Our People

Our People

The FWRM staff work under the four pillars of the organisation. A total of 18 staff members headed by the Executive Director, Nalini Singh, work towards counteracting discrimination and raising awareness of women’s rights.

Our Governance Board

The Fiji Women’s Rights Movement Governance Board consists of a vibrant group of women, with expertise ranging from human rights, law, banking & finance, academia, politics, trade, and community-based resource management and climate change adaptation.

  • MAKERETA WAQAVONOVONO

    BOARD CHAIR

  • IMRANA JALAL

    FOUNDING MEMBER

    Imrana is a Senior Social Development Specialist at the Asian Development Bank (ADB). She has a Bachelor's degree in law, and a Master’s degree in international law from the University of Auckland, New Zealand; and a Master's degree in Gender Studies from the University of Sydney, Australia. A lawyer by profession, she was formerly a Commissioner of the Fiji Human Rights Commission, and the Fiji Law Reform Commission. Imrana is the author of Law for Pacific Women, a USP Law School recommended textbook; and architect of the Family Law Act 2003 which addressed children's needs and removed systemic legal discrimination against women. Imrana is a founding member of the Pacific Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT). She also served as a barrister and solicitor in the Attorney General's Office of Fiji, as Public Legal Advisor, and as an advisor to various UN agencies. Imrana was for several years a social/political columnist in the daily newspaper, The Fiji Times. She is a founding member of a key NGO, the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement. Imrana is also a member of the networks, Women Living Under Muslim Law, and the Asia-Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development. Ms. Jalal was elected to the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists as one of its 60 Commissioners in 2006, and continues to sit on its Executive Board. Imrana is a member of UN Women’s Expert Advisory Group guiding the production of the next, 2018, Progress of the World’s Women flagship report

  • ANNA COWLEY

    BOARD MEMBER

    Gender Equality & Social Inclusion Specialist, Fiji Program Support Facility.

  • ASHLYN LAL

    BOARD MEMBER

  • Liliwaimanu Vuiyasawa

    Liliwaimanu Vuiyasawa is a human rights activist and lawyer, currently employed with the Munro Leys law firm in Suva. Ms Vuiyasawa is no stranger to the women’s movement, having worked as the in-house legal counsel for the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre for four years and has continued her engagement with local and international CSOs on issues around human rights, good governance, democracy and rule of law. Liliwaimanu is a Pacific Fellow on Women’s Human Rights, having successfully completed a 6-week Fellowship Program with the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABAROLI) in Washington DC in 2012. She graduated with a Bachelor of Laws Degree in 2009 from the University of the South Pacific, Emalus Campus, Vanuatu, and was admitted to practice in August 2010.

  • AKANISI NABALARUA

    BOARD MEMBER

    Akanisi is a lecturer in Business Law at the School of Accounting, Finance and Economics at the University of the South Pacific. She is also a lawyer by training, having been admitted to the Bar in 2011.  

    She is a graduate of the University of Waikato, New Zealand and University College London in the United Kingdom.

    She has worked in a private firm as well as in house counsel and also volunteers her services to draft constitutions for Non- Profit Organization such as the National Youth Council of Fiji, Tokani, Friends of the Museum, alumini groups amongst others.

    Akanisi believes in transparency, access to legal avenues of redress and quality of Governance to drive and achieve the missions of an organisation. 

  • ADARSHANI VIKASH

    BOARD MEMBER

Our Team

The Fiji Women’s Rights Movement is operated by a dynamic team of feminists and queer activists who constantly strive to empower, unite and provide leadership opportunities for women in Fiji, especially for emerging young leaders.

  • Nalini Singh

    Executive Director
    Nalini Singh, from Fiji, is a feminist and a social development specialist with over 20 years’ experience in design, implementation, management, monitoring and evaluation of women’s rights and development programmes in Asia Pacific. With her passion for women’s human rights and gender equality driving her work, her particular interests is in the issues of women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), decent work and organisational capacity strengthening. 
     
    Prior to joining FWRM over four years ago, Nalini worked as the Programme Manager- Advocacy and Capacity Building for the Asian Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW) based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for 7 years. Before this she was a Programme Officer at the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) based in Chaing Mai, Thailand for 5 years. Nalini was also part of the Regional Rights Resource Team for 2 years. The diverse and unique experiences across the region have provided Nalini with invaluable skills, practical knowledge, learnings and understanding of contextual realities for the work that she does. 
     
    Nalini is a graduate of the University of the South Pacific.

  • Laisa Bulatale

    Team Leader-Gender and Transitional Justice Programme

    Laisa takes up her new role as the Team Leader for the Gender and Transitional Justice (GTJ) Programme, prior to this she held the position of a Research Officer.

    She is a positive, proactive can-do approach to life, passionate about raising awareness, legal advocacy and addressing human rights issues particularly in the areas of governance, gender and disability. 

    Additionally, Laisa is also a keen musician who loves song-writing , guitar and live band performances.


    Laisa holds a Professional Diploma in Legal Practice (PDLP) 2017,  Bachelor of Laws (LLB) 2017 – University of the South Pacific and Diploma in Music – Fiji National University.

  • Bernice Lata

    Legal Rights Officer

    Bernice is passionate about working with women's rights and the law and joined FWRM in February, 2020. She is a lawyer by profession having experience in litigation and advocacy and previously worked at Legal Aid Commission and the Consumer Council of Fiji.

