Our Leadership Council
The Global Women's Institute's (GWI) Leadership Council is made up of leading experts on gender issues from across the country and around the world. Their passion for the rights of women and girls paired with diverse expertise provides the GWI with guidance and leadership to effectively bring about positive change.
Diana Arango, Co-Chair
Senior Gender-based Violence and Development Specialist, World Bank
Diana J. Arango is the Sr. Gender-Based Violence and Development Specialist in the Gender Cross-Cutting Solutions Area at the World Bank Group and is the Co-Chair of the Leadership Council at GWI. She has more than ten years of experience working on development issues, including gender-based violence, specifically within the context of humanitarian settings. Before joining the World Bank Group, she was a Research Scientist at George Washington University's Global Women's Institute leading research on violence against women and girls in conflict settings. Prior to that, she served as the Global Coordinator for the development and implementation of the Gender-Based Violence Information Management System (GBVIMS), an innovative inter-agency initiative that aids humanitarian workers in collecting timely data on gender-based violence incidents that can then be used to inform programmatic work. She has a master's degree from the London School of Economics in Anthropology and Development and has on-the-ground experience in several countries, including Colombia, Haiti, Chad, Somalia, Uganda, and South Sudan.
Lauren Fite, Co-Chair
George Washington University Parent and Philanthropist
Lauren Geisler Fite is a retired physician’s assistant living in Los Angeles, California. She has served as the Co-Chair of the GWI Leadership Council since 2017. Along with her husband, Austin Fite, Lauren created the Global Women’s Institute Catalyst Fund to ensure the long-term sustainability of GWI’s work to advance gender equality and end violence against women and girls globally. She is also serving as a trustee of The Archer School for Girls and is on the Advisory Board of the Simms Mann Center for Integrative Oncology at UCLA.
Lauren received a bachelor's degree in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Physician's Associate Degree from Duke University. Lauren’s passions are education and women’s health, and doing her part to bring access and equity in these areas. She volunteers her time as the Health Advisor for PS1 Elementary School, an independent elementary school in Santa Monica, CA and The Girls Athletic Leadership School, a public charter school in Los Angeles. She has two children, Lexi, a George Washington University alumnus, and Aidan.
Lina Abirafeh
Founder & Chief Changemaker, Better4Women
Dr. Lina AbiRafeh is the Founder and Chief Changemaker at Better4Women, and is a Senior Advisor on Global Women's Rights to the Arab Institute for Women at the Lebanese American University.
Lina spent over 20 years in development and humanitarian contexts in countries such as Afghanistan, Haiti, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nepal, and others. Her specific expertise is in gender-based violence prevention and response, summarized by her TEDx talk, Women Deliver PowerTalk, keynote address for Swedish International Development Agency annual meeting, amongst others.
Lina completed her doctoral work from the London School of Economics and published “Gender and International Aid in Afghanistan: The Politics and Effects of Intervention” based on her research. She speaks and publishes frequently on a range of gender issues, most recently on the need for a feminist response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on Arab women and girls. She believes women’s leadership is the strongest vehicle for peace and sustainable development.
Lina is among the Gender Equality Top 100 worldwide in 2018 and 2019.
Tesmerelna Atsbeha
Senior Philanthropic Advisor, Social, Gender and Reproductive Justice, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund
Tesmerelna Atsbeha is a Senior Philanthropic Advisor on the Social, Gender and Reproductive Justice team at Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, a private foundation supporting the advancement of Human Rights globally. Her grant making portfolio includes supporting Reproductive Rights movements in Latin America and global prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls research and programming. Prior to joining Wellspring, she worked at UN Women in the Health and HIV/AIDS Unit in the Policy Division and at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health as part of the International AIDS Care and Treatment Program (ICAP). She also spent ten years based in Eastern and Southern Africa and Latin America working in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Gender-Based Violence research and service delivery programming with UNDP, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and several academic institutions. She holds a BA in International Relations and Community Medicine from Brown University, a MPH from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; and a MA in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University.
