Anne Gathumbi

What Works 2 Programme Director, Anne Gathumbi, is a feminist human rights lawyer with over 20 years’ experience as a social justice advocate working in senior leadership and management positions and as a grant maker in the philanthropy and not for profit sectors at country, regional and global levels. Anne is passionate about facilitating collaborations between communities, activists, movements, and institutions to tackle structural inequality and build momentum for change and has dedicated her career to defending rights and amplifying voices of women, girls, and gender diverse people. She has designed programs rooted in the practical realities of communities at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities. She promotes community-led change using evidence-based and time-tested model for social change that focuses on movement building, integrates strategic investments (grant making) to local partners with technical assistance, accompaniment support, advocacy, research, and learning. Early in her career, Anne was founding Director of the Coalition on Violence against Women, where she spearheaded design and implementation of gender transformative approaches to challenge social norms, structures and unequal power relations that contribute to gender inequality as well as spearheading advocacy for law reform to combat VAWG. This appointment shaped her professional and personal life and inspired her to honor the voices of those impacted by VAWG. Her life’s work has been focused on addressing gender inequality, preventing VAWG and protecting the rights of women girls and gender diverse people.