Claire oversees and coordinates CIVICUS financial and organisational planning, as well as investments, assets and facilities. She also manages expansion activities and relationships with partners/vendor, while also designing and implementing business strategies, plans and procedures designed to ensure CIVICUS’ health and sustainability. Claire has over 20 years finance/ operations experience, working mostly in in global civil society organizations, such as the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, International Planned Parenthood Federation, Marie Stopes International, and the International HIV/AIDS Alliance.

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A human rights lawyer by training, Mandeep specialises in legislation relating to the core civil society freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly. He is passionate about improving civil society’s participation in decision making, and has written extensively on the intersection  between civil society, sustainable development and international affairs. Previously, Mandeep advised the International Committee of the Red Cross in New Delhi. He has also worked with the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative where he helped develop human rights modules for Commonwealth Parliamentarians and co-authored a citizens’ handbook on human rights commissions in India.  Presently Mandeep oversees CIVICUS’s work on defending civic freedoms and promoting democratic values while leading organisational engagement at the UN headquarters in New York.

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Jessica oversees and coordinates the work of the teams in charge of leading CIVICUS' advocacy and solidarity action work. She is a Colombian human rights advocate passionate about promoting social change and human rights to contribute to a more just and inclusive world, through innovative initiatives with political, social and environmental impact. She holds a PhD in Sociology and Anthropology and a M. A in Migration studies, both from Paris VII University. She brings 15+ years of experience working in academia, with international and national NGOs, think tanks and as a human rights consultant.

Tamryn leads the Innovation and Sustainability stream at CIVICUS which oversees work related to incubation, impact, quality and sustainability and related aspects of CIVICUS’ eco-system strengthening agenda. Tamryn is seasoned strategy, impact and evaluation professional, with over 15 years experience, the majority in the civil society sector. Prior to this role, Tamryn led CIVICUS’s Impact and Accountability team since May 2018 and also brings with her strategy, institutional development and M&E experience from other organisations such as ActionAid International and World Food Programme Innovation Hub. Tamryn holds a Masters (MSc) in Operational Research.

Originally from Argentina but now living in Montevideo, Uruguay, Inés designs, supervises and conducts CIVICUS research on civil society action around the world. Having started her career in academia, she also teaches university classes on Comparative Politics and Global Civil Society, connecting to her everyday work on social movements and human rights. A political scientist by training, Inés also did photography studies, so she keeps looking for the ‘perfect shot’ everywhere she goes. She is passionate about women’s rights struggles both as a researcher and as a participant in what she views as the most successful revolution in modern history.

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Asma DARWISH is a passionate human rights defender of Arab-Persian origin, living in France. She has been actively engaged in the Arab Spring protests in Bahrain, her home country in 2011. She is an international advocate for freedom of expression, civil and political rights. Already written many articles and taken part in several academic papers, her strength lies in verbal and written communication. Throughout the years, Asma was and is still enthusiastically building NGOs’ strategies and advocacy campaigns. 

A mother of two children + a cat + a dog + 30 plants, Asma speaks Arabic, English, French and Farsi fluently and is now taking the time to learn Spanish and Turkish.

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Benjamin Tonga is based in Cameroon andresponsible for building the StandAsMyWitness campaign, which advocates for the release of human rights defenders and protest leaders arrested for participating in peaceful assemblies. Benjamin has over 6 year experience in human rights monitoring, report and documentation; advocacy and campaigns; program design and implementation strategies. Benjamin is passionate about human rights accountability and civic space protection.

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Since Februrayy 2020, Catherine Nakitende has woorked as part of the coordination team for CHARM. CHARM comprises of six consortium partners and her major role is to support the partners achieve their project objectives in areas of financial and grants management, budgeting, compliance and financial reporting. Catherine has over 20 years experience working with humanitarian organizations in Africa and beyond. She is passionate about economic empowerment, poverty alleviation, disaster and humanitarian relief.

Isabel Rosales, manages the project: Advocacy in Restricted Civic Space in Central America. The aim of this project is to co-create strategies to strengthen advocacy with human rights defenders from civil society organizations in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. She is a political scientist and holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Universität Hamburg and the GIGA Institute of Latin American Studies. She specializes in migration, human rights, and civic space in Central America.

