate gender-based violence, and conduct training of trainers programs to amplify women's advocacy efforts. Ms. Quora is a member of the Jordanian Women’s Union, Family Development Association, and Protection of Victims of Domestic Violence Society.

Enas El Shafie (Egypt) is the Executive Director of the Forum for Women in Development (FWID), which serves as the focal point for MACMAG-GLIP and a network of 17 Egyptian development NGOs, including women, gender, health and environmental groups, training centers and other local organizations. The main activities of these groups are networking, capacity building, training and communication on women and development, as well as advocacy on gender violence and women’s legal rights through CEDAW.

Rose Shomali (Palestine) is Director General of Women's Affairs Technical Committee in Palestine, a coalition established in 1992 to eliminate discrimination against women in the pursuit of a democratic society that respects human rights. She is a former program coordinator for UNICEF and the General Union of Palestinian Women in Lebanon. An experienced community activist and advocate for women's rights, Ms. Shomali is a published author and poet.

Marfua Tokhtakhodjaeva (Uzbekistan) is Founder and co-Director of the Women's Resource Center in Tashkent, an NGO founded in 1995 to work towards economic and social stability, democratization, and increased awareness of women's human rights in the region. Ms. Tokhtakhodjaeva is former Director of Projects at the State Institute for Restoration of Architectural Monuments. Since 1992, she has focused on improving the status of Muslim women. She has written extensively on architecture and, most recently, on the status of women in post-communist societies of Central Asia.

Sakena Yacoobi (Afghanistan) is Founder and Executive Director of the Afghan Institute of Learning, an Afghan women's NGO that establishes girls schools and provides teacher training, health education, human rights education, women's leadership training, and literacy programs for Afghan women and girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan's refugee camps. She is co-Founder and Vice President of Creating Hope International, a Michigan-based non-profit organization, and formerly Coordinator of the women's education programs for the International Rescue Committee in Pakistan.