Laxman Belbase
Co-Director, MenEngage
Laxman Belbase is a Co-Director at the MenEngage Global Alliance. He has over 17 years of experience working with and providing technical support to various international, human rights NGOs, UN agencies and governments in the areas of gender equality and justice, the rights of the child and "transforming masculinities and working with boys and men in gender justice." He is experienced in strategic planning, program development and implementation, monitoring and evaluation and advocacy in the areas of gender equality, women’s rights and child rights. Prior to MenEngage Global Alliance, Laxman worked for Save the Children Sweden, where he played an instrumental role in the development of the gender policy and gender integration toolkit for Save the Children International, programs on positive discipline in everyday parenting and several other tools. Laxman is also a member of the CSO Global Reference Group of the UN Spotlight Initiative to end VAWG.
Charlotte Bunch
Founding Director and Senior Scholar, the Center for Women’s Global Leadership, Rutgers University
Charlotte Bunch has been an activist, writer and organizer in feminist, LGBT, and human rights movements for 5 decades. A Distinguished Professor in Women’s and Gender Studies, Bunch was previously a Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC. She has been involved in many civil society efforts at the UN, including advocating for women’s rights as human rights and for the creation of UN Women. Her awards include the National Women's Hall of Fame, White House Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights, and being one of the “1000 Women Peace Makers” nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She has written numerous influential essays, edited nine anthologies and authored Passionate Politics: Feminist Theory in Action and Demanding Accountability: The Global Campaign and Vienna Tribunal for Women's Human Rights.
Elizabeth Dartnall
Executive Director, Sexual Violence Research Initiative
Elizabeth Dartnall (Liz) is Executive Director of the Sexual Violence Research Initiative, the world’s largest global network for research on violence against women and violence against children in low- and middle-income countries. Liz is a health specialist with over 25 years’ research and policy-making experience on health systems, mental health, violence against women and violence against children. Liz has a deep understanding of the policy process and use of research to inform policy and practice. In South Africa, Liz worked for the Department of Health, both nationally and provincially, in epidemiology and health information systems. In Australia she worked in public health on mental health. In addition to government, Liz has worked in both academia and non-government organizations in Africa. Since 2006, Liz has managed the SVRI and, with support of multiple partners, recently launched the SVRI as an independent NGO. Liz is committed to research and policy-making that is feminist, ethical, equitable, collaborative and improves the lives of women and children.
Emma Fulu
Founder and Executive Director, the Equality Institute
Dr. Emma Fulu is a feminist activist, social entrepreneur and one of the world’s leading experts on violence against women. She is the Founder and Executive Director of The Equality Institute, a global feminist agency working to advance gender equality and end violence against women and girls. She is also the co-founder of VOICE, a non-profit organization that partners with women and girls in conflict and disaster settings to amplify their solutions to violence in their own communities. Before that she worked at the United Nations and led the ground-breaking UN Multi-Country Study on Men and Violence, the findings of which have been featured on BBC, Al Jazeera, and CNN. Emma is a co-chair of the Gender and Rights Advisory Panel of the World Health Organization. She has a PhD from the University of Melbourne, is the author of Domestic Violence in Asia and publishes widely on gender, violence, masculinities and feminist leadership. The mother of three young children, Emma lives in Melbourne, Australia, and is currently writing a memoir.
Claudia García-Moreno
Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) Forum Member and SVRI Leadership Council Founding Member Team Leader, Violence Against Women, Department of Reproductive Health and Research, World Health Organization
Dr. Claudia García-Moreno is a physician from Mexico with a master's degree in community medicine from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She has over 25 years of experience in health care delivery, research and policy, working in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Claudia’s work focuses on sexual and reproductive health, women’s health and gender in health and she previously led the World Health Organization’s work on gender, women’s health, violence against women, and HIV/AIDS in women and girls, and was the coordinator of the Gender, Reproductive Rights, Sexual Health and Adolescence team in the WHO Department of Reproductive Health and Research. She also coordinated the WHO Multi-Country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence Against Women, a large research initiative involving over 15 countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa. Claudia is a founder of the SVRI and a member of the leadership council. She is also chair of the independent advisory board of What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls, is co-chair of the FIGO Working Group on Gender-based Violence, and previously chaired the steering committee of the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS.
