Lori Michau

Lori Michau is an activist committed to preventing violence against women (VAW). She is a co-founder of Raising Voices, a feminist non-profit organization in Kampala, Uganda working to prevent violence against women and children. Lori has over 25 years of leadership and management experience including co-directing Raising Voices from 1999 – 2022, where she is now on the Board of Directors. Lori is a gifted innovator, having also co-founded several vibrant organizations and networks: the Jijenge Women’s Center for Sexual Health in Mwanza, Tanzania; the Center for Domestic Violence Prevention in Kampala, Uganda; the GBV Prevention Network across the Horn, East and Southern Africa; and the global Community for Understanding Scale Processes (CUSP). Lori also developed various VAW prevention and movement building methodologies including the SASA! approach for preventing violence against women, one of the few approaches globally with that has achieved community-level impact on preventing intimate partner violence against women, which is being used in over 60 countries around the world. Lori has published numerous articles on violence prevention and specializes in popularizing complex ideas for activist communities, having led communication campaigns and initiatives across the Horn, East and Southern Africa. She has extensive experience in community mobilization and in mentoring young feminists and feminist organizations. Lori is committed to supporting the broader field of VAW prevention through her participation in various Boards and Advisory Groups and she draws on her decades of practice-based learning and expertise to advise funders, organizations and institutions on quality VAW prevention programming, funding and strategy. She received her Master’s Degree in Human Rights from Makerere University and is currently based in Boston.