Valuing our Team in 2023/24
14 October 2024
By Womankind Worldwide
By Womankind Worldwide
Our team of staff and trustees are passionate feminists, dedicated to our vision of a world where women, girls and people of all genders live with joy, choice and dignity. Knowledge, experience and determination combine to form the team that powers Womankind. We are deeply grateful to the whole Womankind team and to those who have made such profound contributions before transitioning to other phases of their professional journeys.
Introducing our Feminist Co-Leadership
Two years into Womankind’s Our Feminist Future strategy, we are in a season of new beginnings, marked by our commitments to sharing power and decolonising our practice. Womankind is embracing feminist co-leadership with confidence and anticipation for the possibilities ahead with the welcoming of our Co-CEOs – Diana Njuguna based in Kenya and Disha Sughand based in the UK.
Co-leadership represents a paradigm shift in leadership and decision- making. It’s not just about sharing responsibilities; it’s about modeling a feminist collaboration based on mutual respect, equity, trust, intersectionality, and a shared feminist vision.
Diana Njuguna, Co-CEO
Diana’s aspiration is to amplify the voices of those often marginalised and ensure our strategies and actions are informed by the lived experiences of women and girls from diverse backgrounds. She is passionate about dismantling power dynamics and fostering a culture of trust and strengthening systems within the organisation and beyond.
“I am excited to drive conversations around feminist trust-based philanthropy, the power in co-leadership, the power of lived experiences from an intersectional lens, and dismantling power dynamics that prevent community-based organisations from taking their rightful place in the movements,” – Diana Njuguna
Disha Sughand, Co-CEO
Disha’s vision is to create an environment where collaboration is the norm, and every team member feels valued and empowered to contribute to our mission. By embracing diverse perspectives, we can drive meaningful change and build a just and equal world.
“I want to make this co-leadership a real success and learning opportunity for Womankind and my counterpart Co-CEO, Diana. I look forward to harnessing my leadership style of working collaboratively, striving for change, and acting with humility to ensure that Womankind lives its values by being more partner-centered and valuing our diverse staff and trustees. I see the organisation staying relevant by using its position to influence funders and grow an aligned supporter base through our ambitious 2030 strategy,” – Disha Sughand
Lusungu Kalanga, Co-Chair
We also welcomed our new Co-Chair, Lusungu Kalanga who joins Olga Ghazaryan to lead Womankind’s Board of Trustees.
“I look forward to amplifying the voices of grassroots feminist organisations and implementing the bold 2030 feminist future strategy. Wellbeing is a core principle in my role allowing us to constantly pour from a place of feminist joy while also applying grace, taking rest and showing up for each other.” – Lusungu Kalanga
Together, our leadership team is committed to ensuring that Womankind remains a beacon of feminist values and a leader in the ecosystem for change, gender equality and equity.
Credit: Angela Gokani. Lusungu Kalanga (Co-Chair), Disha Sughand (Co-CEO), Diana Njuguna (Co-CEO), Olga Ghazaryan (Co-Chair)
Wellbeing at the heart of our work
In the same way that Womankind resources wellbeing within feminist movements through our flexible funds, we are intentional with how we take care of our team.
In 2023/24 we continued to nurture the wellness and wellbeing of our team through our policies and practice. From our annual staff convening, Feminist Futures Week, to innovative HR tools to support ways of working, we place wellbeing right at the heart of how we care for our strong, talented and vibrant team
As Audre Lorde said, “caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation and that is an act of political warfare.” Supporting wellbeing in this way means that our team can continue to show up for the women’s rights organisations and feminist movements that Womankind exists to support. Across management, programmes, policy, advocacy, fundraising, communications, finance and HR, we are a committed and collaborative feminist team.
Explore the rest of our 2023/24 Impact Report
Supporting women's movements to change the world