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Michaela holds a Bachelors of Administration degree in International Relations from the University of Pretoria, and is currently completing her Bachelor of Commerce in Business Administration at UNISA. Being an advocate for the empowerment of African youth, she is also a member of BRICS Youth, and a MINDS Alumini. In her role as Michaela provides content support and is the first point of contact for any Crisis Response Fund related queries. The administrative support provided branches throughout the grant management cycle and dissemination of reports.

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Paul Mulindwa is a governance and development practitioner, with a PhD in Politics and International Relations from the University of Johannesburg, majoring in Governance and Human rights studies. He holds MPhil in Policy Development and Practice from the University of Cape Town; MA in Human Rights from Makerere University in Uganda; and BA Philosophy from Pontifical Urbaniana University, Italy. Paul has extensive experience of about 20 years in governance, sustainable development, international relations, social justice, and peacebuilding in Africa. Paul has worked with various international and regional organisations and is currently working with CIVICUS as Advocacy and Campaigns lead for Africa.

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Mawethu Nkosana, Advocacy and Campaigns Officer/ LGBTQI+ Advocacy Lead, coordinates CIVICUS's LGBTQI+ advocacy responses, working with CSOs, social movements and activists across the world to counter the clamp down on civic space for LGBTQI+ groups/movements. Mawethu also works with the Crisis Response Fund, which provides urgent funding to civil society actors who are facing crises in freedom of assembly and association to conduct advocacy activities, or to respond proactively to threats to civic freedoms through resiliency activities. Based in Johannesburg. Mawethu is also a multidisciplinary creative and activist whose work intersects human rights, justice, healing and queer imaginaries/freedom.

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Rajavelu Karunanithi is a human rights lawyer from India, with a Masters degree in international law. He has previous experience working on protection of human rights defenders (HRDs) at risk in India. Until recently he has been working with FORUM-ASIA on civic space issues in South Asia.

As the Vuka coordinator Shupikai supports the Vuka Steering Group, Action Teams and Allies to convene, strategise and assess the trajectory of the coalition. Shupikai has more than 15 years experience working with institutions, networks, coalitions, and non profits in Africa and globally by strengthening their capacity to deliver, support and lead in their areas of expertise. Her expereince also inludes includes grantmaking and resource mobilisation. Shupikai is based in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Carolina leads the Innovation and Quality Management work at CIVICUS, bringing a wealth of experience spanning strategic design, program execution, and disruptive innovation. Throughout her career, Carolina has led and contributed to initiatives amplifying collective power across the so called Global South (the Majority of the world). As an innovation specialist, she has crafted internal processes that magnify impact and uphold excellence standards for organisations like CIVICUS and Amnesty International. Carolina advocates for a Quality and Innovation practice imbued with intersectional, feminist, antiracist, and anticolonial values, drawing from her multidisciplinary background in systems change, human centred methodologies for design, public engagement, and narrative practices.

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Nwabueze Chibuzor is the Programme & Network Coordinator for the Digital Democracy Initiative, responsible for overseeing and managing its implementation. He has close to a decade experience working for various organisations in the international development sector like GIZ, British Council and Center for Democracy & Development. He has managed and implemented different programmes across various thematic fields and specializes in democratic governance, citizen engagement, civil society strengthening, state institution strengthening in fragile contexts and public policy development and analysis. He has strong technical interest in maximizing the roles that civil society and government play in how citizens and other relevant stakeholders can be engaged in democratic governance beyond the ballot.

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Luisa Fernanda Romero Munoz is the coordinator for the Digital Action Lab (DAL) as part of the Digital Democracy Initiative (DDI). Prior to this role, she served as the Civicus Innovation Officer at the I4C Cluster.

She is a social entrepreneur, activist, and peacebuilder with seven years of experience in the non-profit sector. She is a co-founder of a youth-led organization contributing to peacebuilding in Colombia. She holds a bachelor's degree in Electronics Engineering from the University of Cauca and a master's degree in International Tourism Management from Ulster University in the United Kingdom. Luisa is recognized for her dedication to innovation, human rights, and peacebuilding, receiving various awards, including the Chevening Award.

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Safia works to gather and share the myriad of ways that innovation and multi-sectoral input lead to sustainable solutions towards a more equitable world. She works to incubate new projects at CIVICUS with a particular focus on cross-organisational collaboration for greater efficiency and impact. Safia is committed to amplifying the advocacy efforts of indigenous communities in their fight for freedom and justice. She supports the global call to #FreePalestine.