Alessandra Guedes
Gender and Development Manager, UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti
Alessandra has dedicated 20 years of her professional life to promoting children’s and women’s rights and health, including working intensively to end violence against children and against women. She joined Innocenti in 2019 to lead the development and implementation of a research program to address key issues and constraints to achieving gender equity within child protection, with a particular focus on addressing the interlinkages between violence against children and violence against women. Prior to joining UNICEF, Alessandra served as the World Health Organization’s Regional Advisor for the Americas on family violence prevention (2009-2019) and as the co-chair of the Sexual Violence Research Initiative’s Coordinating Group, a role she continues to occupy. Alessandra holds a Master of Science in Public Health for Developing Countries from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a Masters of Arts in Art Therapy from the George Washington University.
Steven Knapp
Former President, the George Washington University
Steven Knapp became the 16th president of the George Washington University in August 2007. His priorities included enhancing the University’s partnerships with neighboring institutions, expanding the scope of its research, strengthening its worldwide community of alumni, enlarging its students’ opportunities for public service, and leading its transformation into a model of urban sustainability. A specialist in romanticism, literary theory and the relation of literature to philosophy and religion, Dr. Knapp taught English literature at the University of California, Berkeley, before serving as Dean of Arts and Sciences and then Provost of the Johns Hopkins University. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the Modern Language Association. The author of three books and numerous articles, he earned his doctorate and master's degrees from Cornell University and his bachelor's degree from Yale University.
Daniela Ligiero
Executive Director and CEO, Together for Girls
Dr. Daniela Ligiero is the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Together for Girls, a global, public-private partnership dedicated to ending violence against children, especially sexual violence against girls. The partnership includes five UN agencies, the governments of the United States and Canada, several private sector organizations and more than 20 country governments in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, working together to generate comprehensive data and solutions to this public health and human rights epidemic. Dr. Ligiero also serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children.
Before she joined Together for Girls, she served as the Vice President of Girls and Women’s Strategy at the UN Foundation and developed the foundation’s gender integration strategy. In addition, she spent over five years at the U.S. Department of State where she led the integration of gender issues into all foreign policy and investments in global health—working with over 70 countries and over 1 billion dollars in investments on issues like preventing gender-based violence and improving the sexual and reproductive health of girls and women. She helped develop the first ever International U.S. Government Strategy to End Gender-Based Violence.
Dr. Ligiero also served in leadership roles at UNICEF, as Chief of HIV and then as Senior Program Officer in the UNICEF Brazil Country Office—the second largest in the world. In addition, she has held positions at the World Bank and the US Senate and has worked directly with survivors of sexual assault in a variety of settings. She is also a survivor of sexual violence herself and has been speaking publicly about her story for the last decade. She earned her doctoral degree in counseling psychology from University of Maryland, College Park, ranked the No. 1 program in the U.S. Dr. Ligiero is fluent in four languages: English, Portuguese, Spanish and French.
Shanaaz Mathews
Director, Children’s Institute and Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town
Dr. Shanaaz Mathews is the director of the Children’s Institute and a Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town. She is also a faculty affiliate of the Care and Protection of Children (CPC) Learning Network at Columbia University and serving as a commissioner on the Lancet Commission on Gender based violence and maltreatment of young people. She has extensive experience with women’s and children’s sectors and has worked within civil society organizations as an academic, and as an advocate, for the rights of women and children. Her research interests include violence against women and children, as well as pathways to violent masculinities. She holds a PhD in Public Health from the University of the Witwatersrand.
