Executive Board

Françoise Moudouthe, Board co-chair

African Women's Development Fund (AWDF) - CEO/Executive Director

Françoise is a pan-African feminist with roots in Cameroon, Françoise Moudouthe is passionate about advocating for women’s rights and fostering sisterhood within African feminist movements. Before joining the African Women’s Development Fund as CEO, Françoise established Eyala, a bilingual platform that amplifies the voices and lived experiences of African feminists and worked as an international consultant for gender justice in Africa. She also played an instrumental role in incubating Girls Not Brides, the global civil society partnership to end child marriage, and in spearheading its growth in Africa. Françoise is a Board member of the Malala Fund, Womankind Worldwide and WATHI think tank.

Virisila Buadromo, Board co-chair

UAF Asia & Pacific - Co-executive director

Virisila Buadromo is a Pacific feminist and political activist who co-leads the Urgent Virisila Buadromo is a Fijian feminist and co-leads the Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights Asia and the Pacific. Her role is focused on strategic partnerships and resource mobilisation. Prior to joining UAF AP, Virisila freelanced as a feminist facilitator, trainer and gender advisor in the Pacific and Asia focusing on organisational strengthening and supporting feminist coalitions and movements in the two regions. Virisila’s feminist beginnings were nurtured at the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement, a cutting-edge feminist organisation that she led for more than 13 years.

Nadejda Dermendjieva, Board treasurer

BULGARIAN FUND FOR WOMEN - Executive Director

Nadejda is the Executive Director of the Bulgarian Fund for Women. She holds a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from the Sofia University and in Gender Studies from the University of Nottingham, UK. She has been working in the sphere of human rights for several years focusing on gender equality and elimination of domestic violence. Nadejda graduated a program in social work, holds a specialization from the University of Social Affairs in Berlin and graduated Bulgarian School of Politics. Nadejda is the co-founder of the charity movement “Million women for million goodnesses”, she is the author of the short story collections “Without anesthesia” for survivors of violence.

Joy Chia, Secretary

Executive Director, Astraea Lesbian Foundation For Justice

Joy L. Chia is the Executive Director of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, a public foundation rooted in LGBTQI communities and movements working globally to advance the rights of LGBTQI people and communities. Astraea endeavors to mobilize and distribute resources so as to reach the activists and communities who need them most and who are best positioned to make transformational impact over time. Joy comes to Astraea from the Open Society Foundations (OSF), where she was team manager with the Women’s Rights Program (2018-2021) and the East Asia program officer (2012-2018).

Laura Leonelli Morey, Director

FONDO DE MUJERES DEL SUR - Executive Director

Lifelong feminist with more than 20 years of experience in the realms of activism, academia, and work in favor of women’s human rights. She was born in Bolivia, as her mother and father were exiled during the last military government of Argentina. Laura is currently part of the Executive Direction of Fondo de Mujeres del Sur (FMS).

Laura is a lawyer and holds a university degree in social communications, a master’s degree in international studies, and a higher degree in social sciences with a focus on gender and public policies. She was a journalist for 10 years before joining FMS. Laura has also been a strong advocate for the right to legal, safe, and free abortion, and was an active member of the journalist collective Ni Una Menos Córdoba, which organized massive demonstrations against femicides in Argentina.

Judy Kan, Director

HER FUND - Executive Director

Judy is the executive director of HER Fund and has worked with women’s funds for 13 years. She joined HER Fund as a Programme Officer since 2007, and became Executive Director since 2018. Before she joined HER Fund, she was an organizer to work closely with women and young people in the community. Judy understands the role, opportunities and challenges of national / local women’s funds. She became Co-coordinator of Prospera Asia and the Pacific this year and also joined as the planning group member on behalf of Prospera with PAWHR members, she is one of the founding members of “NGO Taskforce” in Hong Kong to advocate flexible funding in Hong Kong with ten women NGO women leaders in the year 2020.

Djurdja Trajković, Director

RECONSTRUCTION WOMEN'S FUND - Coordinator

Coordinator of the Reconstruction Women’s Fund since May 2020. Prior to joining RWF, she spent 15 years in academic institutions in the United States and Serbia where she studied and researched Latin American literature and feminist theory. In fund, she is in charge of program overview, financial and fundraising strategy as well as international cooperation and representation.