  • Shivana Singh

    Human Rights Training Officer

    Shivana Singh is an activist and educator who has been involved with the LGBTQI+ movement for over a decade. She has had strong national, regional and international presence with her work focusing on policy development, legislative lobbying, advocacy, research and education to improve the lives of trans and gay people in the face of discrimination in Fiji and Internationally. In 2011, Ms Singh was also a recipient of the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement Women Human Rights Defenders Award for her contribution working with the gay and transgender community.  She joined FWRM in 2020

  • Emeli Anise

    Team Leader-IWLP
    Emeli has been appointed as the new Team Leader for Intergenerational Women in Leadership Programme (IWLP).
    Emeli has been our GIRLS Programme officer since 2018 and has been committed to civil-society work since 2012 with a background in children's rights, women's rights and disaster risk reduction.

  • Litiana Radinitoga

    GIRLS Programme Support Officer
    Litiana joins FWRM with years of experience in administrative work. She is a firm believer in equal rights for all and appreciates the opportunity to contribute towards the cause. Litiana aspires to commit to the values of equality and social justice.

  • SERELISONI MOCEICA

    Communications Officer

    A creative writer, bookworm and a former reporter, Serelisoni joined FWRM as the Communications Support Officer in March, 2017. She has now transitioned into the Communications Officer role and relishes the  opportunity every day to learn about the feminist movement and the fight and advocacy for women’s rights.

  • Dorrin Irvin

    Programme Officer- Young Women's Programme

    Dorrin joined FWRM in 2019 as our Programme Support Officer and now in her new role as Programme Officer- Young Women's Programme. She has a keen interest in learning more about the women's movement and the fight for women's freedom from discrimination. Dorrin has a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Human Resource Management and Employment Relations and Tourism Management from the University of the South Pacific, and she is also pursuing her Postgraduate Certificate studies at USP in Gender and Feminism.

    Given her keen interest in Gender and Feminism, she participated and graduated from the Emerging Leaders Forum and Sangat Feminist Network in 2020.

    She was previously employed in a government department where she obtained a lot of knowledge and experience of Human Resource and Administrative work.

  • MERE SATAKALA

    Communications Support Officer

    Loves her coffee, music, and the adventures of the great outdoors, Mere is a former reporter that has joined the organisation hoping to learn as much as she can about the feminist movement and the opportunities and challenges it will provide. 

  • Shayal Nand

    Research Officer
    Shayal is the Research Officer for the Gender and Transitional Justice Programme team. A graduate of the University of the South Pacific with a degree in Law, also holding a professional diploma in legal practice from the same university. 
    Passionate about women's rights since she joined in 2020. Her interests lie in statistics, data collection and research. She dedicates herself to doing work that will make some difference for the women of Fiji. Always striving to better herself in all ways possible to exceed her own high expectations and to reach her full potential.
    Shayal enjoys taking up projects that are out of the box and loves to spend time with her family.

  • Timaima Qereqeretabua

    Women's Forum Coordinator

    Tima has worked in various sectors and most recently at the Fiji Bureau of Statistics and now looks after the Fiji Young Women's Forum and the Fiji Women's Forum. 

  • Ala-Cassandra Singh

    Human Rights Training Officer
    Ala-Cassandra Singh has joined the Gender and Transitional Justice programme team as our new Human Rights Training Officer.
    Ala is an advocate for women’s rights and a human rights activist with a passion for feminism and cultural intellectual property.
    She has a Bachelor of Laws (LLB), as well as a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice (GDLP) from the University of Fiji and is awaiting admission to the Bar. She also has work experience in research and analysis of legal policy.
    She also graduated as part of the Emerging Leaders Forum’s 7th Cohort in 2021 and is now a Co-Convener for the Fiji Young Women’s Forum.

  • Georgina Young

    Administration and Programme Assistant

    Gina joins the team as the new Administration and Programme Assistant.

    She has a background in Tourism as well as in the NGO sector. She is passionate about Human Rights, Climate and Social Justice.

     

  • Mala Burman

    Executive Officer

    Mala Burman is our new Executive Officer at FWRM. 

    She graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce with a double major in Management and Human Resources Management and Industrial Relations.
    Mala has worked in various organisations within the public and private sector and also with different NGO’s.
    She has joined the movement hoping to do something different, broaden her knowledge on issues that are affecting women. And also to encourage women and girls to keep learning and voice their opinions and concerns.  

  • Sanjeshni Reddy

    GIRLS Programme Officer
    Sanjeshni Reddy joins the movement with a teaching background of 15 years and has also worked in the private sector. She also worked with GIZ in their Accelerating Climate Education for the Pacific Program for 3 years as a Project Officer.
    She is passionate about empowering individuals with the knowledge and skills that enables them to become better individuals and members of society.

  • Sheetal Prasad

    Team Leader Finance and Administration

    FWRM welcomes our new Team Leader Finance and Administration-Sheetal Prasad. 

    She graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Accounting and Human Resource Management & Employment Relations from the University of the South Pacific. Sheetal is also a Certified Practicing Accountant (CPA) from CPA Australia and a Chartered Accountant member of the Fiji Institute of the Chartered Accountants (FICA).

    She has worked for more than 5 years at the Chartered Accountant firm-KPMG.

    Sheetal hopes that joining FWRM will give her the opportunity to learn about the great work the movement does and inspire her to do more for the people around her.

    Her hobbies include travelling around Fiji and exploring the islands, loves nature and doing physical activities during her spare time.

  • Shivanee Prasad

    Finance officer
    Shivanee has recently joined the movement as our new Finance Officer. 
    She holds a Bachelor of Commerce from The University of the South Pacific majoring in Accounting and Information System and had previously worked with Energy Fiji Limited.
    Shivanee looks forward to working for FWRM as well as the opportunity to learn new things.

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