SVRI Core Team

Elizabeth Dartnall - Executive Director

 
Liz is a health specialist with over 20 years’ research and policy-making experience on health systems, mental health, violence against women and violence against children. Having worked in several countries, in both government and research positions, Liz has a deep understanding of the policy process and the use of research to inform policy and practice. For example, in South Africa, Liz worked for the Department of Health at both provincial and national levels in epidemiology and health information systems. In Australia, she worked in mental health for the Western Australian state government. Since 2006, Liz has managed the Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) and recently with the support of multiple partners, launched SVRI as an independent NGO. The SVRI, with more than 6600 members, is one of the largest networks in the field of research on violence against women and violence against children. The SVRI produces leading publications and materials, strengthens research capacity, provides research grants and technical assistance for research on violence against women in low and middle-income countries, and hosts the key global biannual event in the field – the SVRI Forum. Liz is committed to research and policy-making that is feminist, ethical, equitable, and partnership-based. Further, through the SVRI and our partners, we are reversing the global imbalance in research capacity and resources to ensure research on violence against women and violence against children in low and middle-income countries is led by researchers in low and middle-income countries, and knowledge production is driven by research priorities and needs of the global South.

Morma Moremi - Administration and Knowledge Manager


Morma is a Social Worker by training and holds a Masters degree in Social Work from the University of Johannesburg. She worked as a social worker for the Department of Social Development and as an intern social worker at Non-Government Organisations such as Johannesburg Parent and Child Counselling Centre and Theodorah Ndaba Victim Support Centre. Her research interests include gender studies, and the prevention of Gender Based Violence in rural South Africa.
 

Lizle Loots - Global Partnerships and Network Manager


Lizle has over 12 years’ experience in the development sector working on violence against women and girls. She has been on the SVRI Forum organising committee since 2009. Lizle has research experience on violence against women and children in the justice sector under the South African Medical Research Council, and has led research studies in South Sudan and Myanmar. She has extensive experience in supporting research and capacity building activities internationally, supporting regional exchange and learning, as well as grant-making for improved adolescent and youth SRHR services. She holds two Psychology degrees and a Masters degree in Sociology from the University of Pretoria in South Africa.

Nomsa Mokhele - Finance and Operations Director


Nomsa Mokhele is a Chartered Accountant with over 9 years’ experience as a finance professional and is a former Non-Executive Director of the SVRI.  She completed her article training at PwC in one of the financial service audit departments.  Nomsa is also a former training manager at PwC’s Business School, which included involvement in corporate governance, managing a board programme that was aimed at supporting directors through the changing landscape of their challenging roles.  In addition to her accounting qualifications, Nomsa also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Integrated Reporting from the University of Pretoria.  Nomsa is also the Founder and Director of Molemo Business Solutions which supports organisations by creating age-and-stage appropriate solutions that address financial management, strategy development, strategy execution and governance needs of small and medium-sized businesses.
 

Ayesha Mago - Global Advocacy Director


Ayesha Mago is SVRI’s Global Advocacy Director. She has worked for two decades as a feminist researcher, activist, and trainer. She has worked extensively on the rights of women, children, and adolescents in the context of discrimination, sexual and reproductive health and rights, HIV and AIDS and access to justice. Her work has included comprehensive research, analysis and writing on laws and legal frameworks related to trafficking for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation as well as those that either protect or reinforce discrimination against marginalised communities in South and Southeast Asia and Southern Africa. Over the last several years she has developed substantive experience on issues relating to feminist funding of women’s rights, movement building and violence against women research work. She is deeply committed to a feminist approach that advocates for inclusive and equitable research and practice. As a trainer, she has worked with thousands of young people in South Asia and South Africa on issues including sexuality, consent, violence, and sexual harassment and has created training curricula on comprehensive sexuality education. Ayesha holds a master’s degree from Columbia University in New York and is a trained mediator accredited by the Bar Council of England and the Law Society.
 

Sibongile Kubeka - Administrator
 


Sibongile is a highly skilled and experienced administrator, with over 15 years of working in the development sector providing administration, programme finance and programme support, including grants management, grantee support, and project coordination. Sibongile’s extensive experience spans multiple development contexts, focusing on issues of governance, HIV, gender, community radio, disability, and inclusive growth. Organisations she has worked with include African Foundation for Peace and Security, Sizwe Media, Leonard Cheshire Charitable Foundation, UNDP, MDDA, NCRF, Alex FM among others. Sibongile has a BA in Communications and completed courses on Results Based Project Management and Financial Management. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree on Information Systems.
 

