The W4GF Steering Group

Background

Established in 2015, the W4GF Steering Group provides technical and strategic advice to the W4GF Team. The Steering Group comprises of not more than nine (9) members. The individuals represent community-based organisation (CBO) or civil society organisation (CSO) they are working for, and/or bring in additional expertise as individuals to the Steering Group. Steering Group members represent the country of domicile (and can represent the region or domicile). In such case the Steering Group member no longer represents the country of origin (where they might have moved from). To read the Steering Group ToRs click here.

Members of the Steering Group provide to W4GF:

  • Advice on the development of the W4GF strategy and its activities;
  • Guidance on working processes and activities within the W4GF workplan;
  • Guidance and support to the W4GF Global Coordinator;
  • Share/Identify any potential donors with the W4GF Team; and support in the creation and implementation of advocacy plans and activities.

Steering Group Chairs

2024

In May 22th 2024, the Steering Group unanimously appointed Ms Lesley Odendal as the W4GF Chair and Ms Keren Dunaway as the Vice-Chair of the W4GF Steering Group. Their leadership and dedication to advancing gender equality and women’s and girl’s rights in global health, especially towards comprehensive HIV, TB, and Malaria responses, are invaluable.

We express our deepest gratitude to Sonal Mehta for her invaluable time and leadership as Chair of the W4GF Steering Group. Her support, expertise, and gender-transformative advocacy efforts have been instrumental in the growth and success of W4GF, significantly advancing our mission to ensure gender equality.

2022

In March 2022, Ms Maurine Murenga stepped down as co-Chair and a decision was made to create a Chair and a Vice Chair to govern W4GF. Ms Lesley Odendal was nominated by the Steering Group as the Vice-Chair of W4GF.

The Steering Group expressed deepest gratitude to Maurine and Sonal for her invaluable time and leadership as since W4GF’s inception in 2015. With their support, voice and backing, W4GF was able to grow from strength to strength.

2019

In July 12 2019, the Steering Group unanimously accepted Ms. Maurine Murenga as the W4GF Chair of the W4GF Steering Group to support the work of the Steering Group and the W4GF Team. In 2020, Ms Sonal Mehta joined Maurine as a co-Chair.

The purpose of the Chairs is to strengthen W4GF structures.  The Chair’s primary role is to convene and chair meetings and manage the affairs of the Steering Group, including ensuring they are organised properly, function effectively and meets their obligations and responsibilities. The Chair also oversees the work of the W4GF Global Coordinator, who reports to her so that the Steering Group can ensure effective running of the W4GF Team.The ToR for the W4GF Chair are available here.

Steering Group members

  1. Ganna Dovbakh, Eurasian Harm Reduction Association, Lithuania
  2. Joyce Ouma, National Empowerment Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS in Kenya (NEPHAK), Kenya
  3. Keren Dunaway, ICW Latina and Global, Argentina (Vice Chair of the Steering Group)
  4. Lesley Odendal, The Developing Country NGO Delegation to the Global Fund Board, South Africa (Chair of the Steering Group)
  5. Mangala Namasivayam, APCASO, Thailand
  6. Nancy Bolima, Health Development and Community Service (HEDECS), Cameroon
  7. Sonal Mehta, International Planned Parenthood Federation South Asia Region (SAR), India

Ángela León Cáceres, W4GF Global Coordinator, with the support of relevant W4GF Team member(s) manages the W4GF Team, and as such is member of the Steering Group.

The Fiscal Agent representative(s) are observers on the Steering Group participating to ensure a good understanding of the service they are providing. They are counted over and above the nine (9) Steering Group members. They do not have voting rights and they are not counted in terms of regional or country representation. They include: Mary-Ann Torres, ICASO, Canada (Fiscal Agent on W4GF core funds); and Onesmus Mlewa Kalama, EANNASO, Tanzania (Fiscal Agent on W4GF Accountability work)

Steering Group Biographies

Lesley Odendal, South Africa
Steering Group Chair

Lesley Odendal has been working at the intersection of advocacy, policy analysis and communications in HIV and TB for 15 years, specialising in community engagement and leadership. What excites Lesley most is seeing communities engage in global health decision-making, demanding their rights and leading in the development of policies that affect their lives.
Lesley has experience of working with the Global Fund at different levels, including as the Focal Point of the Developing Country NGO delegation to the Global Fund Board, drafting community guides on Grant Cycle 7 and supporting community engagement in GC7 processes. Lesley is currently working as a consultant on various community, rights and gender assignments. She recently worked at AIDSFONDS as the Geneva Advocacy Advisor where her role is to support communities and the Love Alliance to engage in Global Fund, UNAIDS, World Health Organisation and the United Nations Human Rights Council decision-making processes and advocacy.
Once heralded as one of the Top Young South Africans working in Health by the Mail and Guardian, Lesley has worked on advocacy and information tools and projects for the Global Fund, the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+), UNAIDS, the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition, the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC), Frontline AIDS, FHI 360, Doctors without Borders/MSF and many others. Originally trained as a journalist, Lesley also writes scientific and health journalism for publications such as NAM/aidsmap.com, the Mail & Guardian, IRIN, SA Positive Magazine, health-e.org.za, Spotlight and is an award-winning filmmaker.

