Suri Kempe is currently the Programme Manager at Musawah, a global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family that works to advance human rights for women in Muslim contexts, in both their public and private lives. Prior to that, Suri held the portfolio for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment for the United Nations Development Programme in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. She was responsible for the development and implementation of gender thematic programmes and integrating a gender perspective into the design and implementation of UNDP’s initiatives as well as strengthening the agenda on inclusion, resilience and sustainability. Her other work experiences include working with the civil society organisation, Sisters in Islam, advocating for Muslim women’s rights; and the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development as a Parliamentary liaison and Special Officer to the Minister. She was also a Project Manager with UNDP Malaysia on a project that focused on increasing the participation of persons with disabilities in the workforce in the state of Johor (2008-2010). She graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Madison with a Masters in Southeast Asian Studies, Bachelor in Global Studies and a certificate in Global Cultures.
As the Advocacy Officer of GALANG Philippines, she facilitates the organization's engagement with local and national bodies to bring into mainstream consciousness the pressing issues and concerns of lesbians, bisexual women, and trans men living in urban poor communities. After completing her Bachelors Degree in Social Sciences (Major in Social Anthropology-Minor in History) from the University of the Philippines Baguio, Gyky joined GALANG as a Community Organizer. This position provided her with critical insights on ground-level realities that fuel her passion to tirelessly advocate for equality, diversity, and LGBT rights.
In addition to leading the 'Evidence &Action' programme from 2011-2014, Maya worked on writing the Visualising Information for Advocacy book and helped develop the Info-Activism Camp in 2013. Maya has now transitioned into a new role as Director of Applied Research. Our current research projects examine digital security pedagogies and practices, and the flip sides of applications of technology for transparency and accountability. Before joining Tactical Tech, Maya worked on one of the first studies of gender and online violence with APC's Women's Rights Program, and on ICTs in development. Maya holds Masters degrees in Applied Psychology from Delhi University, India, and in Media and Cultural Studies from the University of Sussex, UK. She is persistent in her attempts to write consistently but is usually distracted by Twitter.
Renu Khanna is a feminist women’s health and rights activist. She has a Master in Business Administration from Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University, India. She is a founder trustee of SAHAJ-Society for Health Alternatives based in Vadodara (Gujarat). Renu and some friends started the Women’s Health Advocacy Cell, in the WSRC, MS University in Vadodara in 1992. This evolved into a vibrant interdisciplinary centre called WOHTRAC - Women’s Health Training, Research and Advocacy Centre. Renu was a part of Shodhini a feminist women’s network who wrote Touch Me, Touch Me Not: Women, Plants and Healing published by Kali for Women. She has co-edited Towards Comprehensive women’s Health Policies and Programmes. Renu was an Erasmus Mundus scholar and taught in KIT Amsterdam and QMU Edinburgh in 2008. She has been part of part of a pioneering group in India to design and conduct a 2 week Gender and Health Course as well as a Gendered Research in Health Course in two locations in the country. She is a member of several pro-peoples’ networks, like, the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, Medico Friends Circle, People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Vadodara and CommonHealth – Coalition for Maternal-Neonatal Health and Safe Abortion.
Babu Ram Pant is a youth human-rights activist from Nepal working on issues related to sexual and reproductive health, migration, sustainable development and youth participation. He has been engaged in programming, research, and policy-advocacy on the issues of young people at national, regional and international levels through various youth and civil society networks. He is recently involved in carrying out national and regional consultations with adolescents and young people on their experiences and concerns related to ICPD and RIO +20 process, in close coordination with civil societies, UN agencies and the government. He was a former Special Youth Fellow with UNFPA in 2011. He is a student of Sociology/Anthropology and English Literature, and loves movies, literature, music and sports
Dr. Marwa Sharafeldin is a scholar activist based in Egypt working on women's rights. She has a PhD in Law from the University of Oxford. Her research and activism cover Islamic law, international human rights law, civil society and women’s rights. She is a campaigner for the reform of personal status laws in Egypt and a board member of the Musawah Global Movement for Equality and Justice in the Muslim Family (www.musawah.org). She is also co-founder of the Network for Women’s Rights Organisations and of the Young Arab Feminist Network, as well as NGOs such as Fat’het Kheir and Nahdet el-Mahrousa in Egypt. Since the start of the Egyptian revolution she has been involved in several women’s groups and activities to advocate for better women’s human rights in the transitional process and the ensuing constitutional-drafting processes. Dr. Sharafeldin has published several articles and chapters, the most recent was “Islamic Law Meets Human Rights: Reformulating Qiwama and Wilaya for Personal Status Law Reform Advocacy in Egypt”. Her writings, which focus on women's issues, are published in some of the widely circulated Egyptian daily newspapers such as Al-Masry Al-Youm and Al-Shorouk.