Priti Prabhughate - Evidence Building and Research Director


Priti Prabhughate is a researcher with over 15 years of experience in conducting gender research. Her prior research focuses on how violence is perpetrated, sustained, and experienced by women not only in intimate relationships, but also through the various institutions that they interact with. Her research has focused on understanding the nature, experience, and impact of violence in schools, workplace and in multi-generational families. Priti has looked at the long-term consequences of violence from a life-course perspective . Her work has for example, focused on long term impact of violence faced by non-binary and gender non-confirming people across their life course like facing sexual violence and discrimination in schools and within families has consequences on their lives resulting in school drop-out, poor mental health, and consequently poor prospects of employment, leading to increased vulnerability of HIV and poor mental health. Priti has developed a keen interest to unearth how ‘social and gender norms’ influence experiences of violence, the role these play in determining women’s agency and evaluating programs that are addressing intimate partner violence. Through her work primarily in South Asia, Priti has observed the interventions that address violence and challenge status quo, are often faced with some ‘backlash’ from the community and family this is an area of work that she is personally interested in delving further. Priti is passionate about how evidence in translated into programs and how policies can be influenced to improve outcomes. Priti is a Social Worker by training. She earned her Master’s in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and her PhD from Jane Addams College of Social work – University of Illinois at Chicago. Before she joined the SVRI, Priti worked as the Global Lead for Impact and Evidence at the International Planned Parenthood Federation.
 

Joan Njagi - Child Sexual Abuse Researcher


Joan Njagi is a researcher with more than 15 years work experience researching, designing, implementing, and managing projects on issues predominantly affecting children and youth including child rights and protection, education, gender and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Before joining SVRI, she worked as a consultant conducting research on SRHR for different organisations including UNFPA, Plan International UK and CREA. She holds a B.A. in Psychology and is a graduate of two M.A. programs: one from the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of the Erasmus University and a second one from the University College London, and she is currently a PhD candidate at the ISS, Erasmus University, Rotterdam. She has published peer reviewed articles on sexuality education, adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights, menstrual health management, LGBTIQ rights and discourses surrounding children and the internet. 

Nicolas Makharashvili - Safe Futures Hub: Solutions to End Childhood Sexual Violence

Joint Initiative of Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI); Together for Girls; and WeProtect Global Alliance 

Nicolas brings over a decade of expertise in designing, implementing, funding, and managing evidence-based public health and social development programs, with a particular focus on preventing violence against children. His significant contributions in this field can be seen during his tenure as a Senior Program Officer at the Care and Protection of Children (CPC) Learning Network, affiliated with Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. In this capacity, Nicolas played a pivotal role in coordinating and supporting the dissemination and scaling up of evidence-based public health initiatives outlined in the INSPIRE: 7 Strategies for Ending Violence Against Children technical package. He provided technical guidance and capacity-building assistance to influential stakeholders including WHO, UNICEF, CDC, the World Bank, as well as numerous civil society organizations and governmental agencies. Notably, Nicolas led the content development and successful launch of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on these strategies at Columbia University, expanding the reach and impact of the initiatives. In addition to his work in preventing violence against children, Nicolas has also managed diverse philanthropic projects, working at the intersection of health, education, and early childhood development to support systems change efforts through systems mapping, analysis, and cross-sector collaboration models. Nicolas holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from Baruch College, City University of New York, and a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Finance.

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Volunteers and Interns

  • Amy Riley-Powell | Secondment Fellow | Wellcome
  • Elena Robertson | Monitoring & Evaluation Mentor | Australian Volunteers Program
  • Helen McDermott |Forum Plenaries Planner | Australian Volunteers Program
  • Krystal Buckle | Communications Mentor | Australian Volunteers Program
  • Laura Fitzhenry | Evaluation and Sustainability Specialist | Australian Volunteers Program
  • Max Lavery | Communications Mentor | Australian Volunteers Program
  • Simone Condon | GEDSI Specialist | Australian Volunteers Program
  • Stephanie Green | Intern | MA Candidate, University of Chicago
  • Tilman Loewald | Intern | SVRI
  • Natasha Stern | Intern | SVRI

The SVRI would like to thank all our Volunteers and Interns for their valuable contributions towards building a violence-free world.

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SVRI Consultants and Consultant Partners

  • Alexandra De Filippo
  • Amy Riley-Powell
  • Aník Gevers
  • Anjalee Kohli
  • Averile Ryder
  • Carol Labor
  • Claire Leisegang
  • Dharini Priscilla
  • Elizabeth Louis
  • Ellen Bates-Jefferys
  • Jacob van Garderen
  • Jill Thorne
  • Joy Watson
  • Julienne Corboz
  • Kathleen Dey
  • Keerty Nakray
  • Khwezi Magwaza
  • Leila Billing
  • Lenina Rassool
  • Lisa-Anne Julien
  • Mark Tomlinson
  • Monica Lambon
  • Nicole Gonzalez
  • Paula Andrea Ramírez Diazgranados
  • Ramatoulaye Ndao
  • Rebecca Ladbury
  • Ria de Wet