Judge Najla Ayoubi, MA

Judge Najla Ayoubi, MA, Chief of Coalition and Global Programs at Every Woman Treaty, is a lawyer and former judge and has extensive experience in judiciary, elections, human rights and women’s empowerment. She is a civil society and women’s rights activist. 

She served as a Legal Advisor for the State Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs of Afghanistan, Commissioner at the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan and Commissioner of Joint Electoral Management Body. Judge Ayoubi played a great role in the Constitution making process of Afghanistan. She was the Senior State Attorney at the Attorney General Office of Afghanistan, State Attorney of the Parwan province, and Judge at the Parwan Provincial Court. She worked with The Asia Foundation Afghanistan in different capacities. 

She served as a Board Member of Open Society Afghanistan as well as the Country Director of Open Society Afghanistan (OSF representative office in Afghanistan). She was Board member of Afghan Women’s Network (AWN), Afghanistan Research & Evaluation Unit (AREU) Member of Board of Directors, Advisory Board Member of Afghan Education Production Organization (AEPO), Co-Chair of Board in Afghanistan Institute for Civil Society (AICS ), and Member of the Board of Trustees at Afghan Professional Network. 

Ms. Ayoubi has two MA degrees: one on Law and Politics from State University of Tajikistan and another on Post War Recovery and Development Studies from York University of United Kingdom. She is former Deputy Country Representative of The Asia Foundation, Afghanistan Office. Judge Ayoubi has also been appointed as the 2015 Women Peacemaker at the Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego United State and spring 2017 Visiting Fellow at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics. She is a Founding & Global Executive Board Member of Women’s Regional Network (WRN) and served as a Consultant and member of South Bay Professional Association, Los Angeles California.

Comfort Dondo, MPA

Comfort Dondo, MPA, is the founder of Phumulani and a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and domestic violence. Born and raised in Zimbabwe and now residing in Minnesota, Comfort’s struggle with domestic violence was compounded by the inability of women’s shelters in America to provide the language, cultural and societal resources she and her children needed to feel safe and supported. Comfort wants to make sure women and children of African descent have the cultural resources they need to feel comfortable in sharing their stories and recovering from their experiences. She understands firsthand that individuals who’ve fled African countries to save their lives often have lasting trauma that needs to be acknowledged and treated holistically to ensure long-term progress. Comfort created Phumulani, named for a Zulu word meaning “lover of peace,” as a way of helping African immigrants and refugees in Minnesota. It is truly a place where survivors of gender-based abuse and violence can find peace and recovery.

Kabahenda Kiggundu R.N., PhD

Kabahenda Kiggundu R.N., PhD, earned a doctoral degree in Politics and International Relations from the University of London. She enjoyed a 25-years career in the Government of Canada, as a research specialist and intelligence analyst on Africa working on issues of state protection, migration, human rights violations, crimes against humanity, genocide, and national security, immigration and resettlement to Canada. Currently, Kabahenda talks on issues of gender equality, women’s rights, women’s leadership and political participation, and violence against women refugees in the context of forced migration refugees in Africa; she has also published articles on these issues. 

She has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Ottawa Carleton Immigrant Services Organization (OCISO), Carty House, a temporary residence for female asylum seekers in Ottawa, Canada, and as an Interview Coach for World Skills, Ottawa. She is an Encourager/Coach with World Pulse, a virtual network of over 70,000 women all over the world, as well as a volunteer member of the Advisory Working Group of the UN Commission on Status of Women’s 65th session. 

Eleanor Ann Nwadinobi, MBBS

Eleanor Ann Nwadinobi, MBBS, is a medical doctor, gender, human rights expert with a European Union Masters in Human Rights and Democratisation (EMA) from Venice, Italy. She is a Fellow of the African Arts and Culture (FAAC). Dr. Eleanor Nwadinobi is also the International President of the Medical Women’s International Association (MWIA), the first Nigerian to rise to this position in its one hundred year history.

Dr Eleanor Nwadinobi is founding Co- Chair, Steering Committee of Every Woman Treaty, a coalition calling for a Global treaty to end Violence Against Women and Girls. Dr. Nwadinobi is the co-country representative for the Working Group on Women Youth Peace and Security for UNOWAS. 

Over her 38-year career, Dr. Nwadinobi has contributed to the Development Agenda as Women, Peace and Security expert with DFID - Funded Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme, NSRP. Lead researcher, Gender based Violence (GBV) World Bank –(Women for Nigeria); Gender adviser Conflict Stability andSecurity Fund (CSSF) Foreign and Commonwealth office; Team lead and Gender expert of drafting team for African Union (AU), Stabilization, Recovery and Resilience strategy for the Lake Chad basin countries (Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria) affected by Boko Haram and Spotlight Initiative consultant to the UN for drafting Nigeria’s strategy on eliminating gender based violence.

Dr. Nwadinobi sits on the Board of National and International Organisations including Africagenda, AFIDFF, Blossoms of the Vine Fellowship (BVF) and Widows Development Organisation (WiDO), She is a recipient of several National and International awards and author of many publications.

Cheryl Thomas, JD

Cheryl Thomas, JD, is the founding Director of Global Rights for Women. Since 1993, Cheryl has worked with partners around the world to promote women’s human rights and achieve effective legal reform to end violence against women.  She has participated in the drafting of new laws on violence against women and girls in over 20 countries and trained legal and community professionals to enforce such laws in dozens of countries. She has worked closely with the United Nations to develop model standards on legal reform on violence against women.

Cheryl has participated in numerous UN Expert Group Meetings on violence against women including in 2008 when she co-chaired the meeting to draft UN Handbook for Legislation on Violence against Women.  In 2011, she was recognized by Newsweek magazine as one of 150 “Women Who Shake the World.” In 2021, the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) awarded her Arabella Babbs Mansfield Award for her professional achievements for women in the law.