Damilola Babatunde is a Project Manager and Policy Advocate with over 5 years of experience managing entire project life cycles, from design and implementation to monitoring, evaluation, and reporting. He is currently a Senior International Youth Advisor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, where he advises on foreign trade and development cooperation. Damilola has also served as a consultant for esteemed global organizations such as the United States Institute of Peace, the Queen's Commonwealth Trust, and the Population Council.

Josef Benedict is a researcher covering the Asia Pacific region for the CIVICUS Monitor. Prior to this he worked with Amnesty International, leading campaigns on Southeast Asia and the Pacific including on civic space, police accountability, impunity and the death penalty. He has worked for over two decades on various human rights issues in the region.

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Laura Van den Eynde is a human rights researcher and adjunct lecturer at the Free University of Brussels in Belgium. She holds a degree in Law and a Master in Human Rights and Democratization, as well as a degree in international socio-legal studies from Stanford Law School. Her PhD focused on the interactions between civil society organizations and the judiciary. Before joining CIVICUS, Laura worked as a researcher for the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. She resides in Washington D.C., USA. Her work and volunteer experiences emphasize the critical role of civil society actors in upholding fundamental rights and the importance of comparative data in enhancing the understanding and respect for these rights.

Sylvia Mbataru, civic space research officer, is a human rights lawyer leading research on Eastern and Southern Africa, the Middle East, and Black Sea regions for the CIVICUS Monitor. She has worked with civil society for over a decade leading and supporting research and advocacy on diverse human rights issues including civic space, governance, children’s rights, and economic, social & cultural rights. Sylvia is a passionate and firm believer in human rights and social justice.

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Tara Petrović leads research on Europe and Central Asia for the CIVICUS Monitor. She is a human rights lawyer and civil society activist based in Belgrade, Serbia. Prior to her role at CIVICUS, she actively contributed to the Serbian civil sector, focusing on non-profit law, the development of an enabling environment for civil society activities and civic space. Alongside her legal expertise, Tara has also worked as a journalist and fixer. She wants to contribute to a world where diverse voices and initiatives thrive and is passionate about protecting civic space and fostering activism.

Sigrid Lipott is leading the CIVICUS’s UN Geneva Hub in the role of UN Advisor. Sigrid works with UN bodies and mechanisms across various policy and legal frameworks and thematic areas, ranging from human rights to peace and security. Sigrid has an interdisciplinary PhD in Transborder Policies from the International University Institute for European Studies and has over 10 years of experience in research, policy, and project management in international organizations, think tanks, and civil society coalitions. She loves to work across geographic and sectoral divides and is passionate about international negotiation and human rights protection. She speaks Italian, French, English, and has working knowledge of German and Spanish.

Jesselina Rana, a human rights lawyer and feminist activist from Nepal, is the United Nations Advisor at CIVICUS' New York Hub. She leads civic space engagement, civil society participation, and international law/policy research at the UN headquarters, drawing from her prior grassroots work in Nepal, where she significantly contributed to the country's politico-legal feminist discourse. Her advocacy resulted in impactful reforms, including changes to rape laws, menstrual-health tax policies, and acid violence legislation, positively transforming Nepal's legal landscape. As the co-founder of Pad2Go, a menstrual health enterprise in Nepal, she has earned national and international acclaim. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Jesselina is fluent in English, Nepali, Hindi, and conversational Urdu.

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Nipuna joined CIVICUS in early 2023 inspired by its commitment to promoting civic action. He is a firm believer of freedom of expression as a pre-condition to both achieving progress and human rights.

Nipuna brings over 15 years’ experience shaping narratives, enabling people’s movements, and campaigning for positive change. He’s led media and communications work from grassroots to international levels, working for and with Oxfam, EarthRights, UN, civil society, and media partners.

Originally from Sri Lanka, he won the Colombo University’s Juin Aoki Journalism Award. His desire to shift mindsets and create positive behavior for change, had him successfully complete a psychology MSc from Heriot-Watt, UK.

Kgalalelo Gaebee is a digital communications enthusiast passionate about human rights, social justice, and equality. She holds an MA Degree in Media Studies from University of the Witwatersrand. Before joining CIVICUS, she worked as a Programme Coordinator at Media Monitoring Africa, where she was involved in various programmes related to promoting ethical journalism, youth/children’s rights advocacy, research, and digital media literacy.

