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.

SVRI Consultants

Aník Gevers - Technical Specialist


Currently, Aník’s work focuses on capacity strengthening and technical guidance for multi-sectoral violence against women and violence against children. prevention programming around the globe including in southern and eastern Africa, east Asia and the Pacific, and Arab States. She has a PhD from the University of Cape Town, Master’s degree from the University of Missouri-St Louis, and Bachelor’s degree from Grinnell College in Iowa.
 

Amy Riley-Powell - Technical Specialist


Amy is a doctoral student at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex where she is using ethnographic, qualitative and participatory methods to explore violence against women with disabilities in Lima, Peru. Amy was recently awarded a secondment fellowship to work with the Sexual Violence Research Initiative where she is looking at regional priority setting processes for violence against women research. In her undergraduate studies Amy trained as a physiotherapist and spent 4 years working as a clinician before pursuing a masters in Global Health and Development. Since this time, she has worked in the UK, Oman and Peru with various organisations including Tulane University’s Health Office for Latin America, UNICEF, Imperial College London, the University of Nizwa and various INGOs. Prior to pursuing her PhD, Amy was working as a research associate in Lima, Peru and worked on public health projects including perceptions of zika virus, people with disabilities’ access to healthcare, transmission patterns of dengue fever and female sex work.

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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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Former Staff, Volunteers, Interns and Consultants:

  • Angelica Pino | Grants Manager and Capacity Strengthening Specialist | SVRI
  • 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
  • Leila Billing | Technical Specialist | Independent Consultant
  • Nicole Gonzalez | Research Assistant | Independent Consultant
  • Simone Condon | GEDSI Specialist | Australian Volunteers Program
  • Stephanie Green | SVRI Intern | MA Candidate, University of Chicago
  • Tilman Loewald | Intern | SVRI
  • Zama Madlala | Administration Officer | DNA Economics