ADVISORS

Alice M. Miller
Alice M. Miller is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Health at Columbia University, New York City. She combines strong activist and academic interests and specializes in developing a framework for human rights claims in the context of sexuality. She specialises in developing a framework for human rights claims in the context of sexuality, utilising contemporary understandings of sexuality and engaging with current global debates on the nature of inter-related, indivisible, and universal human rights. 

Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi
Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi is currently the Executive Director of the African Women's Development Fund, the first Africa-wide fundraising and grant-making organisation for African women. Prior to this, she was Director of Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA), an international development organisation for African women based in the UK, with an Africa regional office in Kampala, Uganda. She has a B.A and M.A in History from the University of Ife, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, and an M.A. in Gender Studies from Middlesex University, UK. She has experience as a journalist, writer, lecturer, trainer, fundraiser, and as an organizational development specialist. 

Dorothy Aken’Ova
Dorothy Aken’Ova is the founder and current Executive Director of International Center for Reproductive Health and Sexual Rights (INCRESE), currently the only organization in Nigeria working on sexual rights.  Dorothy has experience in linking community level experiences of women, young people and LGBTQ groups to national and international policy advocacy, including UN sessions and conferences.  She is a member of the International Policy Working Group member of the AMANITARE. National Working Group for Adolescent Reproductive Health and Sexuality in Nigeria, Task Force Member for the NGO Partnerships on Reproductive Health in Sub-Saharan Africa, and a Member of the International Strategic Group on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.  She is an affiliate of the DAWN (Development Alternative with Women for a New Era. A south-south feminist network). 

Ellen Sprenger
Ellen Sprenger is a consultant based in Toronto, Canada, specializing in social change fundraising, future-oriented strategic planning and overall organizational change management. Ellen was the Executive Director of Mama Cash, an independent women’s foundation based in Amsterdam. Ellen has worked with activists, practitioners, and researchers in different countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America as well as in North America. Her publications include The Future of Women’s Rights, Global visions and Strategies (edited with Joanna Kerr and Alison Symington, Zed Books, 2004) and Gender and Organizational Change: Bridging the Gap between Policy and Practice (Royal Tropical Institute, 1997).   

FARIDA SHAHEED
Farida Shaheed is a sociologist and women's rights activist. She oversees the Women, Law, and Status Program at Shirkat Gah, a woman’s resource center in Lahore , Pakistan , where she works to integrate research, social development and advocacy. She is also the Deputy Director of a five-year research programme 'Women’s Empowerment in Muslim Contexts: Gender, Poverty & Democratisation from the Inside Out'. She is a founding member of the national women’s lobbying organization Women’s Action Forum and member of the Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) International Solidarity Network. She is a member of the Global Fund for Women's Advisory Council. Dr. Shaheed has authored numerous books including Two Steps Forward, One Step Back? Women of Pakistan ; The Other Side of the Discourse: Women's Experiences of Identity, Religion and Activism in Pakistan ; Purdah and Poverty in Pakistan ; and Identity and the Experience of the Network, Women Living Under Muslim Laws.

Joanna Kerr
Joanna Kerr is the Executive Director of Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID). AWID has been working to bring about policy, institutional and individual change that will improve the lives of women and girls everywhere. She holds an MA in Gender and Development from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, U.K. Her publications include The Future of Women’s Rights, Global visions and Strategies (edited with Ellen Sprenger and Alison Symington, Zed Books, 2004), Ours by Rights: Women’s Rights as Human Rights (Zed Books, 1993), Gender and Jobs in China’s New Economy (with Julie Delahanty, 1996), The Gender Dimensions of Economic Reforms in Africa (edited with Lynn Brown, 1997), Demanding Dignity: Women Confronting Economic Reforms in Africa (edited with Dzodi Tsikata, 2000). 

Lalaine P. Viado
Lalaine P. Viado has multiple identities. On the sexual and reproductive rights front, she is researcher and advocate nationally, regionally and internationally. She was involved in conducting the Philippine research on health sector reforms, maternal mortality and abortion as part of the global research conducted by the Development Alternatives with Women for A New Era (DAWN). On the communications front, she served as the Issue Coordinator of the five past issues of Women in Action magazine by Isis International-Manila, a regional women's media organization in Asia Pacific. On the youth front, she is the founding Coordinator of the Network of Asia Pacific Youth (NAPY). She also served as the youth representative of the Steering Committee of the Asia Pacific Women Watch (APWW).

Sarah Jones
Sarah Jones is an Obie Award-winning playwright, actor, and poet. Called "a master of the genre" by The New York Times, Jones and her multi-character solo shows, including Bridge & Tunnel, which was produced by Oscar-winner Meryl Streep, have garnered critical acclaim from around the country and the world. From her sold-out runs Off-Broadway and at The Kennedy Center to tours of India, Nepal, Europe and South Africa, to performances for such audiences as the United Nations and members of the U.S. Congress and her television appearances on Bravo, HBO, and PBS, Through her performances and diverse audiences, Jones reflects a multicultural cast of characters. She attended The United Nations International School and Bryn Mawr College where she was the recipient of the Mellon Minority Fellowship. She has also received grants and commissions from Lincoln Center Theater, The Ford Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, as well as honors including a Helen Hayes Award, two Drama Desk nominations, and HBO’s Aspen Comedy Arts Festival’s Best One Person Show Award.