Prospera's Secretariat Team

Laila Alodaat

Executive Director

A seasoned feminist leader with two decades of experience in advocacy, movement building, and a proven track record as a litigator and strategist, Laila Alodaat joined the feminist peace movement through the International Women’s League for Peace and Freedom, where she held different positions and was appointed Deputy Secretary General in 2021. Laila is from Syria, and has extensive experience spans across women’s rights, resource distribution, and effective governance. She has served in various advisory and governance roles, including as a Trustee of the Feminist Review Trust since 2019. Laila holds a law degree from Damascus University and an LLM in Human Rights, Conflict, and Justice from the School of Oriental and African Studies. Laila is a mother of two, a qualified Forest School and Natural Reservation leader, and an active community organizer. 

Amany Alhadka

Director of Finance and Operations

Amany Alhadka has over 20 years of experience working in the areas of Operations, Finance, and Organization Management. Throughout her career, she managed and advised many organizations and field operations in Africa, Asia, Latin and Central America. She is specialized in building and strengthening the operational capacity of start-ups and organizations that are growing and scaling. Prior to joining Prospera as Senior Advisor Operations Excellence she was the Vice President for Business Transformation of the Equality Fund and the Vice President for Finance and Operations of the MATCH International Women’s Fund, both in Canada. She also worked at CARE International in Egypt, USA, and Canada, and MEK Foundation in Egypt. Amany holds a Bachelor Degree in Accounting and a Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Accounting and Auditing from Cairo University. She obtained her Public Accountant Certification from University of Illinois, Chicago and has certificates in training of trainers and meeting facilitation.

Chhavi Doonga

Director of Programmes and Partnerships

Chhavi holds a master’s degree in Media, Communication and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science where she wrote a thesis on trans-activism in India. Prior to Prospera, she has worked with the Aga Khan Foundation in Badakhshan, Afghanistan and London, UK on strategic partnerships and regional strategy for their core sectors including gender, health and education. Chhavi has also previously worked with community radios from India, Nepal and Bangladesh for a project on rural migration and urban governance at UNESCO. As a Young India Fellow, she worked at the People’s Archive of Rural India with women migrants from Gujarat, Haryana and West Bengal. In her free time, Chhavi enjoys reading and writing poetry.

Maria Eugenia Olmos

Programmes Manager

Euge is a feminist based in her hometown Cordoba, Argentina with over 12 years of experience working for women´s rights organisations and movements in Argentina, Latin America and globally. As a gender specialist, she has worked extensively in the fields of sexual and (no) reproductive health and rights and gender violence, with a focus on organisational development, resource mobilization and international cooperation.
Before joining Prospera, Euge worked for FRIDA|The Young Feminist Fund, Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir (Argentina) and for the Ministry of Health of Cordoba.

As an academic, she has been teaching at the 21st Century University, where she participated in the development and incorporation of the first gender studies course to be taught at the University.

In her free time she likes to walk through the hills, cooking and being in touch with nature.

Sofia Karakaidou

Research and Advocacy Manager

Sofia is a Greek feminist, optimist by choice, passionate about the intersection of gender, data, and climate justice.
As Research & Advocacy Manager at Prospera, she shapes data-informed advocacy narratives to support the network’s external positioning and produces research on women’s funds and feminist funding practices. She builds strategic partnerships with diverse philanthropic actors, represents Prospera at convenings, and contributes to publications.

Before taking on her current role, Sofia spent six years doing programmatic work at Prospera: designing and facilitating communities of practice, accompanying and advising members with institutional strengthening, advocacy, and resource mobilisation. A believer in ethical tech and digital rights, she was part of the founding team of the Numun Fund.

Before joining Prospera, she worked as an EU funding consultant for high-impact startups (conducting feasibility studies, designing business models, and managing EU grants), at the European Commission’s DG Budget, and also led international communications and operations teams for big tech companies.
She holds a BA in English and an MA in Art Management, where she explored AI and its authorship as an art agent. Fluent in Greek, English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.