Keren Dunaway, Argentina
Steering Group Vice-Chair

is a young feminist consultant based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Currently serving as the Global Programmes Officer at ICW Global, Keren supports networks of people living with HIV by collecting and analyzing data, developing gender advocacy toolkits, and monitoring global advocacy initiatives. At the PLHIV Stigma Index 2.0, she strengthens the participation of women living with HIV and ensure gender-inclusive data analysis. She also coordinated the “We Know We Can” project for the International AIDS Society and ICW Latina, addressing the challenges faced by young women with HIV in Latin America. Keren is also part of the LAC Learning Hub of the Global Fund’s CESI program. Her work with Fundación Llaves as an Advocacy Coordinator involves building coalitions with feminist and SRHR organizations across Latin America. Keren’s volunteer work includes her role in the International Feeding Choices Forum, promoting evidence-based clinical practices for women living with HIV. Fluent in Spanish and English, with basic French proficiency, she is pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the University de Palermo, emphasizing evidence-based research in her advocacy efforts. Keren is dedicated to advocating for comprehensive, gender-equitable HIV responses globally.

Ganna Dovbakh, Lithuania

Ganna Dovbakh, she/her, MA in social psychology, MA in culture studies. Originally from Ukraine, Ganna works to support people in her region to overcome totalitarian views on people and social care systems in post-soviet countries. Since 1997 – together with fellow students – she started teenage social club, to create HIV awareness campaigns and trainings. She is trainer, researcher, manager, supervisor, technical support provider, author of numerous publications in community engagement and self-organization, HIV programs, comprehensive health and social programs for key populations and organisational support for LGBTQI, people using drugs, sex workers and people living with HIV. Since 2017 Ganna is Executive Director of Eurasian Harm Reduction Association uniting 312 organisations and activists from 29 countries of Central, Eastern Europe and Central Asia to ensure a progressive human rights-based drug policy, sustainable funding advocacy and quality of harm reduction services oriented on needs of people who use drugs. She is LGBT and human rights activists, feminist, and mother of adult daughter. Lives in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Joyce Ouma, Kenya

Joyce is a young woman from Kenya living openly with HIV. Driven by passion and experience, Joyce is eager to see the meaningful engagement of young women in all decision-making spaces of the Global Fund and its operations. Joyce represents adolescents and young people on the Kenya Country Coordinating Mechanism. She is a member of the Communities’ Delegation to the Global Fund Board, an observer of the Global Fund’s Youth Council, and she recently joined the Global Fund Advocates Network Speakers bureau where she speaks on matters affecting young people living with and affected by HIV.

Mangala Namasivayam, Thailand

Mangala has over 18 years of diverse work experience in the fields of community development, humanitarian response, women’s rights, SRHR and public health. With an academic background in information and communication, she has worked with national and regional organizations like WWF Malaysia, UNDP Malaysia, ASEAN and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) ESEAOR. As the Programme Manager for Information and Communication at Asia Pacific Research and Resource Centre for Women (ARROW), she was instrumental in strengthening ARROW’s reach and role as a leading SRHR organization in the region. Currently attached to APCASO and based in Bangkok, she brings an intersectional and gendered lens to support advocacy and community systems strengthening to advance health, social justice, and human rights, including gender transformation for key, vulnerable and marginalised communities in the region. 

Nancy Bolima, Cameroon

Nancy has been active in the development world since 2002 and is the Founder/CEO of Health Development Consultancy Services (HEDECS) – a woman led not for profit NGO in Cameroon since 2008. With passion commitment and forward looking leadership, she has steered HEDECS to heights at local, national and international levels. From working in communities – Nancy sits on the Global Fund Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) in Cameroon as the Vice President, leads the Civil Society Constituency and also has representation at the African Constituency Bureau (ACB) and the Global Fund Board meeting – amplifying the Voices in Africa for the fight against HIV, TB and Malaria. She equally belongs to other health national networks/platforms where she makes meaningful contributions. Nancy is passionate in working with women and girls and improving health in its diversity and empowering communities remains her motivation. She believes the only constant thing is change and change is still possible.

Sonal Mehta, India

With over three decades of experience in sexual health and development, Sonal Mehta brings wide experience of community engagement, large scale programmatic management, which includes inception and advancement of multi-dimensional developmental programs in public health and human rights. Previously she was associated with HIV/AIDS Alliance India as the Chief Executive Officer where she led various programs emphasising on marginalised populations including men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender, sex workers, people who inject drugs (PWIDs),  youth, and people living with HIV and TB.Prior to HIV/AIDS Alliance India, Sonal Mehta was the Challenge Fund Manager in the Department for International Development program that contributed to many path-breaking interventions in India, including bringing oral substitution therapy for people who inject drugs. She also has experience working within the Government’s AIDS Control Program at state and national level in India. She has done her international masters in Practicing Management from McGill and completed her master’s in science in International Management from Lancaster, UK