Lori Michau
Co-Director, Raising Voices
Lori Michau is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of Raising Voices, a feminist non-profit organization based in Kampala, Uganda, working to prevent violence against women and children. Lori also spearheaded the creation of the Gender-based Violence Prevention Network, now coordinated by Raising Voices, which has over 800 members across Africa. She has extensive experience in community mobilization; has written numerous articles on violence prevention; and leads a team dedicated to infusing global violence against women prevention work with the transformational potential of solidarity, activism and technical rigor. She also developed SASA!, a comprehensive methodology currently used in more than 25 countries in Africa and beyond that is among the few approaches with proven, community-level impact on preventing intimate partner violence against women and HIV risk. Lori received her Master's of Human Rights from Makerere University in Uganda.
Tina Musuya
Executive Director, Center for Domestic Violence Prevention (CEDOVIP)
Tina is the Executive Director at the Center for Domestic Violence Prevention (CEDOVIP). Under her guidance, CEDOVIP won the 2010 UNAIDS Red Ribbon Award for innovative work in preventing violence against women and HIV. She successfully piloted the SASA! programing in Kampala, which was the site of the ground- breaking SASA! study that brought to light evidence that preventing violence against women through social norm change is possible. Tina has more than 11 years of experience working with communities, police, civil society and policy makers to prevent violence against women. She helped draft, and successfully campaigned for the passage of the Domestic Violence Act in Uganda. Her work and expertise has exposed her to networks of violence against women prevention programming work in the eastern and central African region and to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Tina is a Member of the Independent Advisory Board for What Works to Prevent Violence. She holds a Master's of Sociology from Makerere University in Uganda.
Natasha Stott Despoja
Former Australian Ambassador for Women and Girls and founding Chair of Our Watch
Natasha Stott Despoja AO is the founding Chair of Our Watch (the Foundation to Prevent Violence Against Women and their Children). She is a former Senator for South Australia (1995-2008) and former Leader of the Australian Democrats. She is the youngest woman to enter the Australian Federal Parliament. She served as Australia’s Global Ambassador for Women and Girls (2013-2016).
In November 2020, she was elected by the General Assembly of the United Nations as a member of the Committee to Eliminate Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). In May 2018, she was named one of the Top 100 Global Influencers on Gender Policy. She is the author of On Violence, published in March 2019.
Natasha served two years on the World Bank Gender Advisory Council (2015-2017) and was a member of a 2017 UN High Level Working Group on the Health and Human Rights of Women, Children and Adolescents.
In 2011, Natasha was made a Member of the Order of Australia for her service to the Australian Parliament, education and as a role model for women. In 2019, she was made an Officer of the Order of Australia. In 2001, she was named a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum.
Natasha is an Honorary Visiting Research Fellow at The University of Adelaide. She is a member of the Australian National University Council, the Global Citizen Women’s Council, Broad Agenda 50:50 by 2030 Advisory Group, and was member of the successful FIFA 2023 Women’s World Cup Steering Committee. She is a non-executive Director of Carrie’s Beanies for Brain Cancer; Global Citizen and The Australian Ballet. She is a former Deputy Chair of beyondblue, and has been a board member of the Burnet Institute, the South Australian Museum (2009-2013), the Advertising Standards Board (2008-2013) and the Museum of Australian Democracy (2010-2013). She was on the Prime Minister’s Referendum Council (2015-2017).
She is/has been, a Patron or Ambassador for several not-for-profit groups, including The Orangutan Project, VicHealth, secondbite, Ovarian Cancer Australia, ENUF the HIV/AIDS anti-stigma campaign, Girls Takeover Parliament, the Fay Gale Centre and Action Aid.
She has been an international election monitor in countries including Nigeria, Indonesia, Cambodia and Kenya (2017).
In 2015, she was awarded the South Australian Award for Excellence in Leadership; she was a finalist in the 2017 AFR Women of Influence Awards; is one of South Australia’s “100 Most Inspiring Women of All Time”, and is a Distinguished Alumnus of The University of Adelaide. In April, 2019, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by The University of South Australia. She lives in Adelaide with her family.