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Lerato Pagiwa, Communication Officer, facilitates the communications objectives of our membership, youth and International Civil Society Week teams in addition to managing our social media channels. Lerato's interest lie in exploring how current and future means of communication can be used to connect people in an increasingly globalised but disconnected world.

Matthew Reading-Smith, Communications Coordinator, supports the CIVICUS Monitor research platform, which rates and tracks the state of civic freedoms in 197 countries. Based in Spain, Matthew has worked for over 15 years producing communications on issues such as human rights, climate change, and clean energy. Matthew is passionate about harnessing citizen generated data to measure what matters.

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As a Liaison Officer, Tanya supports the networking and outreach activities of the Secretary General’s office. She works closely with teams coordinating CIVICUS’ external engagements – including advocacy, networks and media – to effectively harness and position the voice, presence and influence of the Secretary General in support of the aims and outcomes of the CIVICUS alliance. Based in South Africa, Tanya has spent the past few years gaining skills and experience in various communication media – including radio, social media and cinematography. She believes in using communication tools to give people around the world fair and unbiased access to information.

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Lindiwe Moyo, Finance Manager, oversees the day to day running of the CIVICUS finance department. Based in Johannesburg, Lindiwe has a strong accounting background with extensive experience in various accounting functions in various accounting standards namely IFRS (for Republic of South Africa and Switzerland entities) and US GAAP (for the United States entity). Lindiwe is good and effective at multi-tasking, detail oriented with strong analytical and problem solving skills.

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Catherine has over 20 years’ experience working with humanitarian organisations in Africa and beyond. She is passionate about economic empowerment, poverty alleviation, disaster and humanitarian relief. Catherine has worked as part of the coordination team for CHARM. CHARM comprises of six consortium partners and her major role is to support the partners achieve their project objectives in areas of financial and grants management, budgeting, compliance and financial reporting.

Adele Manuel, Head of People, influences the people agenda encouraging teams to implement policies and practice at the heart of CIVICUS 's core values. Spanning twenty years’ experience working mostly across Africa, Adele's most exciting work has been in facilitating courageous conversations, finding the potential in people and processes to embrace diversity and inclusion, creating space in the organisation for people to innovate and spread bold ideas that work and ensuring that the people agenda is transformed into action that ensures collective wellbeing.

Emmanuel has worked in Monitoring and Evaluation for organisations including the University of Global Health Equity, Options Consultancy Services, Christian Aid, International Cocoa Initiative, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and World Vision. He has experience in designing, monitoring and evaluating development interventions and programmes across various sectors such as governance, transparency and accountability, health, disability inclusion, agriculture and livelihoods, education, WASH, emergency response among others. Emmanuel is a Member of the Africa Evaluation Association (AfrEA), Network for Advancing and Evaluating the Societal Impact of Science (AESIS Network), Colorado Evaluation Network (COEN), Vienna Evaluation Network (VEN) and Ghana Monitoring and Evaluation Forum (GMEF)!

Faith is an Impact and Accountability Officer at CIVICUS. She works with our teams to build the learning and evidence case of our interventions by implementing CIVICUS’ Impact and Accountability Framework. Faith is passionate about justice, and brings with experience in program management, youth movement building, strategic facilitation, and governance research. Faith also serves as a Board Member for Africa’s first solar powered cinema network, Sunshine Cinema.

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As the Resource Mobilisation (RM) and Partnerships Officer, I coordinate activities related to outreach, communications and reporting against partnership agreements. Joshua believes in the power of young people and advocates for creating platforms for them to thrive. He is a social sector consultant, humanitarian, and founder of Restructure Africa, a youth-led community-based organization focused on alleviating poverty through increasing access to education and health to transform minds and promote economic sustainability. Joshua has an unending desire to promote solidarity, shared power, and social change, especially in the delivery of civic technology tools.

Thalía is a feminist human rights defender driven by social justice. Based in Mexico, she brings 15 +years of experience in resource mobilisation, advocacy, and organisational development. Thalía holds a master’s in law and is an experienced advocate for human rights. She is sensitive to issues of privilege (including her own) and believes in the need to bridge people with their causes.

Takaedza supports the FoPA work-stream, a cross-organisation, multi-stakeholder initiative combining CIVICUS’s expertise across its different clusters to drive a lasting, systemic change in the right to peaceful assembly. He manages the FoPA Global Resource Hub project. Takaedza is a democracy, rights, and governance innovation enthusiast with six years of technical experience designing and implementing programs promoting youth active citizenship and human rights advocacy in the region. He has managed numerous donor-funded projects and has experience working on programs supported by the USAID, the European Union, the Open Society Foundation, and the Ford Foundation. He is most excited about design thinking, human rights, and policy advocacy.

