STAFF

Elaine Zuckerman, President and Founder

Gender Action represents Elaine Zuckerman's life, work and passion to ensure social justice, and equal rights and opportunities for women. Elaine joined the World Bank when she heard that China was becoming a borrowing member and worked as an economist on China. This preceded the advent of structural adjustment loans (SALs) and protests against the Bank. Witnessing the unfolding of structural adjustment, in 1987 she created the Bank's first program to mitigate SALs' harmful impacts on the poor, especially on women. Later she worked in the World Bank's gender unit where she had an opportunity to analyze Bank investments around the world across sectors. She was struck by the paucity of Bank operations that try to empower women despite Bank rhetoric and studies expressing the urgency to do so in order to reduce poverty. In the 1990s at the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), she designed a strategy for the Amazon that prohibited future investments in roads and ranching that damaged indigenous groups and the environment, instead promoted health, water, education and renewable resources. She was also Coordinator of the IADB's Social Agenda Policy Group. While working in the International Financial Institutions (IFIs), Elaine realized that citizen groups, that began proliferating worldwide during the 1980s, were designing the most dynamic, responsive solutions to development problems. This inspired her to launch Gender Action, a non-profit advocacy campaign to hold the IFIs accountable on their promises to empower women and leverage the IFIs' power to redress the unacceptable feminization of poverty.

During Elaine's work for the IFIs and consulting for bilateral aid agencies and civil society organizations such as the International Center for Research on Women and Oxfam, she worked extensively on China, Latin America, Africa and Southeast Europe on gender, poverty, poverty reduction strategies, the social impact of macroeconomic policies and structural adjustment reforms, social investment funds, education and health financing, and rural development and environment projects. While serving on the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) Board of Directors during the 1980s, she designed and chaired the first AWID Forum workshop that examined the impact of structural adjustment on women. She invited speakers from Africa, Asia and Latin America to tell their stories firsthand.

Elaine studied in China for over three years during the Cultural Revolution on Canadian and Chinese government scholarships. During this time, she experienced Chinese life by living with Chinese and working on communes and in factories. She completed her studies in political economy at McGill University, the University of Toronto and Beijing University and in business administration at Georgetown University. She speaks and reads Chinese, French and Spanish.

For several years prior to joining Gender Action, Diana worked with international finance and development organizations such as the World Bank, the United Nations Population Fund and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Her main focus has been working to improve results based programming and monitoring and evaluation in gender and gender-based violence projects. Her work has permitted her to engage with a variety of stakeholder including governments, international NGOs and local community based organizations in several countries such as Colombia, Kenya, Moldova, Thailand, and Uganda. Diana holds a Masters in Development and Anthropology from the London School of Economics and a Bachelors degree in Anthropology from the Universidad de los Andes in Bogota, Colombia, where she is originally from.

Joselyn DiPetta is a long time advocate for gender equality and women’s full economic, social and political rights. She believes that women and men, girls and boys, have a vital role to play in increasing equity and ensuring improved access to decision making and essential resources for every person, regardless of gender, around the world. Prior to joining Gender Action, Joselyn worked on gender and development related programming in the Middle East, Sub Saharan Africa and the US. She specializes in girls’ education, eco-health, and gender based violence issues. Joselyn received a Masters in Public Policy from the Georgetown Public Policy Institute and a BA from Case Western Reserve University where she earned her degree in Environmental and Gender Studies. She also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana.

Nicole has a strong passion for gender equality and joins Gender Action in Fall 2009 as a Programs Intern. She holds an MA (Hons) in Modern History and Italian from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland as well as an MSc in Gender, Development and Globalisation from the London School of Economics. After finishing her master’s program, Nicole taught English in Shanghai for a year and a half. Nicole has experience both living and working in developing countries, including Chad, Albania, Egypt and most recently China. In her spare time, she enjoys swimming, traveling, reading and the company of family and friends.

Joel assists Gender Action in a variety of strategic, policy and communications areas. A longtime public affairs professional, Joel's work has often focused upon gender, human rights, international affairs, international financial institutions, and HIV/AIDS policies. Joel handled IFI policy issues during his seven years of service on Capitol Hill, including as a senior legislative aide to a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the House Banking Committee. Joel has also crafted public affairs strategies for major clients at the prominent Washington firm Podesta Associates, subsequently co-owned a boutique consulting firm, and served as Director of Media Relations for Planned Parenthood. Joel has developed public affairs strategies for a broad array of entities across the public and private sectors, including United Airlines, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, America Online, American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR), American Association of University Women, People for the American Way, and many others.

ASSOCIATES

Ashley Garrett (2003-2005), Eritrea IPRSP Analysis and Fieldwork around Engendering the PRSP and Food Security Strategy; Mozambique PRSP gender analysis; Co-author of Do Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers Address Gender Issues? A Gender Audit of 2002 PRSPs.

Marcia Greenberg (2004-2007), Co-author of Gender Action's Gender Dimensions of Post-Conflict Reconstruction Paper Series.

CURRENT VOLUNTEERS AND CONSULTANTS

Gender Action carries out its work by relying on a corps of superb volunteers and consultants listed below.

Funders