Did you catch our webinar?

On November 18, VOICE facilitated the first of many conversations that we will host about sexual exploitation and abuse in the international aid sector (as mentioned above, the conversation continues for the next 16 days -- at least!).

Facilitated by  our Executive Director Mendy Marsh,  the conversation, titled "It's Not Just A Few Bad Apples," centered around the "open secret" that has plagued the work of humanitarians and tarnished the reputation of our industry. It's time we go beyond trying to root out what is dismissed simply as a few “bad apples” and chart a new way for institutional and system-wide change that protects women and girls. VOICE suggests that the aid industry can benefit from a new, feminist perspective when it comes to international aid, and we enjoyed a spirited discussion with our panelists about what that might look like.

Our Panelists:

Alina Potts is a Research Scientist with the Global Women’s Institute, where she centers refugee women and girls in participatory action research on SEA in humanitarian settings through "Empowered Aid". Previously, Alina coordinated violence prevention research at UNICEF, focusing on intersections between violence against women and children. As a practitioner, she led GBV programming for the International Rescue Committee in a number of humanitarian responses over 10 years; and worked in refugee resettlement in the US and Europe. She is actively involved in teaching, mentoring, and capacity-sharing initiatives.

Pamela Shifman is a passionate and experienced advocate for girls and women's rights, social justice, and transformative philanthropy. For 12 years, her leadership has shaped the work of the NoVo Foundation, first as Director of NoVo’s Initiatives for Girls and Women and then as Executive Director of the NoVo Foundation from 2014 through 2019, where she oversaw the Foundations historic 90 million dollar commitment to girls of color, the creation of NoVo Foundations’ Radical Hope Fund and a myriad of funding strategies dedicated to grassroots women’s and girls’ rights movements all over the world.

Doris Maholo Saydee is a feminist and a champion for social justice. She has over 14 years’ work experience in program management, implementation, coordination advocacy and supervision with the UN system, the Government of Liberia, and INGO in humanitarian, development and peacekeeping settings in East and West Africa. She most recently served as Gender Affairs Officer for the UN Mission in South Sudan where she supported the implementation of UN Resolutions on women, peace and security within the scope of the Mission’s mandate and DPO Policy on Gender Responsive Peacekeeping Operations.

Francisca Vigaud-Walsh has been working on refugee, IDP, and migrant protection matters for close to twenty years, with a specialization in GBV prevention and response. Passionate about accountability to women and girls, she has undertaken research and policy work to influence reforms in the humanitarian system for women and girls. Most recently, she served the Independent High-Level Commission on Sexual Misconduct, Accountability, and Culture Change at Oxfam, where she led research on the organization’s safeguarding policy and practice, and authored the Commission’s reports for reforms at Oxfam and beyond.

Watch the recording HERE

Please reach out to us at info@voiceamplified.org if you'd like to collaborate with us, or be a part of this conversation going forward.