In her free time, she enjoys bringing people together over food, going to the theater, experimenting with art and writing, and tending to her plants.

Nancy Akanbombire

Programmes Officer

Nancy is a feminist and passionate about facilitating change in organisations through holistic and human-centered methodologies where people are at the heart of the process. She explores and experiments with feminist approaches, methodologies, and tools in her work. She has expertise in program management, capacity strengthening, and monitoring, evaluation, and Learning. For over ten years, she has led in the design and implementation of programs geared towards organizational growth, feminist leadership and capacity strengthening of women’s rights and feminist organizations. Prior to joining Prospera, Nancy led and managed the Capacity Building Unit of the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF); contributed to the design and implementation of its feminist leadership program which coached, mentored, and nurtured young feminist leaders across Africa and strengthened the governance boards of organizations. She supported in the documentation of transformational stories from young feminist leaders and co-authored “the birthing leaders, stories of change in African women’s organizations” booklet. Nancy holds a master’s degree in Environment, Development and Policy from the University of Sussex, Brighton, and a Development studies degree from the University for Development studies in Ghana. In her free time, she loves to walk, be with family/friends or watch comedy

Camila Vasques Mellet

Executive Coordinator

Camila is a feminist who has always confronted injustices and inequalities, even before she knew what feminism was. Before joining Prospera, she worked as a corporate lawyer in Brazil for seven years.

In 2015, she moved to Portugal to pursue a new academic and professional path, earning a degree in International Relations and a Masters in Political Studies. In her free time, she enjoys photography, gardening, attending concerts and festivals, and cuddling with her two cats.

prospera-womens-fundas

Rebecca Thesiger

Operations Manager

Rebecca holds a BA in business from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City.  She is now based in Yucatan, Mexico. Rebecca has a lifelong commitment to feminist values and social justice. She’s driven by a deep intolerance for injustice and a practical instinct for building systems that help people do their best work—especially in complex, fast-moving environments.

After running her own successful business for 10 years, Rebecca moved into the feminist philanthropy ecosystem, where she now oversees Prospera’s operations. In this role, she supports a growing, globally distributed team by turning big plans into solid processes, keeping people connected across time zones, and making sure the organization runs smoothly—always with a steady, human touch and a much-needed sense of humor.

Hlengiwe Makhaza

Human Resource &
Administration Manager

Hlengiwe is an accomplished HR Executive with more than 15 years of experience as an HR generalist. For the past decade, she has supported HR operations in the global North and South within the INGO sector. Before joining Prospera, Hlengiwe served as Senior Manager, People Operations, at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Canada. She also held HR and Finance roles at MSF Southern Africa and MSF South Africa. Hlengiwe was also the HR Director at Crisis Action, overseeing HR operations in 10 countries worldwide. She holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration and a BA in Public Administration and Political Science. Her certificates include HR Management, Payroll and Tax Administration, and Leading Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace. Hlengiwe’s work is guided by her passion for Employee Wellness, Diversity Equity Inclusion and Feminist principles.

Elda Hernández

Administrator, HR and Admin

Elda holds a bachelors degree in Politics and Social Management from the Metropolitan Autonomous University of Xochimilco, and a masters degree in Gender and Public Policy from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO-Mexico). Over the past years she has worked as a parliamentary administrative assistant at the Mexican Congress, and with the local women’s funds of Mexico, Semillas and Remisoc. She has also participated in various research projects on social policy in Mexico (UAM-CONACYT). Elda has worked as the Administrative Associate for Prospera, the International Network of Women’s Funds since 2011.

Juana Diaz-Montejo

Accounting Manager

Juana has more than 10 years of working experience in accounting.  Prior to joining Prospera, she worked in the Automotive industry assuming many responsibilities including; Preparing and posting of daily deposits, maintaining petty cash account, preparing miscellaneous cheques as required, and reconciling accounts payable/ receivable ensuring accuracy and compliance. Working for a feminist organization is more aligned with Juana’s values and she enjoys processing payments and performing other accounting tasks and feels she supports the mission of Prospera and its members from her little corner in Ottawa, Canada.