Based in Nigeria. Ifunanya is a versatile and experienced young professional in Non-Profit, Administration and Management with over five years of experience developing and executing development projects and programs, shaping narratives and developing policies in sustainable practices, social inclusion and human rights across the globe. She is passionate about humanitarian aid, administration and diplomacy. Loves reading, listening to music and watching select movies. Ifunanya is mostly triggered by Goal 16 of UN SDGs, which calls for just, peaceful and inclusive societies.

Oriana Castillo is the Community Building Officer for Membership and Networks. She finds innovative models and tools for facilitating online community exchanges that enable peer, cross-sectoral and trans-local learning in multiple languages. Oriana has worked with marginalised communities and minorities worldwide to advocate for equality, diversity, and inclusion to contribute to strengthening civil society actors and promoting feminist leadership principles.

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Taís Siqueira coordinates the Local Leadership Labs (LLL) and actively contributes to improving the support ecosystem for local civil society actors by brokering connections, coordinating with like-minded processes and initiatives, facilitating cross-initiative learning and exchange, and curating spaces for collective reflection. Taís has worked on strengthening citizen participation through political engagement and activism since 2010, with a special focus on co-designing strategies to strenghten the capacities of CSOs and managing networks of activists and social movements in/from Latin America. She is a feminist from Brasil and a strong advocate for rethinking the resourcing landscape for grassroots groups.

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Timea Szeteiova has over ten years of experience in various international organisations in countries across Asia and Africa. Most recently, she worked for Democracy Reporting International, an international NGO, in multiple roles, last being a Country Representative for the Myanmar Country Office, where she co-led the design and implementation of an EU-funded project on strengthening the dialogue facilitation and mediation skills of civil society and social movement leaders and encouraging them to engage in a non-violent conflict resolution and conflict prevention process. Born in a country with an authoritative government as a minority, Timea is passionate about developing and implementing innovative projects that promote democracy, human rights, gender equality and diversity. She has a Master of Arts in Global Diplomacy from SOAS, University of London.

Tarryn, Database Development Officer, manages the CIVICUS CRM database of members and partners, all membership queries and processes. Members are what make CIVICUS Alliance powerful, as we stand together in solidarity working toward a more just and inclusive world. Tarryn is currently based South Africa. Tarryn's interests range from artivism, with poetry being the art of choice but not limited to this, sexual and reproductive rights, gender equality and all things data. Tarryn also has a passion for understanding society, it's people and influences. Tarryn enjoys working with others and learning about their experiences and how to work and grow together.

My role is to provide IT services needed to achieve CIVICUS’s vision. This inlcudes supporting the effective functioning of IT infrastructure, management systems and information management tools. My role provides administrative support within the IT function and also contribute to various IT projects, i.e. supporting with the planning of the related IT infrastructure, assessment of applications and technology, formulating and presenting IT support solutions to staff and management.

Karen Webber works with the COO and in collaboration with all clusters to manage contracting and policy within CIVICUS. In addition, she updates, implements and coordinates systems development for operations-related processes. Karen is based in Johannesburg, and has a degree in counselling psychology, as well as varied experience in website development and technology. Karen's passion is systems and their application to streamline process.

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Precious joined CIVICUS in August 2017 as the Travel Liaison & Finance Administrator. She has 12 years of wide-ranging experience in providing logistical and administrative support where she led the coordination of conference and workshop logistics, the management of flights, ground transportation and accommodation. Precious has worked for several NGOs including Freedom House Southern Africa.

Benedict Ibanga is an accomplished Data Security Officer with expertise in strategic IT management. Currently serving as the Data Officer, he was previously the Information Systems & Technology Manager at Save the Children, leading data security and privacy initiatives and ensuring international compliance standards. Benedict excels in developing and implementing data security policies, fostering data protection awareness, and driving innovative solutions.

As an Operations Officer, I work closely with the team to ensure the smooth implementation of various projects and operational processes. With a strong focus on strengthening operational procedures and systems, I review agreements to ensure compliance and manage risk assessment for partners and service providers. I have created Dashboards in Smartsheet and have also developed some chat bots on the Bot Platform. I am always excited about working on new projects and collaborations with other clusters.