TK Sundari Ravindran has a PhD in Applied Economics and is currently professor at the Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum, India. Sundari is former co-editor of the international journal Reproductive Health Matters, and is currently a member of its editorial advisory board. She has worked with the World Health Organization at its headquarters in Geneva as Gender and Health Specialist, and with WHO’s regional offices in SE Asia Region and Western Pacific Region in various capacities. She was a member of the United Nations MDG Task Force on Maternal and Child Health, and a member of the governing board of the Global Forum for Health Research. She is currently a member of WHO/RHR’s Advisory Group on strengthening family planning’s normative standards for monitoring, evaluation and accountability. Sundari Ravindran is a founding member of the National Coalition for Maternal-Neonatal Health and Safe abortion established in 2006. She is also a founder member of the Rural Women’s Social Education Centre (RUWSEC), a grassroots women’s health organization in Tamil Nadu, India established in 1981, in which she continues to be involved currently as Secretary of its Governing Board.
Policy Advisor of Aksi! for gender, social and ecological justice, Indonesia Since more than three decades Soentoro has been active in women’, environmental and social movements in Indonesia and Asia in the context of development and recently climate change financing. Soentoro advocates for gender considerations, participation, transparency, accountability and safeguards into policy draftings and reviews of the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) particularly Asian Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank, and Green Climate Fund (GCF); critically monitors Clean Technology Fund (CTF) particularly its support to geothermal power development, Forest Investment Program (FIP), ASEAN Economic Community and the ASEAN Infrastructure Fund. Moreover, she assists IFI’s affected communities on safeguards, information disclosure, accountability mechanism and gender for defending their rights. She shares knowledge and skill for Indonesian and Mekong region women’s activists on development and climate financing as well as for various international trainings, including those organized by Banktrack, GenderCCWomen for Climate Change, APWLD, IWRAW and Southeast Asian Women’s Caucus on ASEAN. Soentoro is native Bahasa Indonesia; speaks English and German. As her cultural interests and recreation, Soentoro studies Buddhist wisdoms; exercises Vipassana meditation, yoga, and tai chi; and is also a serious amateur photographer.
Otgonbaatar Tsedendemberel is the former Executive Director of the LGBT Centre of Mongolia, where he helped lead the country’s LGBT rights movement, and successfully advocated for LGBT rights internationally and domestically. Before partnering with MONFEMNET National Network on gender equality and social justice, Otgonbaatar worked for the Mongolian Red Cross Society and the International Committee of the Red Cross, where he translated international humanitarian law into the Mongolian language and helped incorporate it into the national curriculum. As an instructor at the Educational Advising and Resource Center, he educated Mongolian students aspiring to study abroad. Otgonbaatar has been actively involved with advocacy on SRHR at the national level. He held board memberships with ILGA- Asia; MONFEMNET National Network; and “All For Education!” National Coalition of Civil Society. He is Board Member of Mongolian organizations - Open Society Forum; Youth Policy Watch; and DemoCrazy Youth Center. In 2011, UNAIDS Mongolia and the Ministry of Health awarded him the Bakharkhaliin (Pride) Award (individual category) for his HIV and AIDS work. Otgonbaatar received the Monbukagakusho Scholarship from the Japanese government, and earned an LLB in civil law from the University of Tokyo.
Ofa-Ki-Levuka Guttenbeil-Likiliki is the Director of the Women and Children Crisis Centre (WCCC). She is a passionate advocate and lobbyist for the empowerment of women and girls in Tonga, with a vision to see a Tonga where all women and girls reach their fullest potential through living a life free from violence. Ofa holds a LLB from the University of the South Pacific, a B.A. and M.A. (hons) in Media from the University of Auckland NZ, a Diploma in International Broadcast Journalism with the Thomson Foundation and Cardiff University in Wales and is currently completing her LLM thesis with the University of the South Pacific on legal frameworks to support women’s participation in parliament. Ofa's priority areas of interest are Eliminating Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAW), women's participation in decision making, women’s access to resources and land and young women's political empowerment and how all these issues relate to each other in the context of advocating for the overall achievement of Gender Equality and the meaningful empowerment of women and girls in Tonga and the Pacific. She has made several advocacy short films with the most recent being Pink Hibiscus which won the 'Activist Award' in 2011 from the Global Social Change Film Festival & Institute (GSCFFI). In 2010 the WCCC, under the leadership of Guttenbeil-Likiliki, received the prestigious South Pacific Commission (SPC) Human Rights Award in recognition of their work in promoting women’s human rights in Tonga. The WCCC again received recognition in 2015 by being awarded First Prize in the national Human Rights Awards facilitated by SPC and the Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT).
